Natus Vincere (World rank: #2) vs. Akuma (World rank: #22)
Moneyline Odds: NAVI (-700) | Akuma (+425)
Map Handicap: N/A
Map Total: N/A
- This is a best-of-three series for the group stage of StarLadder CIS RMR 2021 Group A.
- NAVI - Rating at event: s1mple 1.34 | electronic 1.14 | B1T 1.14 | Boombl4 1.09 | Perfecto 1.03
- NAVI - Rating past three months: s1mple 1.31 | electronic 1.10 | B1T 1.05 | Perfecto 1.02 | Boombl4 0.94
- Akuma - Rating at event: SENSEi 1.02| Sergiz 1.00 | j3kie 0.73 | Psycho 0.69 | DemQQ 0.60
- Akuma - Rating past three months: SENSEi 1.33 | DemQQ 1.08 | Sergiz 1.08 | Psycho 0.98 | j3kie 0.96
H2H Data:
- These rosters faced each other on May 25th at EPIC League CIS 2021, and while Akuma did win 2-0 (16-2 Mirage / 16-10 Dust2), they were accused of cheating at that tournament, so those results are meaningless to me. SENSEi did lead the way with 40 kills and a 1.49 Rating across two maps.
Analysis:
Akuma have lost their first two series of this tournament and it does seem like the team is much less promising now that they are not able to abuse the cheats that they were accused of using during EPIC League CIS 2021. SENSEi has still been solid for them and looks like a decent value play at only $6,000, but he is not a priority for me since I think that NAVI dominate this series 2-0. You can almost never go wrong putting s1mple into your lineup if you have the salary, and electronic, B1T and Perfecto all look like strong plays here. Boombl4 is less of a focus for me, but he does have his random days where he is at the top of the leaderboards so he could be a decent punt play. If I were entering one lineup, it would definitely have s1mple in there and I like getting him in as captain when possible. Electronic and B1T also make as interesting one-offs since either one of them could end up as the highest scorer over s1mple. I like stacking NAVI, but the salaries make it tough to get more than one of S1mple, electronic and B1T into your lineup, so NAVI is not my favorite stack on the board.
Entropiq (World rank: #17) vs. K23 (World rank: #38)
Moneyline Odds: Entropiq (-260) | K23 (+205)
Map Handicap: Entropiq -1.5 (+130) | K23 +1.5 (-160)
Map Total: Over 2.5 (+120) | Under 2.5 (-145)
- This is a best-of-three series for the group stage of StarLadder CIS RMR 2021 Group B.
- Entropiq - Rating at event: NickelBack 1.27 | El1an 1.14 | Forester 0.98 | Lack1 0.87 | Krad 0.86
- Entropiq - Rating past three months: El1an 1.26 | Forester 1.15 | Krad 1.08 | Lack1 1.06 | NickelBack 1.05
- K23 Rating at event: mou 1.11 | n0rb3r7 0.93 | neaLaN 0.83 | fame 0.80 | adreN 0.79
- K23 - Rating past three months: n0rb3r7 1.19| mou 1.11 | fame 1.11 | neaLaN 0.98 | adreN 0.96
H2H Data:
- These teams last faced on May 26th at EPIC League CIS 2021, and Entropiq won 2-1 (16-8 Vertigo / 13-16 Overpass / 16-10 Dust2). Forester and n0rb3r7 tied for the most kills with 65, while NickelBack was the highest rated player at 1.26 through three maps.
Analysis:
K23 took a map last time these teams faced each other, and it would not surprise me to see them do that again based on how they have looked at this tournament. Mou and n0rb3r7 are two value plays to consider here since they usually carry the team, but Entropiq is more of the focus for me. NickelBack has been incredible at this event so far and once again he is really cheap at only $5,600 on Tuesday’s slate, so he will surely be a popular play. You could maybe fade him to avoid a chalky play, but he looks like a really strong play so I would not recommend fading him too much. El1an and Forester have come down in price a little bit and I think they are both strong plays here. Either one can get activated in a close series and K23 keeping things competitive does not have to be a bad thing for them. Krad and Lack1 are not priorities for me but neither one is off the board. I really like scooping up some of the value from this series here either with NickelBack, or possibly mou/n0rb3r7, and El1an would be the smash play if you wanted to spend up.
Virtus.pro (World rank: #6) vs. Spirit (World rank: #15)
Moneyline Odds: VP (-110) | Spirit (-115)
Map Handicap: VP +1.5 (-375) | Spirit -1.5 (+290)
Map Total: Over 2.5 (-125) | Under 2.5 (Even)
- This is a best-of-three series for the group stage of StarLadder CIS RMR 2021 Group B.
- VP - Rating at event: Jame 1.31 | YEKINDAR 1.18 | Qikert 1.11 | buster 0.95 | SANJI 0.79
- VP - Rating past three months: Jame 1.18 | YEKINDAR 1.06 | Qikert 1.02 | buster 0.98 | SANJI 0.91
- Spirit - Rating at event: mir 1.35 | magixx 1.15 | degster 1.13 | sdy 1.09 | chopper 1.06
- Spirit - Rating past three months: mir 1.18 | degster 1.11 | sdy 1.11 | magixx 1.06 | chopper 1.03
H2H Data:
- These rosters faced each other on June 5th at IEM Summer 2021 and Virtus.pro won 2-1 (11-16 Dust2 / 16-9 Inferno / 19-17 Ancient). Qikert led the way with 73 kills and a 1.25 Rating across three maps.
Analysis:
These teams have actually faced on three occasions this year and Virtus.pro has won all three times, so in that sense it is interesting to see Spirit as a slight favorite. It seemed like Spirit was going to get the win at IEM Summer, but VP came back on Ancient from a 5-12 score line and took the map in overtime. YEKINDAR has joined his teammates at bootcamp for this tournament, so there are reasons to be optimistic about that for VP, but they lost their opening match against 100PingGods, and the team does not seem to be playing their best counter-strike at the moment. Spirit have had some close maps in their series against Entropiq and K23, but they still came out on top for both and mir has been one of the best players at the tournament thus far. There are reasons to like both teams in this spot, and Spirit has looked better in the past few days, but the pricing on Draftkings makes me love Virtus.pro for DFS. Jame at only $8,200? I am locking that in, and I can live with it if it backfires since that price is too good to pass up. YEKINDAR at $7,600? Not as exciting as Jame, but still a play I love. Qikert and buster also look like excellent value options as well. Mir is definitely my favorite option on the Spirit side of things, but I am going to take a stand on this slate and back Virtus.pro just based on the Draftkings pricing.
forZe (World rank: #16) vs. Gambit (World rank: #1)
Moneyline Odds: forZe (+275) | Gambit (-350)
Map Handicap: forZe +1.5 (-120) | Gambit -1.5 (Even)
Map Total: Over 2.5 (+135) | Under 2.5 (-165)
- This is a best-of-three series for the group stage of StarLadder CIS RMR 2021 Group A.
- forZe - Rating at event: FL1T 1.32 | Jerry 1.23 | KENSI 1.22 | almazer 1.01 | zorte 0.96
- forZe - Rating past three months: FL1T 1.18 | zorte 1.11 | Jerry 1.06 | almazer 1.05 | KENSI 1.04
- Gambit - Rating at event: Ax1Le 1.31 | Hobbit 1.23 | nafany 1.22 | interz 1.19 | sh1ro 1.11
- Gambit - Rating past three months: sh1ro 1.25 | Hobbit 1.21 | Ax1Le 1.20 | nafany 1.08 | interz 0.99
H2H Data:
- These rosters have never faced each other. Zorte and KENSI were not yet on forZe when the teams last faced in December 2020. Gambit did take that series 2-0 (16-12 Mirage / 19-17 Overpass).
Analysis:
ForZe should ban Vertigo which is Gambit’s best map, and Gambit should ban Nuke which would leave Mirage open for forZe to pick. Gambit have won eight in a row on Mirage, but it has been such a strong map for forZe that I think they have a chance to win on that map. Still, Gambit should be favorites on any other map, and I would focus on Gambit for DFS. FL1T is hard to ignore at only $7,200, but Hobbit and Ax1Le are my favorite plays from this series. Sh1ro has had some quiet maps so far this tournament and his pricing is so expensive that you really need him to perform, so I would maybe rather get to Hobbit and Ax1Le at cheaper prices. However, Mirage has been one of sh1ro’s best maps in the past month with a 1.34 Rating across six maps played, so I still like him a lot. Nafany and interz look fine, but I think this could be a competitive series so I would rather pay up for the star players, and I think I would also prefer FL1T over nafany depending on the lineup construction. Zorte and Jerry are cheap enough that they are probably worth having some light exposure to with FL1T in GPPS, but if you were entering one lineup then I would probably start by taking Hobbit and/or Ax1Le here. I like Gambit a lot as a stack but it is a little tough to fit in all of the pieces that we want based on the pricing.
**Tony’s core plays to build your lineups around**: s1mple, Jame, Ax1Le, NickelBack
**Favorite Stacks: Gambit, Entropiq, NAVI, Virtus.pro
*Other captain options: El1an, YEKINDAR, sh1ro, Hobbit, electronic, mir
*Other value options: qikert, buster, nafany, B1T, interz, sdy, mou, zorte, Jerry, SENSEi