FURIA (World rank: #10) vs. Astralis (World rank: #9) - 9:30 A.M. ET
Moneyline Odds: FURIA (-145) | Astralis (+120)
Map Handicap: FURIA -1.5 (+215) | Astralis +1.5 (-270)
Map Total: Over 2.5 (+105) | Under 2.5 (-125)
- This is a best-of-three series on LAN for the Quarter-Finals of the ESL Pro League Season 15 Playoffs
- FURIA - Rating at event: yuurih 1.18 | KSCERATO 1.17 | arT 1.11 | saffee 1.04 | drop 1.00
- FURIA - Rating past three months: KSCERATO 1.14 | yuurih 1.04 | arT 1.03 | saffee 1.02 | drop 0.93
- Astralis - Rating at event: blameF 1.26 | k0nfig 1.16 | gla1ve 1.02 | Farlig 0.99 | Xyp9x 0.94
- Astralis - Rating past three months: blameF 1.19 | k0nfig 1.08 | Farlig 0.99 | gla1ve 0.96 | Xyp9x 0.92
H2H Data:
- These rosters have never faced each other. The teams last faced in February at IEM Katowice 2022 when Lucky was still on Astralis and FURIA swept 2-0 (16-12 Overpass / 16-11 Mirage). KSCERATO led the server with 45 kills and a 1.44 Rating across two maps, though k0nfig also had 45 kills in a loss.
Map Projections:
Astralis removes Mirage
FURIA removes Dust2
Astralis picks Ancient
FURIA picks Vertigo
Astralis removes Inferno
FURIA removes Nuke
Overpass is left over
Prediction/Narrative: Astralis wins 2-1.
FURIA managed to win Group B, which included FaZe, Vitality, Outsiders (Virtus.pro) and ENCE. They are currently he fifth highest-rated team at ESL Pro League Season 15 with a 1.10 Team Rating across 14 maps played, and they have a 9-5 W/L record during that time. The Brazilians have been coming into form with their new roster that includes saffee, and they even beat Astralis at IEM Katowice back in February. However, Astralis have improved their roster since then with the addition of Farlig, and the new Danish roster has also been nearly just as impressive as the seventh highest-rated team at the event with a 1.07 Rating across 16 maps played, along with a 10-6 W/L record during that time. Additionally, FURIA are a creative team that players have described in the past as scary to face the first time, but easier to anti-strat the second time, and Astralis have historically been excellent at anti-stratting their opponents with gla1ve as their big brain IGL. Astralis did not know what to expect from their opponents back at Katowice since the Brazilian roster hadn’t played many maps together at that point, and I think the Danes will play much better in the rematch with more preparation. FURIA’s permaban is Dust2, which is also one of Astralis’ worst map, thus Astralis should come out on top in terms of the map bans. Astralis have a winning record on Ancient, Overpass, Nuke and Mirage at this event, and I’d expect them to beat FURIA on all of those maps besides maybe Mirage, which Astralis might consider banning. I give Astralis an edge in this series, so I am certainly happy to back them as an underdog, though this series could maybe stay close considering FURIA won last time.
- On Ancient, k0nfig leads this Astralis lineup with a 1.18 Rating and 1.03 K/D ratio across three maps played.
- On Vertigo, blameF leads this Astralis lineup with a 1.30 Rating and 1.39 K/D ratio across three maps played.
- On Overpass, k0nfig leads this Astralis lineup with a 1.31 Rating, while blameF leads with a 1.28 K/D ratio across three maps played.
- blameF is currently the sixth highest-rated player at the event with a 1.26 Rating across 16 maps played.
Favorite Draftkings Plays (In order of priority):
k0nfig ($7,400) | blameF ($8,800) | Farlig ($6,600) | gla1ve ($6,000) | KSCERATO ($8,600) | Xyp9x ($5,600) | saffee ($6,400) | yuurih ($7,200)
Natus Vincere (World rank: #1) vs. FaZe (World rank: #2) - 1:00 P.M. ET
Moneyline Odds: NAVI (-175) | FaZe (+140)
Map Handicap: NAVI -1.5 (+180) | FaZe +1.5 (-225)
Map Total: Over 2.5 (+105) | Under 2.5 (-125)
- This is a best-of-three series on LAN for the Quarter-Finals of the ESL Pro League Season 15 Playoffs
- NAVI - Rating at event: s1mple 1.50 | b1t 1.29 | electronic 1.19 | Perfecto 1.12 | Boombl4 1.01
- NAVI - Rating past three months: s1mple 1.36 | b1t 1.15 | electronic 1.08 | Perfecto 1.05 | Boombl4 0.94
- FaZe - Rating at event: broky 1.16 | ropz 1.15 | Twistzz 1.13 | rain 1.03 | karrigan 0.89
- FaZe - Rating past three months: broky 1.21 | ropz 1.17 | Twistzz 1.12 | rain 1.05 | karrigan 0.89
H2H Data:
- These last faced in February at IEM Katowice 2022 and NAVI won 2-1 (13-16 Overpass / 16-12 Dust2 / 22-19 Mirage). Broky led the server with 87 kills, while s1mple led with a 1.33 Rating across three maps played.
Map Projections:
FaZe removes Nuke
NAVI removes Vertigo
FaZe picks Inferno
NAVI picks Dust2
FaZe removes Mirage
NAVI removes Overpass
Ancient is left over
Prediction/Narrative: NAVI wins 2-1.
HLTV has NAVI and FaZe ranked as the two top teams in the world at the moment, and this series could be a banger. The teams just faced in February on LAN at IEM Katowice and NAVI won, but it took double overtime on the third map to decide the winner, so the series easily could have gone either way. Karrigan also had an all-time bad performance with 29 kills and 70 deaths across three maps, and there was not a single map that he had more than 10 kills on, even the double overtime Mirage. We’re never expecting massive amounts of firepower from FaZe’s IGL, but perhaps if Karrigan could have found a bit more impact than FaZe may have won that series. NAVI are currently the highest-rated team at ESL Pro League Season 15 with a 1.22 Team Rating across 11 maps played, and they have a 10-1 W/L record during that time. The only map that they dropped was Nuke against Astralis, and I thought that map pick was pretty cocky against the Danes considering their history on that map, though NAVI are obviously elite on Nuke. S1mple is in incredible form, even for him, and he leads the event with a 1.50 Rating with his teammate b1t not far behind in fourth with a 1.29 Rating. FaZe are the lowest-rated team at this event that is still in the playoffs with a 1.07 Rating across 15 maps played and they have a 9-6 W/L record during that time. NAVI is still the clear better team, and it would take a near perfect performance from FaZe to pull the upset. Still, I think that FaZe can keep this series close and maybe win a map like Inferno, where they just beat #3 world ranked Players (Gambit) 16-4 earlier in the week. I expect NAVI to play well, especially since this is a single elimination bracket, but we have seen in the past that FaZe can keep this match-up close. I’ll take NAVI in three maps here.
- On Inferno, s1mple leads NAVI with a 1.43 Rating and 1.70 K/D ratio across two maps played in 2022.
- On Dust2, s1mple leads NAVI with a 1.21 Rating and 1.21 K/D ratio across two maps played in 2022.
- On Ancient, Perfecto leads NAVI with a 1.46 Rating, while b1t leads with a 2.00 K/D ratio across two maps played in 2022.
- S1mple leads the event with a 1.50 Rating while b1t is the fourth highest-rated player with a 1.29 Rating across 11 maps played.
Favorite Draftkings Plays (In order of priority):
s1mple ($9,200) | b1t ($7,000) | Perfecto ($5,800) | electronic ($8,000) | broky ($7,600) | Twistzz ($6,200) | Boombl4 ($5,000) | ropz ($8,200)