The only CS:GO team anyone is talking about heading into the CS:GO BLAST Pro Series in Lisbon is Astralis. Astralis became the winners of the first-ever CS:GO Grand Slam following their victory over Team Liquid in the ESL Pro Series Season 8 Finals last weekend, and they earned themselves an additional million dollars by winning the Grand Slam. It was an incredible feat in a year full of incredible performances for Astralis, and they are likely to go down as the best team in CS:GO history as a result. The other five teams going against the Danes this weekend are likely to be playing for second.
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2018 CS: GO BLAST Pro Series Betting Odds
Astralis: -163
Natus Vincere: +500
FaZe Clan: +600
Ninjas in Pyjamas: +1000
MiBR: +1600
Cloud9: +2000
It was a virtual bloodbath last week when Astralis took the stage. They had no trouble dispatching Vici Gaming in their first game and bounced back after losing their first games to HellRaisers to win the next two games and take the match. They continued carving a path through the winner’s bracket with a stomp of Team Liquid and then crushed both Mousesports and Liquid once more to win the whole tournament.
That was Astralis’ seventh major win of the season. They have crushed the field since adding Magisk following Kjaerbye’s departure to North, and his addition has made them odds-on favorites in many tournaments since the summer. Having a reliable gun like Magisk to pair with dev1ce has made this team the best in the world over the course of the season. It will be hard to take them down if they are fully focused.
Natus Vincere won the last BLAST tournament, beating out the five other teams at this event for the title six weeks ago. In that tournament, Na’Vi didn’t drop a match. They were able to finish 4-0-1 in the Group Stage, and they followed that up with a comfortable victory over NiP in the Grand Final. Edward and s1mple are two of the best in the game, and they will be ready here.
Last fall, FaZe looked like it was putting together a superteam that could be one of the all-time great squads in the history of CS:GO. They already had two stars in Rain and Karrigan, and they grabbed NiKo, GuardiaN, and Olofmeister away from their European rivals in an effort to strengthen themselves and weaken the others. The moves led to three major tournament wins at the tail end of the season, but they were unable to become as great as they had hoped. Olofmeister took time away from FaZe for personal reasons, and the team only one three competitions this season. They are still extremely talented, and my pick to win if Astralis trip up.
Ninjas in Pyjamas have yet to win a major tournament this year. Their lone tournament win was the Europe Minor Championship back in July, and they have been unable to break through aside from in that competition. They’ve only made it to one finals, so it’s hard to have a lot of faith in them. There are sure to be some changes in the offseason for this organization.
The two longshots don’t have much of a chance to win in Lisbon, as they are playing with substitutes. MiBR have not had Fer for the last couple weeks as he is dealing with a medical issue, so they have been using Swag as a sub. Swag has not played poorly, but he is not of the same caliber as Fer. Meanwhile, Cloud9 won’t have Golden at this competition, and they only added Refrezh to replace him last week. Although C9 are very talented, it’s hard to have a lot of faith in them with a fresh member.
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