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G2 (World rank: #9) vs. BIG (World rank: #14) – 10:00 A.M. ET
Moneyline Odds: G2 (-235) | BIG (+190)
Map Handicap: G2 -1.5 (+130) | BIG +1.5 (-160)
This is a best-of-three on LAN for ESL Pro League Season 16 - Group B
G2 - Rating at event: NiKo 1.37 | huNter 1.26 | jks 1.18 | HooXi 0.91 | m0NESY 0.91
G2 - Rating past three months: NiKo 1.23 | m0NESY 1.15 | hUnter 1.12 | jks 0.97 | HooXi 0.74
BIG - Rating at event: faveN 0.96 | tabseN 0.88 | syrsoN 0.83 | Krimbo 0.81 | k1to 0.64
BIG - Rating past three months: syrsoN 1.12 | tabseN 1.03 | k1to 1.03 | Krimbo 0.98 | faveN 0.94
H2H Data:
These rosters faced in August at BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2022 and G2 swept 2-0 (Vertigo 16-8 / Dust2 16-7). HuNter led the way with 51 kills while m0NESY led with a 1.73 Rating across two maps played.
Prediction: G2 wins 2-1.
G2 dominated BIG when these rosters last faced despite HooXi being absolutely terrible with 10 kills, 32 deaths, 38.1 ADR, and a 0.66 Rating across two maps played. Surely we can expect a better performance from HooXi this time around, which begs the question: will G2 just stomp BIG again? We saw G2 pick Ancient for the first time with this lineup against MIBR on Wednesday, which goes to show that they are willing to experiment a bit and find their strengths at this event. BIG will likely ban Ancient to start, but G2’s map pick could be something unexpected, which gives me some concern backing them as a favorite. Still, I don’t anticipate that G2 will struggle here given the way they looked last time against the Germans. G2 have a 7-5 W/L record across 12 maps played since adding jks & HooXi, and they seem to be improving as they just won two series in a row for the first time. BIG have lost three of their last four on Dust2, but they are good enough on that map to beat anybody in the world at any given time, so I do think they can at least take a map this time around. Still, G2 looks like the better team and they should be able to win out in this best-of-three.
- m0NESY leads this G2 lineup with a 1.27 Rating and 1.37 K/D ratio across 12 maps played.
- NiKo leads G2 with 0.14 opening kills per round and 24.4% opening duel attempts during that time.
- On Dust2, m0NESY & huNter lead G2 with a 1.51 Rating while huNter leads with a 1.76 K/D ratio across three maps played. m0NESY leads G2 with 0.19 opening kills per round and 26.0% opening duel attempts on Dust2 during that time.
Favorite Draftkings Plays (In order of priority):
m0NESY ($8,400) | NiKo ($9,200) | hUnter ($7,400) | tabseN ($6,400) | faveN ($4,600) | jks ($6,600) | syrsoN ($7,600)
FaZe (World rank: #1) vs. MIBR (World rank: #30) – 1:30 P.M. ET
Moneyline Odds: FaZe (-730) | MIBR (+515)
Map Handicap: FaZe -1.5 (-185) | MIBR +1.5 (+150)
This is a best-of-three on LAN for ESL Pro League Season 16 - Group B
FaZe - Rating at event: broky 1.88 | rain 1.68 | ropz 1.27 | Twistzz 1.19 | karrigan 1.10
FaZe - Rating past three months: broky 1.19 | Twistzz 1.16 | ropz 1.09 | rain 1.08 | karrigan 0.93
MIBR - Rating at event: HEN1 0.95 | exit 0.93 | Tuurtle 0.93 | JOTA 0.90 | brnz4n 0.88
MIBR - Rating past three months: HEN1 1.23 | brnz4n 1.13 | exit 1.05 | JOTA 1.03 | Tuurtle 0.94
H2H Data:
These rosters have never faced each other.
Prediction: FaZe wins 2-0.
FaZe made quick work of FTW on Wednesday, winning 16-4 on Inferno & Overpass. They are heavy favorites here against MIBR and I certainly expect them to win, but I do think this series will be a bit closer than the one against FTW. FaZe now have a 31-16 W/L record across 47 maps played in the past three months and they have never dropped a map to a team outside of the Top 20 Rankings with this lineup. If MIBR were going to have any chance of taking a map, then it would likely be on Dust2. FaZe have a winning record on every map in the pool in the past three months besides Dust2, meanwhile MIBR have their highest win rate on that map, so all signs point to that being the opening for the Brazilians. Still, MIBR only won five rounds on Dust2 against G2 on Wednesday, and the team with the more talented aimers usually comes out on top on that map, which would obviously be FaZe in this case. I’m taking FaZe to sweep, but MIBR have a decent amount of firepower in their lineup and they should be able to get some rounds on the board, at least more rounds than FTW managed to win. Even if MIBR somehow won on Dust2, I wouldn’t give them much of a chance on the rest of the map pool, so FaZe should win one way or another and should be the main priority on Draftkings.
- broky leads FaZe with a 1.19 Rating and 1.28 K/D ratio across 47 maps played in the past three months.
- rain leads FaZe with 0.15 opening kills per round and 28.9% opening duel attempts during that time.
- On Dust2, Twistzz leads FaZe with a 1.15 Rating and 1.24 K/D ratio across six maps played in the past three months. Rain leads FaZe with 27.5% opening duel attempts on Dust2 during that time, though he is tied with ropz & karrigan with 0.11 opening kills per round.
Favorite Draftkings Plays (In order of priority):
Twistzz ($9,400) | broky ($10,000) | rain ($7,200) | ropz ($8,200) | brnz4n ($6,000) | JOTA ($4,800) | karrigan ($6,200)