This article is part of our DraftKings CS:GO series.
GAMES (EDT)
- 8:00 a.m. Heroic vs. North
- 11:30 a.m. G2 vs. Astralis
- 3:10 p.m. Liquid vs. FURIA
Heroic (0–2) vs. North (1–1)
Despite close games against both Astralis and G2, Heroic find themselves without a win. Their most recent loss to G2 was particularly disappointing, as they allowed G2 to get back into the game and win in overtime after some real blunders in re-take situations. North didn't have a much better time in their match against Astralis, failing to get to double digits on both maps. stavn had another excellent showing in Heroic's loss to G2, posting 77 frags, 16 assists and a K/D differential of plus-16 across three maps, and he is going to be a great, albeit very popular, play at just $6,600. niko has been jacked up all the way to $9,600, and while I did like him over TeSeS in the last slate, $9,600 is just way too much. cadiaN is still one of the lowest-priced players on the slate, and while he is far from a dominant AWPer, he does have enough upside to consider at just $4,400.
aizy and MSL remain the top plays on the side of North. It is a bit interesting to note that gade has top fragged in both of their last two meetings with Heroic, and he was great on Inferno against Astralis. However, rostering a player like gade is going to be a big risk that I would only ever consider in GPPs.
- Heroic Players to Target:
GAMES (EDT)
- 8:00 a.m. Heroic vs. North
- 11:30 a.m. G2 vs. Astralis
- 3:10 p.m. Liquid vs. FURIA
Heroic (0–2) vs. North (1–1)
Despite close games against both Astralis and G2, Heroic find themselves without a win. Their most recent loss to G2 was particularly disappointing, as they allowed G2 to get back into the game and win in overtime after some real blunders in re-take situations. North didn't have a much better time in their match against Astralis, failing to get to double digits on both maps. stavn had another excellent showing in Heroic's loss to G2, posting 77 frags, 16 assists and a K/D differential of plus-16 across three maps, and he is going to be a great, albeit very popular, play at just $6,600. niko has been jacked up all the way to $9,600, and while I did like him over TeSeS in the last slate, $9,600 is just way too much. cadiaN is still one of the lowest-priced players on the slate, and while he is far from a dominant AWPer, he does have enough upside to consider at just $4,400.
aizy and MSL remain the top plays on the side of North. It is a bit interesting to note that gade has top fragged in both of their last two meetings with Heroic, and he was great on Inferno against Astralis. However, rostering a player like gade is going to be a big risk that I would only ever consider in GPPs.
- Heroic Players to Target: stavn ($6,600), TeSeS ($7,800), cadiaN ($4,400)
- North Players to Target: aizy ($8,800), MSL ($8,000), gade ($4,200)
G2 (1–1) vs. Astralis (2–0)
G2 managed to narrowly defeat Heroic, and they are now set to face off against an Astralis side that absolutely steamrolled North. Astralis hold a 4–0 head-to-head record in best-of-threes against this current G2 roster, and they have only lost a single map during that stretch. However, it is worth noting they are now playing with JUGi instead of gla1ve, and while that has worked out for them thus far, it definitely gives G2 a better chance this time around. G2 have picked Vertigo in two of their last three series against Astralis, without success, while Astralis have flexed their strength in the map pool by picking (and winning) Nuke, Overpass and Inferno. With Vertigo being likely, Magisk and Xyp9x make for solid plays on the side of Astralis, and both had a great series in their most recent trashing of North.
If you want to target the G2 upset, kennyS and huNter- are going to be your safest options. AmaNEk and nexa have some potential due to Vertigo being likely, but with this pricing, there isn't much reason to go there unless you want to go for a contrarian lineup.
- Astralis Players to Target: Magisk ($8,600), Xyp9x ($7,600), device ($10,200)
- G2 Players to Target: kennyS ($7,200), huNter- ($6,800)
Liquid (0-1) vs. FURIA (1-0)
Liquid are coming off a shocking loss to Chaos, and they will be desperate to get a win on the board against a FURIA side that they have struggled quite a bit against in 2020. FURIA holds a 3–0 head-to-head record against Liquid in 2020, and they have swept the last two series. Vertigo has proven to be a huge difference-maker for FURIA this year, and they have picked and won this map in their last two meetings with Liquid. I pointed out how good yuurih has been on Vertigo for FURIA alongside HEN1 in my most recent article, and they had a banger of a game against MiBR, with their performance on Vertigo being the highlight of the series. Both are solid plays against Liquid, and while KSCERATO isn't the best Vertigo player, his upside is so good on the remainder of the maps that it would be questionable to ignore him entirely.
On Liquid, it has been NAF who has excelled recently for the North American side, posting 72 frags, 13 assists and a K/D differential of plus-25 in their loss to Chaos. EliGE probably let a lot of people down with his performance against Chaos, but it isn't terrible to go back to him due to how good he has been on Vertigo. He leads his side with 0.81 kills/round and a K/D ratio of 1.18 on Vertigo, making him a viable option despite being priced at $9,000 in a difficult matchup. With FURIA favoring Vertigo over Mirage in recent times against Liquid, a player like Stewie2k loses quite a bit of value. Instead, I would opt for a player like Twistzz, who has quite a bit of upside on maps like Inferno and Overpass.
