Natus Vincere (World rank: #1) vs. Liquid (World rank: #12) - 10:30 A.M. ET

Moneyline Odds: Natus Vincere (-1025) | Liquid (+675) 

Map Handicap: Natus Vincere -1.5 (-225) | Liquid -1.5 (+180)

Map Total: Over 2.5 (+225) | Under 2.5 (-280)

  • This is a best-of-three series on LAN for the upper bracket quarter-finals of BLAST Premier World Final 2021. 
  • Natus Vincere - Rating past three months: s1mple 1.33 | electronic 1.20 | b1t 1.19 | Perfecto 1.03 | Boombl4 0.99
  • Liquid - Rating past three months: NAF 1.16 | EliGE 1.13 | Stewie2K 1.05 | FalleN 0.99 | Grim 0.97

H2H Data:

  • These rosters faced in February at IEM Katowice and Liquid won 2-1 (16-14 Overpass / 7-16 Dust2 / 22-19 Inferno). EliGE topped the leaderboards with 73 kills across three maps, though electronic was the highest rated player (1.23 Rating). NAVI was using a six man roster at the time, and flamie played Overpass & Dust2 while b1t played Inferno.

Projected Maps:

Natus Vincere removes Vertigo

Liquid removes Ancient

Natus Vincere picks Nuke

Liquid picks Inferno

Natus Vincere removes Overpass

Liquid removes Dust2

Mirage is left over

Prediction/Narrative: NAVI wins 2-0.

Liquid pulled the upset when these teams last faced, and the series was a bit wonky. S1mple seemed to be disrespecting his North American opponents with a bit of trolling, though it was Stewie2K who got a knife kill on s1mple in church on Inferno. S1mple finished with the least amount of kills on NAVI in an overtime loss on Inferno, and he did not deliver a star performance against his former team. The teams did face in two other best-of-threes in 2021, and each team swept one of them, though NAVI won the more important series in the lower bracket final of BLAST Premier Global Final 2020. We do have to keep in mind that b1t was still the sixth man for NAVI at that time, and flamie was playing a majority of the maps ahead of him. Since solidifying b1t as a starter, NAVI have elevated to the best team in the world, and they continue to dominate. NAVI are (-1025) moneyline favorites here, and I certainly expect them to win in this spot, but the only thing that I would be possibly concerned about would be NAVI/s1mple disrespecting Liquid like last time. NAVI are the best Nuke team in the world, and they will likely pick that map here, though they could also go for a map like Dust2, and they would be heavy favorites either way. Liquid’s most played map in recent months has been Inferno and they may consider picking it here, but there aren’t really any good options against NAVI. This should be an easy sweep for Natus Vincere on paper. On Draftkings, I’d prefer to stack three from NAVI. S1mple is typically the main focus, but I’m moving him down in priority given his performance against Liquid last time. 

Favorite Draftkings Plays (In order of priority):

b1t ($8,600) | electronic ($9,600) | s1mple ($10,400) | Perfecto ($7,800) | Boombl4 ($6,200) | EliGE ($6,000) | NAF ($6,400) 

  • S1mple leads his team in K/D ratio on Nuke (1.46) & Inferno (1.64) while b1t is in second on both maps (1.28 Nuke / 1.62 Inferno) S1mple also leads in Rating on Nuke (1.28) and Inferno (1.43) while electronic is second on both maps (1.26 Nuke / 1.35 Inferno).

 

Gambit (World rank: #4) vs. Heroic (World rank: #6) - 1:30 P.M. ET

Moneyline Odds: Gambit (-245) | Heroic (+195) 

Map Handicap: Gambit -1.5 (+125) | Heroic -1.5 (-155)

Map Total: Over 2.5 (+125) | Under 2.5 (-150)

  • This is a best-of-three series on LAN for the upper bracket quarter-finals of BLAST Premier World Final 2021. 
  • Gambit - Rating past three months: sh1ro 1.30 | Ax1Le 1.17 | Hobbit 1.15 | nafany 1.03 | interz 0.96
  • Heroic - Rating past three months: cadiaN 1.03 | sjuush 1.03 | refrezh 1.02 | TeSeS 1.02 | b0RUP 0.98

H2H Data:

  • These rosters have never faced each other because b0RUP is standing in for stavn. When the teams last met in April, Gambit won 2-1 (16-6 Inferno / 9-16 Vertigo / 16-12 Train).  

Projected Maps:

Gambit removes Nuke

Heroic removes Dust2

Gambit picks Vertigo

Heroic picks Inferno

Gambit removes Mirage

Heroic removes Overpass

Ancient is left over

Prediction/Narrative: Gambit wins 2-1.

The main storyline here is that stavn cannot play this event due to personal reasons, which means that b0RUP is standing in for him. B0RUP played for Heroic as recently as 2021, but he was replaced in February, and he is currently a member of MAD Lions. He is a support player, and he already has chemistry with this team, so he should be able to slot in smoothly. However, stavn has been fragging at an elite level lately, and he is the highest rated member of Heroic during the past three months, so he is a big loss for Heroic. We’ve seen stand-ins have quick success in the past, like last weekend with NiP vs G2, but I don’t think that the Danes will be able to overcome a team like Gambit with a stand-in. Gambit are a slow, methodical team that do everything in their power to find cracks in their opponents gameplan. If you want to beat Gambit, you have to be spot on with everything you do and having a stand-in could cause issues for the Danes. The other thing to consider is that Nuke is Heroic’s favorite map, and Gambit permaban Nuke. Thus, there are plenty of reasons to doubt Heroic’s chances here. Still, the event takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark, which is an inherit advantage to the hometown team despite the lack of live audience, plus b0RUP should be solid enough to give the Danes a shot. The only map that I think Heroic would have a real chance on would be Inferno, which is Gambit’s least played map in the past three months (besides their permaban, Nuke) and is also Heroic’s most played map during that time besides Nuke.  The rest of the map pool should be well in the favor of Gambit though, especially on Vertigo where they have been the best team in the world. I think Gambit should win this series one way or another, but Heroic have enough firepower to maybe make this close, and I do think three maps is a possibility. 

Favorite Draftkings Plays (In order of priority):

sh1ro ($10,000) | Hobbit ($8,200) | nafany ($6,800) | Ax1Le ($9,000) | refrezh ($5,800) | cadiaN ($6,600) | interz ($5,600)

  • Sh1ro leads his team in K/D ratio (1.53) and Rating (1.25) on Vertigo in the past three months. He also leads in K/D ratio (1.73) and Rating (1.35) on Inferno during that time. 
  • Nafany has been a standout performer on Vertigo with a 1.15 Rating, which is ahead of Ax1Le.

 

*Preferred Stacks: NAVI, Gambit

*Favorite Spend-ups: b1t, sh1ro, electronic, Hobbit, s1mple, Ax1Le

*Top Value Options: Perfecto, nafany, Boombl4, refrezh, EliGE, cadiaN, NAF,, interz