This article is part of our DraftKings CS:GO series.
GAMES (EDT)
- 8:00 a.m. Heroic vs. G2
- 11:30 a.m. North vs. Astralis
- 3:10 p.m. FURIA vs. MiBR
Heroic (0–1) vs. G2 (0–1)
Heroic are coming off a loss to Astralis, but they made the giants sweat a little bit, with both maps going all 30 rounds. It was stavn who stood out for Heroic, posting 48 kills, 10 assists and a plus-10 K/D differential. Meanwhile, G2 fell at the hands of North, a match which they were heavily favored to win. Both of these teams will be desperate to get some points on the board, and the bookmakers have G2 as a -238 favorite in this one. Both huNter- and kennyS had solid showings against North, and they are surprisingly cheap at $7,800 and $7,600, respectively. JaCkz played well against North, but with this pricing, it is likely best to stick to the big guns on G2.
On the side of Heroic, both stavn and niko are decent plays, with cadiaN having some value as one of the lowest-priced players on the slate. niko is actually the player who has stood out the most on Heroic with the limited number of games they've played together, posting 0.71 kills/round with a 1.12 K/D ratio over 12 maps. He had a poor showing in their loss to Astralis, but it is tempting to play him over TeSeS, who may be a big talent but needs to do a lot to give us a good enough return at $8,600.
- Heroic Players to Target:
GAMES (EDT)
- 8:00 a.m. Heroic vs. G2
- 11:30 a.m. North vs. Astralis
- 3:10 p.m. FURIA vs. MiBR
Heroic (0–1) vs. G2 (0–1)
Heroic are coming off a loss to Astralis, but they made the giants sweat a little bit, with both maps going all 30 rounds. It was stavn who stood out for Heroic, posting 48 kills, 10 assists and a plus-10 K/D differential. Meanwhile, G2 fell at the hands of North, a match which they were heavily favored to win. Both of these teams will be desperate to get some points on the board, and the bookmakers have G2 as a -238 favorite in this one. Both huNter- and kennyS had solid showings against North, and they are surprisingly cheap at $7,800 and $7,600, respectively. JaCkz played well against North, but with this pricing, it is likely best to stick to the big guns on G2.
On the side of Heroic, both stavn and niko are decent plays, with cadiaN having some value as one of the lowest-priced players on the slate. niko is actually the player who has stood out the most on Heroic with the limited number of games they've played together, posting 0.71 kills/round with a 1.12 K/D ratio over 12 maps. He had a poor showing in their loss to Astralis, but it is tempting to play him over TeSeS, who may be a big talent but needs to do a lot to give us a good enough return at $8,600.
- Heroic Players to Target: stavn ($6,800), niko ($7,200) / cadiaN ($4,600)
- G2 Players to Target: huNter- ($7,800), kennyS ($7,600)
North (1–0) vs. Astralis (1–0)
Both of these teams have made some sudden roster changes. North are still without Kjaerbye, who is out due to medical reasons, and they have chosen to turn to Kristou, a fairly unproven player who has been loaned out from the Danish team AGF. Astralis have also been forced into a change due to medical reasons, with their in-game leader gla1ve choosing to take a prolonged break. In comes JUGi, who has been a free agent ever since he was benched by North. This isn't the most optimal roster change for Astralis, with JUGi being an AWPer by trade, a roll which device already occupies. It will be interesting to see how Astralis choose to approach this situation, but judging from their first game against Heroic, device will still be the main AWPer for the team despite being proficient with rifles as well. The fact that Astralis won the first tournament to award RMR points allows them to experiment a bit without too much worry, but they will likely be more susceptible to upsets moving forward.
Since MSL joined the team, North has started playing Vertigo quite frequently, and it is likely that they will pick it in this one. aizy has been particularly good on this map for Heroic, posting 0.80 kills/round, 0.17 assists/round and a 1.12 K/D ratio under MSL's leadership. On Astralis, both Magisk and Xyp9x have looked fantastic on Vertigo, outscoring both device and dupreeh. With device priced at $10,200, this is a slate where you can definitely take a chance on a guy like Magisk or Xyp9x at a lower price. A lot is going to come down to Astralis' map pick, with Xyp9x being a very strong pick if they go for a map like Train, while Magisk and dupreeh will have a great chance at scoring well if Astralis' opt for a map like Overpass or Inferno.
- North Players to Target: aizy ($8,400), MSL ($6,200)
- Astralis Players to Target: Magisk ($8,800), Xyp9x ($7,200), device ($10,200)
FURIA (0–0) vs. MiBR (0–0)
FURIA have been completely dominant historically against MiBR, with a 10–2 head-to-head map record overall, and they have yet to lose a series against them with the current lineups. MiBR are fresh off a roster change, acquiring trk from TeamOne, with meyern getting benched after being acquired from Sharks in December. The fact that FURIA have incorporated Vertigo into their map pool has proven to be incredibly difficult for MiBR to deal with, and FURIA's strength on Nuke gives them an even further edge in the map veto, since MiBR don't have much choice but to ban it straight out of the gate. Interestingly, Vertigo is a map where yuurih has looked incredibly strong for FURIA, leading his side with 0.77 kills/round and a 1.12 K/D ratio, while KSCERATO has been surprisingly poor by his otherwise high standards. However, that does not mean that KSCERATO is necessarily a poor play in this matchup, since he is incredibly strong on Inferno and Mirage, both of which are likely maps in this series.
On the MiBR side, kNgV- stands out at $5,400 due to his proficiency on Vertigo. Both Inferno and Mirage are solid for him, as well, with the latter being a particularly strong map for him. kNgV- has posted 0.85 kills/round and a 1.29 K/D ratio on Mirage this year, towering over both FalleN and fer, and he was one of the few players able to put up a fight in their last match against FURIA.
