Astralis vs. NIP, Preview & Prediction - Free 2/4 CS:GO

Astralis is an absolute favorite in this Best of 3 encounter when they face NIP in the Group A upper bracket semi-final of the BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021 on Thursday. The winning side will advance to the next round and meet a better team from the clash between OG and BIG, while the loser will drop down to the Lower bracket.

Astralis Team Stats and Latest Results

Astralis concluded the last year with a trophy at the IEM Global Challenge 2020 and a whopping $200,000 for the first place after they defeated Liquid in the Grand Final. Prior to that game, they beat Complexity, Vitality, and Natus Vincere. The Danish side won an additional $200,000, but this time around, it was for 2nd place at the BLAST Premier Global Final 2020. The No. 1 team in the CS:GO beat Evil Geniuses, G2, and Vitality, but lost to Natus Vincere in the Grand final. Astralis won 11 of the previous 14 matches.

In the last three months, Astralis played very well on Train (75.0% win rate), Vertigo (75.0%), and Inferno (73.7%), while they were below average only on Nuke (41.7%). Astralis is playing with the same lineup since November 2020 and appeared on 57 maps with a record of 39 wins and 18 losses. The team members are Xyp9x (1.03 rating), dupreeh (1.10), gla1ve (1.00), device (1.23), and Magisk (1.06).

NIP Team Stats and Latest Results

NIP returned to the CS:GO tour after two months of break and their loss to Cloud9 at the BLAST Premier Fall 2020 Showdown. The Swedish team took part at the cs_summit 7, but suffered three defeats in four matches as they lost to Virtus.pro twice and Cloud9, while their only win came against Dignitas. NIP lost six of the last eight games.

When it comes to the maps in the previous three months, NIP was average on Dust2, Inferno, Nuke, and Train, while they failed to get a victory on Overpass (played twice) and didn’t play well on Vertigo (20.0%) and Mirage (25.0%). NIP will be playing this game with a new lineup after they parted ways with twist (0.90) and promoted ztr (1.00) from young Ninjas. The lineup is now made of ztr, REZ (1.09), hampus (1.08), nawwk (0.99), and Plopski (1.00).

Astralis vs. NIP H2H Record

These rivals have met on six occasions before, and NIP is leading the all-time series 4-2. Still, Astralis won the most recent clash at the ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe in September 2020.

Astralis vs. NIP Betting Preview

I expect Astralis to open this tournament with a comfortable win, not only because NIP is not playing well lately, but because they will play with a new team member. At the moment, I don’t think the Swedish team has enough quality to defeat anybody at this tournament, so the rivals shouldn’t have problems beating them at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021.

The Pick: Astralis -1.5 (-200 @GG.BET)