DraftKings CS:GO ESL RTR Wednesday Cheat Sheet

GAMES (EDT)

• 7:00 a.m. Nemiga vs. Virtus.pro
• 10:30 a.m. Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. FaZe
• 2:00 p.m. Astralis vs. G2

Nemiga vs. Virtus.pro

Virtus.pro have been very inconsistent, but there is no doubt that they should still be the favorites against Nemiga. Jame, who has always been the focal point of this team, has been very good for Virtus.pro during the group stage, but it is buster who stood out the most with excellent showings in wins against Natus Vincere and Espada. qikert hasn't been his usual self, but he should have a good chance at bouncing back with a good showing against Nemiga. 

Nemiga have made things close against some of the better teams in the region, but losses against the likes of Spirit and Winstrike show that they aren't quite at the level of the best teams right now. lollipop21k and speed4k are the standout players on this team, but both Jyo and mds are skillful players who can sometimes take over a game. 

• Nemiga Players to Target: speed4k ($7,400), lollipop21k ($7,600)
• Virtus.pro Players to Target: Jame ($9,800), buster ($9,000)

Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. FaZe

This is probably the most interesting matchup on the slate, with both teams coming in hot. NiP only dropped a single game during the group stage, and Plopski has continued to show the type of form that he did in ESL Pro League earlier in the year. NiP are still trying to find their identity, as we have seen with several different positional changes throughout the last few games, and it has been very difficult to pinpoint who is going to play well for the team outside of Plopski. nawwk is often going to be favored over anyone else, but he has been outperformed by his teammates on certain maps, with Overpass being a particularly poor one for him, posting a 1.02 K/D ratio with 0.67 kills/round over 11 maps for NiP. It is quite likely that both Dust2 and Vertigo will get banned in the map veto, which means that NiP will have the option of going towards Overpass if they want to. This is a map where twist has often been the one to use the AWP over nawwk, and he has posted a K/D ratio of 1.34 with 0.77 kills/round on this map, second only to Plopski. If NiP choose to ban Dust2, which has always been a great map for FaZe, we will likely see Mirage played, and this is a map where NiP have flip-flopped quite a bit with positional changes. twist started out playing on the B site alongside Lekr0, but in recent games, they have experimented a bit with having twist as the main AWPer, playing mostly around mid and A. If they stick to this setup, he definitely has some value over nawwk at a lower price.

While NiP have looked good, you could very well argue that FaZe have looked even better. NiKo and his crew went undefeated in the group stage, taking down the likes of mousesports and G2 on their road to the No. 1 spot in the standings. broky has been excellent on the AWP, with NiKo and coldzera putting up big numbers, as per usual. rain has also popped off at times for FaZe, but the fact that NiP will likely ban Dust2 in the map veto hurts his value a bit. However, it is worth noting that he has performed really well on Mirage since broky started AWPing more frequently, mirroring NiKo's stats on the map with 0.79 kills/round and a 1.19 K/D ratio so far in 2020.

• Ninjas in Pyjamas Players to Target: Plopski ($7,000), nawwk ($6,600) / twist ($5,400)
• FaZe Players to Target: NiKo ($10,200), broky ($8,400), coldzera ($7,200) / rain ($6,800)

Astralis vs. G2

Astralis will be the favorite to take down G2, who are coming off a loss to North, who were playing with their coach for the entirety of the match. The last time these two sides met was at the ESL Pro League Finals in December, where Astralis came out on top with a 2–1 scoreline. Dust2 and Inferno were the maps at the time, and I suspect we will see something similar again, with the slight chance that G2 opt for Vertigo instead of Dust2. device remains the top-dog on Astralis, but it is worth noting that Magisk and Xyp9x have played excellently on Vertigo, and they are strong players on Inferno, as well. This is a spot where I don't mind having some exposure to dupreeh at just $7,000 in case G2 opts for Dust2 again, which has always been a strong map for him.

If you want to target a G2 upset, kennyS and huNter- are going to be your safest options, and they are cheap enough that you can build a strong roster around them. Interestingly, JaCkz has performed way above his normal level on Inferno, dropping 27 kills in matches against fnatic and BIG, and while AmaNEk and nexa are generally preferred over JaCkz, I thought this was worth pointing out.

• Astralis Players to Target: device ($8,800), Magisk ($8,600) / Xyp9x ($8,200)
• G2 Players to Target: huNter ($6,800), kennyS ($7,800)