Esports News

MAD Lions -vs- fnatic 

Top Pick: Brollan (fnatic)

Outsider Pick: refrezh / acoR (MAD Lions)

fnatic are set to take on MAD Lions in this upper-bracket match-up to determine who moves on to the playoffs. MAD Lions came out on top with a 2-1 victory the last time these two teams met, and in that match, it was refrezh who topped the board for the Danes. Vertigo and Inferno were the picks in that match, and I suspect that the teams will be happy to run it back with the same set of maps. This generally favours Brollan of fnatic, who has been the stand-out player for his team on Vertigo so far with an impressive 0.78 kills/round. Inferno is another solid map for him, where he consistently finds success from the pit on CT-side. In online matches this year, Brollan has posted a team-leading 0.71 kills/round on this map. 

On the MAD Lions side of things, both refrezh and acoR stand out, and I definitely disagree with the Puntt AI on this one. acoR has always been a focal point of this MAD Lions side, and while the maps aren't the most suitable for an AWPer like him, he still has a far better chance of topping the board than most of the people on the server. The same thing can be said for refrezh, who has looked very solid since joining the team as Bubzkji's direct replacement. 

Virtus.pro -vs- Gen.G

Top Pick: YEKINDAR / Jame (Virtus.pro)

Outsider Pick: buster (Virtus.pro)

Virtus.pro put an end to Cloud9's hype train with a clean 2-0 sweep in the opener, and they are now set to face off against a Gen.G side that upset OG in their first match of the season. 

YEKINDAR was the stand-out player for Virtus.pro in their win against Cloud9, topping the board with 45 frags. The Latvian has been thriving for Virtus.pro since buster rejoined the roster, making him one to target in this match-up with Gen.G. Since the roster was formed, YEKINDAR has posted a team-leading 0.78 kills/round across all maps, with Jame coming in as the second-best on the team with 0.72 kills/round.

Gen.G's map choice in this series could significantly impact the upside of the Virtus.pro players. So far, Train and Mirage have historically been the two comfort picks for Gen.G, and they picked Train in their opening game of the Flashpoint season. On Train, it is buster who stands out with an eye-catching 0.87 kills/round across six games played on the map, with Jame coming in as second-best with 0.82 kills/round. However, with Virtus.pro's undefeated run on Train in mind, Gen.G may be tempted to go for the Mirage pick instead. Here, it is YEKINDAR who emerges on top with an impressive 0.85 kills/round, followed by Jame with 0.71 kills/round.

On Gen.G, the rifling duo of koosta and BnTeT may be considered, but personally, I would rather put my money on the Virtus.pro players as they are in amazing form at the moment. Since this team was formed, they have amassed an impressive record of 24 wins and 4 losses, all in BO3s, two of which were against Natus Vincere. Of course, a large portion of these wins came against lesser competition, but beating a team like Natus Vincere twice in BO3s is nothing to sneeze at.

North -vs- G2

Top Pick: NiKo (G2)

Outsider Pick: huNter- (G2)

G2 will look to bounce back after a tough loss against NiP, and they will be in a good spot to do so here against North. Both G2 and North have made roster moves not too long ago, and this will be the first time that they will face off with their new lineups. 

G2's NiKo has impressed since joining from FaZe, posting 0.78 kills/round across all maps, tied for first on the team alongside his cousin huNter-. He was particularly excellent for G2 in their two wins against Astralis on Dust2, top fragging on both occasions by a significant margin. This has always been a stand-out map for this G2 side, and it is highly likely that they pick it here assuming that North sticks to their Mirage perma-ban, making NiKo a strong overall pick. 

With the expectation that NiKo will be a popular pick, taking a stab on huNter- may be a decent play. The Bosniak was the only one who really showed up in their recent loss to NiP on Vertigo, and he has been the team's top fragger on Nuke so far with 0.86 kills/round, two maps that could come into play in this match-up. 

On North, a player like aizy or gade could potentially do some damage, but this North team just isn't good enough on paper for me to consider any of their players against a G2 side that has beaten teams like Astralis and FURIA since the addition of NiKo.