Natus Vincere vs Astralis – BLAST Pro Series Miami

Just over ten days left to start the second stop this year from the BLAST Pro Series. RFRSH Entertainment has released all the information regarding the schedule and format of the event, which will take place in Miami.

The show will start exactly on April 12. During two days of the competition, the six invited teams will fight for the trophy and for the lion’s share of the prize pool of 250,000. The current defender of the title is Astralis, which just loves playing under the banner of BLAST Pro Series as they have won this competition on three different occasions. Other participants of the American event will include the biggest rivals of the Danish Five, Team Liquid, and even semi-finalists of IEM Katowice 2019 – Natus Vincere.

Astralis and Na’Vi will not be inaugurating the competition but will compete in the last match of the day. It will surely be the most awaited one as will surely have so much on the line apart from the win. Na’Vi is not in the best of forms, while Astralis just can’t stop winning. The encounter is between two teams which ended 2018, at 1st and 2nd place respectively. So, let’s see who can come out on top on the American soil.

Na’Vi

Na’Vi had its fair share of struggles at the moment. Since they were embraced by the dark horse of the competition, ENCE. After that, the roster took a break from the competitive to resolve its internal conflicts. Even the side lost its top 3 position in the HLTV ranking. After almost a month the team competed in the StarSeries & i-League CS: GO Season 7 where they lost their first game to Vici Gaming. After this loss, the side did redeem itself as it won against BIG, North, and NiP. However, the initial slip up of the team could possibly be catastrophic against Astralis in Miami.

Astralis

The best CS: GO team in the world, will be in action in Miami. Astralis holds three major wins under their belt and recently won the BLAST Pro Series, São Paulo. They will surely be aiming to win this competition as well. In 2018, the Astralis side reigned supreme and in 2019, things are not slowing down for the Danes. The side won two of the major competitions out of the three they competed in so far.

The BLAST Pro series is a special tournament for the side since they have won it three occasions. They seem to win every competition they participate in. Astralis is almost always the first choice for every bookmaker to lift the title of any competition.

In the previous BLAST Pro Series, the side got its redemption against the favorites, MIBR. Since back in 2017 Copenhagen Blast Pro Series, MIBR was the team that beat Astralis to win the title. In 2019, Sao Paulo edition, MIBR was the first team to get eliminated. Astralis beat them 16-10 on Overpass.

Apart from their win in Brazil, the side also competed in two premier level tournaments. Their first tournament of 2019 was the iBUYPOWER Masters. The team despite completely annihilating the competition was beaten in the final by Team Liquid. Looking at the profile of Astralis, this result came as a shock to the community. Since some thought that the domination of Astralis is over. However, they came out all guns blazing in possibly the most prestigious competition of the year, the Katowice Major where they overpowered, ENCE with a 3-0 beating.

This result is enough to silence the critics and rates Astralis the best team in the world. Their strategy doesn’t revolve around individual brilliance. It’s the overall chemistry of the team that fascinates the world. Their synergy cannot be matched by any team in the world. Some even rate Astralis as “Boring” as they have won everything there is to win in the competitive circuit. Now we mention some stats for the side that makes them the flawless in their game.

No room for weaknesses

The team hosts little to no margin of error on any map they play. Especially on Nuke which is banned by every opponent, the side comes across. At the moment, they host an impressive winning streak with 32 competitive game unbeaten. While the 2nd spot is proclaimed by Inferno where they hold a 15-game win streak. On their “poorest” maps, Overpass and Train, the side holds around 71% success rate.

The team never disrespects its opponents nor do the players make questionable decisions, even after a comfortable lead. It’s this attitude of the side that’s what makes them the best in what they do and that is winning titles. Let’s put a spotlight on one of the stars of the team, Dev1ce who previously had health issues, but in the past year was quite exceptional.

Dev1ce all the way

We standby the statement that Astralis is all about teamwork, but individual awards go to a single player and he is Nicola ‘Dev1ce’ Reedtz. The audience and the critics just can’t get enough of him since he has won 13 MVP titles in his luxurious career. He has led his side to ten competitive wins in 2018. While is 2019, he has won his team the IEM Katowice and BLAST Pro Series, São Paulo.

He was the 2nd best CS: GO player in the world in 2018, coming second to his upcoming opponent, Oleksandr “s1mple” of Na’VI. No matter what the stats say we believe that Dev1ce is one his to become the leader in the competitive landscape of the title.

Final verdict

Astralis victory

Odds on bookmakers