Both of these two teams had to qualify through Minor tournaments. However, NRG is heavily favored in this match, and there are reasons for that. On the other hand, no one was rating Winstrike on the CIS Minor, but they proved everyone wrong. Keep reading our CSGO Betting Predictions.
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Winstrike vs NRG
As mentioned above, both of these teams are fired up and ready to go. NRG and Winstrike both played a lot of games recently, so we will have a good insight about their form, map pool and their chances in this one.
Where can I place by bet?
Form
Given the fact that both of these teams qualified for IEM Katowice 2019, they are in a very solid form. However, Winstrike decided to be a part of another event after their Minor saga, while NRG decided to take a break.
Let’s start with Winstrike. Their last 5 matches have been played in the best-of-3 series. They are on a 2 victory run as they were able to beat Tricked and HAVU. However, they also lost two best-of-3 series against FURIA and x-kom.
NRG is on a five win streak at the moment. Furthermore, North American organization did not lose a map in their last 4 best-of-3 series. They have been dominating everyone, and they are unstoppable. NRG dominated teams like Bravado, Envy, and FURIA.
Map pool
We have a huge insight into map pools for both of these teams. At first, it might seem like both NRG and Winstrike share a similar map pool, but I assure you that is not the case.
Let’s start with permabans. NRG does not play Dust 2, and this map is definitely going to be their permaban. In the last couple of months, Winstrike was avoiding Inferno, and this is not going to change.
On to the good maps. NRG feels comfortable on Inferno, Train, and Overpass. On the other hand, Winstrike is really solid on Cache, Dust 2 and Nuke. Both of these teams can play Mirage, but I do not think they will opt for this map. Furthermore, Cache is also a solid map for these two teams.
Summary
As mentioned above, no one rated Winstrike in the CIS Minor, but they proved everyone wrong. They have players with Major experience on their roster. Overall, they are a great mixture of experience and talent. Most of the heavy lifting is done by David “n0rb3r7” Danielyan, and this could prove to be a hard task for him since this will be his first experience with the big stage.
NRG was able to beat all the top teams in 2018. Furthermore, they have a deadly duo in the likes of Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte and Ethan “nahtE” Arnold. Their AWPer is also waking up and having a good start to 2019. If all three of these guys are on point, I can not see anyone who would be able to win against NRG, especially in The New Challenger Stage.
These two teams are very different when it comes to map pool. However, they share a lot of similarities. In my personal opinion, I think that we will see these two teams face off either or Nuke or Mirage.
To conclude, Winstrike never played against this type of competition. NRG is the fifth best CSGO team in the world, and they are constantly pushing it towards the top 3 spots. On the other hand, Winstrike has been in the top 30 for two weeks now, and that is probably as high as they will ever go.
NRG is not a one-man army, while the same can not be said about Winstrike. If their best player will not be up to the task, Winstrike will get stomped. Furthermore, NRG is a team with ridiculous firepower, and they will prove that in their opener against Winstrike. Lastly, Winstrike can not surprise NRG in any way since this is a best-of-1 match. Both of these teams will play on a map they are comfortable with. NRG is just so much better than Winstrike, and I can see North Americans dominate Winstrike throughout the entire match.
Betting prediction: Map 1 Handicap, NRG(-4.5)
Odds: 1.85
Bookmaker: Betway
Date: February 13th, 16:30 CEST
