ESL Pro League Season 17 Group D: Astralis vs Natus Vincere Preview and Predictions
| Tags: CS:GO
| Author The Old One
An in-depth look into the high-profile Mid Bracket match between Astralis and Natus Vincere in Group D of ESL Pro League Season 17
There was a time not too long ago when this matchup would have been the Grand Final of this event. In fact, Astralis beat Natus Vincere in the final of the 12th season of ESL Pro League to claim their third title. The mighty have indeed fallen, however, and now they find themselves locked in for a Mid-Bracket matchup with everything to gain. Neither team will want the shame of being in the Lower Bracket, so this should be a cracker. Before you watch the game or perhaps decide to bet on CSGO today, you need to read our preview and predictions.
Astralis
It’s no secret that the Danes are a shadow of their former selves and have been for a while, but there was a lot of hope regarding the return of one of their main men which is now fading fast. It seems that nothing but a total revamp will change the four-time Major winner’s fortunes, with the legendary core group just not cutting it since the start of the online era. They were barely there in their first map against Spirit, and despite a much closer scoreline, never looked to be in control in the second. Na’ Vi should be much tougher, so they’ll have to work much harder.
Players
Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth
- HLTV Rating: 1.01
- Impact Rating: 0.96
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 72.1%
- Average Damage Round: 74.4
- Kills Per Round: 0.66
Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander
- HLTV Rating: 0.98
- Impact Rating: 1.04
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.0%
- Average Damage Round: 74.4
- Kills Per Round: 0.66
Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz
- HLTV Rating: 1.16
- Impact Rating: 1.28
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.3%
- Average Damage Round: 80.4
- Kills Per Round: 0.78
Benjamin “blameF” Bremer
- HLTV Rating: 1.23
- Impact Rating: 1.23
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 74.0%
- Average Damage Round: 85.8
- Kills Per Round: 0.77
Christian “Buzz” Andersen
- HLTV Rating: 1.04
- Impact Rating: 1.04
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 69.8%
- Average Damage Round: 75.0
- Kills Per Round: 0.66
Player to Watch
Although blameF has a better chance of top fragging due to his unsavory tendency to bait his teammates, dev1ce is the best player on the team and the one we’d prefer to watch.
Natus Vincere
Having been at their peak much more recently than Astralis, the Ukrainians are still struggling to come to terms with being at a point where they can be beaten by a team ranked much lower than them at a big event, especially after they had won the first map in convincing fashion. Now Na’ Vi have to pick up the pieces, pick up the pace, and quite possibly break some Danish hearts in order to make it further into the tournament. The CIS boys are more than capable of doing so, but as yesterday showed, they’re also capable of falling to allegedly lesser teams.
Players
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
- HLTV Rating: 1.24
- Impact Rating: 1.35
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 74.1%
- Average Damage Round: 85.9
- Kills Per Round: 0.85
Denis “electroNic” Sharipov
- HLTV Rating: 1.09
- Impact Rating: 1.19
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.6%
- Average Damage Round: 82.6
- Kills Per Round: 0.74
Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy
- HLTV Rating: 1.03
- 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: 1.02
- Impact Rating: 1.00
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.5%
- Average Damage Round: 72.4
- Kills Per Round: 0.64
Player to watch
s1mple might be the unquestionable god of Na’ Vi, but we’re going to go with b1t for this way as both a change of pace and a nod to his own impressive abilities.
ESL Pro League Season 17 Group D Astralis vs Natus Vincere Predictions
It’s probably going to go down to the wire, but the boys in yellow and black should come out on top. Na’ Vi to win 2-1.
Maps
Despite their awful loss yesterday, Astralis will probably go with Ancient while Na’ Vi pick Overpass, with the third map being Nuke.
Score
Map 1: Astralis to win with Na’ Vi <14.
Map 2: Na’ Vi to win with Astralis <10.
Map 3: Na’ Vi to win in Overtime with Astralis <17.
Top Fragger
If Na’ Vi win, it’ll most likely be as a result of s1mple’s AWP, so we’re tipping him to be the top fragger for this match.
Match Links
Join the action on Twitch and YouTube, with coverage beginning at 14:30 ET/13:30 CST/12:30 PT.
Check out our long list of CSGO content while you wait. We have guides, previews, analyses, strategies and more.