Vitality vs. Liquid, Preview & Prediction - Free 1/21 CS:GO

Vitality is a favorite in this Best of 3 encounter when they take on Liquid in the Upper bracket semi-final of the BLAST Premier Global Final 2020 on Thursday. The winning side will advance to the Upper final and face a better team from the duel between Astralis and G2, while the loser will go down to the Lower bracket.

Vitality Team Stats and Latest Results

Thanks to the victorious campaigns at the BLAST Premier Fall Series 2020 and IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 Europe, Vitality finished last year in 2nd place in the CS:GO rankings. They beat BIG and Natus Vincere in the Grand Final at both tournaments and made $85,000 for their efforts. The French side struggled at the IEM Global Challenge 2020, where they lost to BIG and Astralis; however, they opened this year with a convincing 2-0 win over Complexity. Vitality won 14 of the previous 17 matches.

When it comes to the maps in the last three months, Vitality was great on Inferno (83.3% win rate) and Overpass (83.3%), while their “weakest” displays came on Nuke (53.8%). Vitality assembled its current squad in October 2020 but appeared on just 33 maps with a record of 22 wins and 11 losses. The lineup is made of shox (1.12 rating), RpK (1.03), apex (1.02), ZywOo (1.31), and misutaaa (1.06).

Liquid Team Stats and Latest Results

Unlike their Thursday rivals, Liquid didn’t have a lot of luck at the major tournaments prior to the winter break. They couldn’t get a trophy at the IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 North America, BLAST Premier Fall 2020 Showdown, and DreamHack Masters Winter 2020 Europe. The Americans did come close at the IEM Global Challenge 2020, reaching the Grand Final, but Astralis was unstoppable, so Liquid settled with 2nd place and $100,000. In the opening match at the BLAST Premier Global Final 2020, Liquid upset Natus Vincere with a comfortable 2-0 victory. Liquid won eight of the last 14 games.

In the previous three months, Liquid played very well on Nuke (75.0%), while they were below average only on Inferno (44.4%). Although I thought they would need time to accustom to a new team member, FalleN, a former MIBR player, Liquid didn’t’ have problems beating NaVi whatsoever. Those two maps were the first with a new squad. The rest of the team members are NAF (1.11), EliGE (1.12), Stewie2K (0.96), and Grim (1.08).

Vitality vs. Liquid H2H Record

These rivals have met on five occasions before, and Vitality leads the all-time series 3-2. Interestingly, Liquid won the opening two matches, but Vitality won the last three, including the most recent one at the IEM Chicago 2019 in July 2019.

Vitality vs. Liquid Betting Preview

Following that impressive win over Natus Vincere, I have no courage to bet against Liquid in this one. I was completely wrong by backing NaVi in the previous round, and I will not make the same mistake here. Instead of betting on the winner, I am going with Over 2.5 maps. Four of Vitality’s last six Best of 3 games produced a maximum of three maps.

The Pick: Over 2.5 Maps (+119 @GG.BET)