
Natus Vincere (NATUS) v.s. AGO (AGO) (6:30 AM EST) (-3150 NATUS)
To start the slate the #1 team in the league NATUS will get a one-sided matchup in their favor against a rank 137th AGO squad. The best sniper in the game in s1mple should be able to capitalize of of his edge (1.37 K/D) against the opposing sniper in mwlky with a 1.09 K/D. Unfortunately, for AGO their sniper is their most efficient slayer on the team so they may get put in a hole very early in the series and could possibly struggle throughout the match. Also, it doesn’t help AGO that NATUS has another player with more damage (75.4) than their entire team per round in electroNic to complement s1mple in the slaying. That being said NATUS shouldn’t have trouble winning this matchup by a decent margin.
Heroic (HERO) v.s. Complexity (CMPLX) (10:00 AM EST) (-415 HERO)
A more even matchup but with quite the gap in CMPLX raned 27th versus number 5th ranked HERO will faceoff here. Both teams will also enter with winning streaks (CMPLX- 4 games in a row, HERO- 3). The new look CMPLX squad are coming off dominant qualifier matches with Grim leading the way in damage per round 91.9 which could be problematic for HERO, especially with junior being the most consistent on the team with a 1.70 K/D as their main sniper. However, HERO has more experience as a unit and dominate when everyone is firing on all cylinders and consistently slaying. Also, HERO should be able to counter due to them having two players with damage in the 90+ range (stavn/TeSeS). TeSeS leads both teams with 94.6 damage per round which could be used to slow down Grim. That being said HERO should be able to prevail here with more experience and the likelihood of shutting down CMPLX’s top slayer at the moment.
Evil Geniuses (EG) v.s. Astralis (ASTRA) (1:30 PM EST) (-215 ASTRA)
To conclude the match another one-sided matchup will go underway with ASTRA entering with some edge as the 11th ranked team against rank 48th EG squad. Both squads will be trying to rebound off a one-game losing streak as well. Fortunately, ASTRA was able to sweep EG the last time these teams met 2-0 so this should bode well for them to perform well against EG again. ASTRA has changed their lineup since then though with Xyp9x being the only player left from that previous matchup on the team. Despite being the least consistent player on his team as of late he’d still be able to provide insight on how to defeat this EG team. On the other hand, the most relied on slayer for ASTRA in blameF may end up contributing greatly because he’s more dominant of a slayer (1.16 K/D) than a player that dominated in the last lineup for ASTRA against EG. The latest addition of autimatic to EG has potential to make or break this series for EG though with the most damage (95.4) per round out of both teams. However, since EG was unable to win last matchup with two players being the only efficient players alone it still may be a tough matchup for them.
| $ Tier | CPTN | P |
|---|---|---|
| High | s1mple (15.6k / 7.500) | s1mple (10.4k / 5.00) |
| stavn (10k / 5.00) | ||
| blameF (9.2k / 5.00) | ||
| electronic (8.4k / 5.00) | ||
| Medium | autimatic (11.7k / 7.500) | autimatic (7.8k / 5.00) |
| TeSeS (10.5k / 7.500) | TeSeS (7k / 5.00) | |
| Junior (6.4k / 5.00) | ||