Astralis vs. Spirit, Preview & Prediction - Free 2/21 CS:GO

Astralis is a firm favorite in this Best of 3 encounter when they face Spirit in the Group A upper bracket final of the IEM Katowice 2021 on Sunday. The winner of this match will advance to the semi-finals of the playoffs while the losing team will go to the quarter-finals.

Astralis Team Stats and Latest Results

Astralis didn’t play well at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021 after winning second place and $200,000 at the BLAST Premier Global Final 2020. However, they returned to winning ways at this tournament with a pair of comfortable 2-0 victories over mousesports and Evil Geniuses. Although dropped to 2nd position in the CS:GO tour, the Danish team is always one of the biggest favorites to win major tournaments such as the IEM Katowice 2021. Astralis won 14 of the previous 19 matches.

In the last three months, Astralis was strong on Train (80.0% win rate) and Dust2 (78.6%), while they were average only on Nuke. Astralis is playing with the same lineup since November 2020 and appeared on 55 maps with a record of 39 wins and 16 losses. The team members are Xyp9x (1.04 rating), dupreeh (1.12), gla1ve (1.02), device (1.23), and Magisk (1.06).

Spirit Team Stats and Latest Results

Spirit needed a couple of victories over Cloud9 and BIG to qualify for this tournament, but they didn’t have problems and secured two flawless wins. Prior to the IEM Katowice 2021, Spirit won a trophy and $35,000 at the DreamHack Open January 2021 Europe with a convincing 3-0 win over FunPlus Phoenix in the Grand Final. In the opening two rounds of the IEM Katowice 2021, Spirit beat G2 and Heroic. Spirit won 12 of the last 17 games.

During the previous three months, Spirit was decent on Dust2 (77.8%) and Nuke (71.4%), while they failed to impress on Overpass (33.3%). Spirit assembled its current squad in January this year and appeared on 18 maps with a record of 15 wins and three losses. The lineup is made of chopper (1.04), mir (1.21), sdy (1.07), degster (1.27), and magixx (1.04).

Astralis vs. Spirit H2H Record

These rivals have met on three occasions so far, and Astralis won each of those duels without dropping a single map along the way. Their most recent clash was at the ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe in October 2020 when Astralis secured a 2-0 victory.

Astralis vs. Spirit Betting Preview

Astralis is a better team and the H2H record is entirely on their side, but Spirit is playing at the top level at the moment, and perhaps this is the game to finally get a map from Astralis. The Danish side was ruthless in the opening two games at the tournament, but they will face the red-hot Spirit, who is on a seven-game winning streak. Backing Over 2.5 maps has a bigger value than betting on Spirit to cover a +1.5 handicap.

The Pick: Over 2.5 Maps (+125 @GG.BET)