Astralis vs NiP – BLAST Pro Series Madrid

The Blast Pro Series Madrid will kick off 10th May. As always, the competition will last for two days and bring some of the biggest teams in the world on one stage. Let’s have a look at one of the most anticipated matches taking place in the Spanish Capital.

This game gives us an opportunity to comprehensively check out the strengths and weaknesses of Astralis. The team will face off against NiP, however, they might have a tough time against the opposition. Since they recently found it quite hard to win their games.

Astralis  

The most successful competitive team in CS: GO, Astralis will compete on the Spanish soil. The Danish side has won three major titles and a month ago reigned Supreme in BLAST Pro Series, São Paulo. After an unconvincing performance in the Miami edition, the team will be aiming to get back to its winning ways in Madrid. Last year Astralis was a dominant force, winning over ten competitive trophies. In 2019, the team started on the right foot by winning two competitions out of four they competed in.

We are well aware of the fact that Astralis has won almost every competition. Yet the team just loves to compete in the Blast Pro Series, since they won the tournament on three separate occasions.

Successful start to 2019

In the Sao Paulo edition, the team completely dominated the home crowed’s favorites MIBR. They finished at first place in the league phase with a 5-0 record. Apart from the Brazilians, Astralis beat ENCE, FaZe and their upcoming opponents, NiP. The team won the title with a 2-1 victory against Liquid. Before the Katowice Major, the team competed in the iBUYPOWER Masters. The team reached the final with a flawless record, yet they were beaten by Liquid, 2-1. So, the win at Sao Paulo showed that Astralis is known to adapt to their opponent’s strategy. After their iBUYPOWER endeavors, the team competed in the IEM Katowice Major. The Danes were not rated as the favorites yet the team reigned supreme. They played the championship quite comfortably and won the title after beating ENCE in the final. Astralis beat the Finnish side 3-0, asserting its dominance in the competitive circuit.

Such incredible performances justify that Astralis is the strongest team in the world. The team doesn’t rely on individual brilliance but their coordinated strategy is what separates them from the best. A month ago, the Danish side was labeled as boring since no one could counter them. But as the weeks go by, Astalis did exhibit that they are humans after all.

Demolition in Miami

The team competed in the Blast Pro Series Miami. After their triumph in Sao Paulo, Astralis was the favorite. Yet against all odds, the team finished second from the bottom. They played a total of five games, out of which they lost three and won two. Their victories came against Cloud 9 and Natus Vincere. They had a close game against one of the finalists, Team Liquid, losing 14-16. Yet the team was utterly dominated by FaZe and MIBR. Since the Brazilians won 2-16 while the champions of the competition, FaZe beat Astralis 5-16.

The poor performance of the team can be justified by the fact that these were the best of one game and took place in less than 24 hours. Dev1ce previously complained about the hectic schedule of the competition. So, we could excuse the team, since as we previously mentioned that the side has won this competition three times. Moreover, losing one is not a big deal since they are the world champions after all.

19 games win-streak comes to an end

After an unsuccessful trip to NA, the team traveled to back home to compete in the group stage of the ESL Pro League Season 9 – Europe. The side had a good showing since they finished in first place after winning all three series. However, BIG took a game off Astralis on one of their most successful maps. The German side beat the Danes on Inferno, which is one of the most successful maps of the team.

Before the game, the Danes had 19 games win streak on the map. Yet they lost on it in late April 17-19. This is no reason to panic for the Danes since streaks are meant to be broken. Besides, the team still holds 32 games win streak on Nuke. While on other maps like Train and Overpass, they hold over 70 %-win rate.

We believe that the team will prosper in Madrid since they will not take anything for granted. They hardly make any questionable decisions and remain very professional in their playing style even after getting a solid lead. We are quite confident that Astralis will outplay NiP even if it is just a best of one game. Let’s have a look at one of the stars of the team.

Dev1ce for the win

We standby the statement that Astralis is all about teamwork, but individual awards go to a single player and he is Nicola ‘Dev1ce’ Reedtz.  He is simply a brilliant player as he has won 13 MVP titles. He was clinical in the success of the team in 2018. While he was also the MVP of Astralis in 2019 in BLAST Pro Series São Paulo and IEM Katowice.

In 2018, he was amongst the best CS: GO players, as he finished at 2nd place in the global rankings. Despite the tremendous success, dev1ce remains committed to his beloved work. Dev1ce trains a lot, but he says that he can always improve. In 2017, the player became the main AWPer of Astralis. According to Andreas Xyp9x Hoislet, Reedtz often watches replays of other AWPER to train.

We believe that Astralis and dev1ce have what it takes to outplay NiP and other opponents. They can surely win their 4th Blast Pro Series title by the end of next week.

Odds on bookmakers

Bookmakers	Astralis Odds		Ninjas in Pyjamas Odds
	European	American	European	American
GG.bet	1.25	-400.00	4.18	+318.00
1xbet	1.29	-344.83	4.38	+338.00
Buff.bet	1.25	-400.00	3.66	+266.00
Betway	1.28	-357.14	4.50	+350.00