This article is part of our DraftKings CS:GO series.
GAMES (EDT)
- 12:30 p.m. Astralis vs. NiP
- 12:30 p.m. G2 vs. Movistar Riders
- 12:30 p.m. North vs. Copenhagen FLames
- 4:00 p.m. Cloud9 vs. Gen.G
- 4:00 p.m. Evil Geniuses vs. Triumph
Astralis (2-1) vs. NiP (3-0)
NiP stunned Astralis 2–0 at the start of ESL Pro League, but the Danes will be favored to revenge that loss against the Ninjas. In the last game, NiP defeated Astralis on Vertigo and Overpass, but with how good NiP have proven to be on Overpass, it is hard to imagine that Astralis will pick it into NiP this time around.
device is the most consistent force on Astralis, which is reflected in his $9,400 price. While it's high, I think it is certainly worth having some exposure to him. Magisk, too, is a viable option at the lower salary. It is tempting to roster dupreeh when he is priced in the $7,000 range, but he has not looked great this year, and the fact that Dust2 is NiP's perma-ban hurts his value quite a bit. Xyp9x, who has the potential to give us a great return if we end up on Vertigo or Train, may prove to be the better option.
It is anyone's guess who will show up for NiP. REZ and nawwk have been in great form throughout April, and twist is coming off a crazy performance against ENCE. Plopski had the strongest start to the year, and Lekr0 has always been a bit of a specialist on Train, which is a
GAMES (EDT)
- 12:30 p.m. Astralis vs. NiP
- 12:30 p.m. G2 vs. Movistar Riders
- 12:30 p.m. North vs. Copenhagen FLames
- 4:00 p.m. Cloud9 vs. Gen.G
- 4:00 p.m. Evil Geniuses vs. Triumph
Astralis (2-1) vs. NiP (3-0)
NiP stunned Astralis 2–0 at the start of ESL Pro League, but the Danes will be favored to revenge that loss against the Ninjas. In the last game, NiP defeated Astralis on Vertigo and Overpass, but with how good NiP have proven to be on Overpass, it is hard to imagine that Astralis will pick it into NiP this time around.
device is the most consistent force on Astralis, which is reflected in his $9,400 price. While it's high, I think it is certainly worth having some exposure to him. Magisk, too, is a viable option at the lower salary. It is tempting to roster dupreeh when he is priced in the $7,000 range, but he has not looked great this year, and the fact that Dust2 is NiP's perma-ban hurts his value quite a bit. Xyp9x, who has the potential to give us a great return if we end up on Vertigo or Train, may prove to be the better option.
It is anyone's guess who will show up for NiP. REZ and nawwk have been in great form throughout April, and twist is coming off a crazy performance against ENCE. Plopski had the strongest start to the year, and Lekr0 has always been a bit of a specialist on Train, which is a map that we could definitely end up on. If you put a gun to my head, I would roster Plopski or nawwk, but with this being a tough matchup for NiP on a five-game slate, you can definitely make a case for fading them.
- Astralis Players to Target: device ($9,400), Magisk ($8,400) or Xyp9x ($7,200)
- NiP Players to Target: Plopski ($5,800), nawwk ($6,600)
G2 (2-1) vs. Movistar Riders (2-1)
G2 will be a big favorite against Movistar Riders, a team that has been one of the major surprises of the tournament. nexa has been bumped up to $9,600 after a great game against Copenhagen Flames, and while nexa is a great player, we will gladly take huNter and kennyS at a discount. I would also consider AmaNEk, who has the potential to give us a good return as one of the lowest-priced players on the slate.
Movistar Riders are coming off their first loss in the tournament to FaZe, and they actually managed to make them sweat a little bit after winning Overpass. ALEX had a great performance against FaZe, and he has been the best guy on Movistar Riders, but $8,800 is unreasonable. If you want to target a Movistar Riders upset, you may want to consider loWel or EasTor at significantly lower salaries instead.
- G2 Players to Target: huNter ($9,200), kennyS ($8,200), AmaNEk ($5,400)
- Movistar Riders Players to Target: loWel ($6,800), EasTor ($5,000)
North (1-2) vs. Copenhagen Flames (1-2)
North are coming off a loss to GODSENT, and they will hope to bounce back with a win here against Copenhagen Flames. aizy has been the best player on North since MSL's arrival, but $9,800 is way too much on a slate where you can get players like huNter or device at a lower salary. Kjaerbye is the better option at $8,600, and it is not a terrible idea to take a chance on a guy like cajunb or gade due to the favorable matchup.
Farlig is the best player by quite a margin on Copenhagen Flames, but $10,000 is absurd considering the difficulty of the matchup. This is not a very attractive spot to roster any Copenhagen Flames players, but if you want to target the upset, Farlig and refrezh have proven to be the best players on the team since its inception.
- North Players to Target: Kjaerbye ($8,600), cajunb ($6,600), gade ($5,800)
- Copenhagen Flames Players to Target: Farlig ($10,000), refrezh ($7,000)
Cloud9 (2-1) vs. Gen.G (3-0)
Cloud9 came out on top by a score of 2–0 at FLASHPOINT earlier this year, and they will hope to repeat that feat once more at ESL One: Road to Rio. It is quite likely that the map veto plays out the same way as last time, and if it does, we will likely see Nuke played. This has been a good map for floppy, who leads his team with 0.76 kills/round and a 1.16 K/D ratio on Nuke, and he makes for a solid pick alongside oSee, who put up 48 kills, 15 assists and a plus-10 K/D differential in their last meeting with Gen.G.
autimatic is solid value on the side of Gen.G at $6,800, and he has a good chance at giving us a nice return if we end up on Nuke, as he leads all players on Gen.G with 0.73 kills/round and a K/D ratio of 1.24 on the map. BnTeT has also looked great recently, and he currently leads all Gen.G players with 0.74 kills/round and a K/D ratio of 1.16 this month.
- Cloud9 Players to Target: floppy ($7,600), oSee ($7,800)
- Gen.G Players to Target: koosta ($8,000), BnTeT ($7,200), autimatic ($6,800)
Evil Geniuses (1-2) vs. Triumph (2-2)
Evil Geniuses will be a big favorite in this matchup against Triumph. Brehze has been a beast over the last month, leading the team with 0.79 kills/round and a 1.19 K/D ratio; as a result, he's the highest-priced player on the slate. If you don't want to pay up for Brehze, you can opt for CeRq at $9,000, or take a flier on Ethan, who has started playing better recently.
This is a super tough matchup for Triumph, but if you want to go there, I would look no further than Grim, who is a level above his fellow teammates.
