The new-look BLAST Premier kicked off in London on January 31. Some of the best CS:GO teams on the planet will be present over the three-week event with the likes of Astralis, Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses attending.
How the BLAST Premier Works
The 12 teams have been split into three groups, with one group playing a bracket per each of the three weeks of the competition. The top two teams from each group will earn an automatic bid into the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 Finals.
The bottom two teams in each bracket will find themselves sent to the Spring Showdown where four more teams will be added to the field. Those 10 teams will then compete, with the top two earning an invite to the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 Finals.
With each group in the event only playing against one another, odds are listed for each group Sportsbook separately.
Group A: Team Liquid Slight Favorites
Group A is arguably the most balanced of all the quartets in the spring regular season. Team Liquid (+105), FaZe Clan (+275), MiBR (+450) and Ninjas in Pyjamas (+500) all rank inside the top 15 in the world according to HLTV.
Liquid enters as the rightful favorite, with the North American squad making it to the Grand Finals in four of their past six events. Those six events have seen Liquid go 3-1 (map score) vs NiP, the loss coming in a best-of-one, and 2-1 (map score) vs FaZe. And though Liquid has not faced MiBR in months, the team has won the past three maps vs the Brazilians.
The biggest question marks surround NiP. Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg, the last original member of NiP, recently left the squad to be replaced by Tim “nawwk” Jonasson. Though nawwk has looked like an excellent AWP-er in his career, he has not exactly been facing the stiffest competition. And his exact position on the team seems to be up for discussion. That being said, if Nicolas “Plopski” Gonzalez Zamora ascends to the heights many expect, NiP could surprise in London.
Team | Odds |
---|---|
Liquid | +105 |
FaZe Clan | +275 |
MiBR | +450 |
Ninjas in Pyjamas | +500 |
Odds as of January 30 at Sportsbook
Group B: Astralis, The Clear Favorite
To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man. And the man in CS:GO is Astralis. The No. 1-ranked team in the world is a healthy -200 favorite to win Group B.
Astralis has won five of the last seven events they have attended, which included incredibly impressive performances against Liquid. The last time Astralis finished outside the top four at an event came at the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals, which happened in June.
Astralis also has the luxury of Sportsbook their group against Complexity Gaming (+1800), a team that is easily lagging behind the other three in this group. The Danes’ stiffest competition will come from the Sportsbook of Na’Vi (+500) and Vitality (+400). Na’Vi and Vitality have the top two AWP-ers in the world on their roster and could potentially push Astralis in the Upper Bracket Finals.
Team | Odds |
---|---|
Astralis | -200 |
Vitality | +400 |
Natus Vincere | +500 |
Complexity | +1800 |
Odds as of February 3 at Sportsbook
Group C: Three Contenders
Group C is an interesting group that could see any of the four teams win. Realistically, it is a three-way competition between Evil Geniuses (+150), 100 Thieves (+225) and G2 (+275). Sorry, OG (+750).
The EG squad has slowed down considerably since their dominant performance when they first joined the org. The North Americans have managed to finish on the podium just twice in their past five events. However, EG has been knocked out of events by mousesports in three of those tournaments and once at the hands of Astralis. So, it could be a string of bad draws that have been plaguing the team.
Results have been hard to come by for 100 Thieves since the team from down under signed from the Renegades org. It is interesting to note that 100 Thieves and EG have played recently at the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals and went down 2-0 to the NA stack. That series saw Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte dominate 100T with a 1.38 rating and 101.2 ADR.
G2 is the hottest team in this group, coming off back-to-back victories at Champions Cup and the IEM Katowice Europe Close Qualifiers. The competition level of those events is a step below that of BLAST Premier, but momentum is key in CS:GO.
Team | Odds |
---|---|
Evil Geniuses | +150 |
100 Thieves | +225 |
G2 | +275 |
OG | +750 |
Odds as of February 13 at Sportsbook