Heroic vs Natus Vincere Preview: ESL Pro League Season 17 Playoffs

The biggest clash so far at the ESL Pro League Season 17 Playoffs, Heroic vs Natus Vincere promises fireworks

There are few things more fascinating than a CSGO match involving two high-level teams in the Playoffs of a big tournament, and that’s precisely what we have in store for you today with Heroic taking on Natus Vincere in ESL Pro League Season 17. Heroic were absolutely brilliant in the Group Stage, but they haven’t been seen since then while Na’ Vi have continued to gain ground and improve their game. This would put the two roughly at par with one another, so if you’re about to do some CSGO betting or just a big fan of the game, check out our preview.

Heroic 

Heroic have been out of action for a while, but considering how consistent they have been over the last few months, this shouldn’t affect them too badly. The Danish side ruled Group B, facing fierce opposition from only one team. They zipped ahead of Movistar Riders, inched past BIG, and beat MOUZ 2-0 but not without the games being very close. Now they’ll face a resurgent Na’ Vi, who have surprised many by making it this far, and although Heroic are still the favorites, they’d do well to be extremely careful because their opponents are coming in hot.

Players 

Martin “stavn” Lund

• HLTV Rating: 1.12
• Impact Rating: 1.14
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.9%
• Average Damage Round: 81.0
• Kills Per Round: 0.73

Casper “cadiaN” Møller

• HLTV Rating: 1.04
• Impact Rating: 1.11
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.7%
• Average Damage Round: 73.2
• Kills Per Round:0.69

René “TeSeS” Madsen

• HLTV Rating: 1.10
• Impact Rating: 1.11
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.5%
• Average Damage Round: 78.1
• Kills Per Round: 0.71

Rasmus “sjuush” Beck

• HLTV Rating: 1.09
• Impact Rating: 1.03
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 72.3%
• Average Damage Round: 75.4
• Kills Per Round: 0.68

Jakob “Jabbi” Nygaard

• HLTV Rating: 1.04
• Impact Rating: 1.00
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.3%
• Average Damage Round:71.6
• Kills Per Round: 0.67

Player To Watch

While there are usually 2-3 players on other teams that we need to choose between, Heroic are always especially difficult to pick from because literally any of their players can top frag in a given game. This time, we’ll pick the beastly stavn.

Natus Vincere

The Ukrainians seem to be coming into their own with this new lineup. They’re still far from their fantastic old selves, but they definitely seem to finally be getting the hang of this squad. Their newest recruit npl has been posting much better numbers in recent games, and given their immense experience and ability to step up to the plate in big matches, they’re always in contention. Moreover, Heroic took them out in the Semifinals of IEM Katowice, and the CIS side will be gunning for revenge.

Players

Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev

• HLTV Rating: 1.24
• Impact Rating: 1.35
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 74.0%
• Average Damage Round: 85.8
• Kills Per Round: 0.85

Denis “electroNic” Sharipov

• HLTV Rating: 1.09
• Impact Rating: 1.19
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.7%
• Average Damage Round: 82.6
• Kills Per Round: 0.74

Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy

• HLTV Rating: 1.04
• Impact Rating: 0.87
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 73.2%
• Average Damage Round: 69.9
• Kills Per Round: 0.62

Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi

• HLTV Rating: 1.11
• Impact Rating: 1.10
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 72.0%
• Average Damage Round: 75.5
• Kills Per Round: 0.70

Andrii “npl” Kukharskyi

• HLTV Rating: 1.00
• Impact Rating: 0.96
• Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.2%
• Average Damage Round: 70.6
• Kills Per Round: 0.63

Player to Watch

You can’t keep a good man down, and we’re putting our hopes of seeing a fantastic performance on good old s1mple. 

ESL Pro League Season 17 Playoffs: Heroic vs Natus Vincere Predictions

Na’ Vi have improved and it should be a great game, but we fully expect to see the matchup going 2-0 in Heroic’s favor.

Maps 

When Na’ Vi and Heroic are involved, you can almost rest assured that you’ll see Nuke. We’re guessing the other two maps will be Mirage and Inferno.

Score 

Map 1: Heroic to win with Na’ Vi <13.

Map 2: Heroic to win with Na’ Vi <11.

Top Fragger

We picked out stavn as the winning team’s best player, and we’ll stick with him for this.

Match Links

Be sure to check out ESL’s Twitch or YouTube channels. Coverage is set to begin at 14:00 ET/13:00 CST/11:00 PT.

Join us again for previews of the Semifinals tomorrow, and go through our extensive collection of CSGO content while you wait.