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02.12.21 - 12:00 CET
COUNTER-STRIKE: Intel Extreme Masters Season XVI - Winter (World) - Winners stage
Ninjas in Pyjamas, after a relatively successful engagement at their home Major, decided to make a lineup change to push them even further forward, but the Swedish organization failed to do so. Conversely, Patrick "es3tag" Hansen probably wasn't an outright misstep (plus it's impossible to tell after two games), but it wasn't the best move in such a short period of time. As captain Hampus "hampus" Poser admitted, he and es3tag have language problems, so in stressful situations he sometimes doesn't understand Swedish, so he probably has to switch to English for now. This led to a last place finish at the BLAST Premier Fall Finals after losses against the crumbling Liquid and of course Astralis.
Astralis have no such problems at all, as they speak their native Danish even after a significant lineup change. At BLAST they scored an excellent third place after losses against Vitality, but surprisingly good wins against FaZe, NIP and Heroic. The question is whether this is just their "honeymoon phase" and they will soon become predictable, or if they are able to remain an enigma to their opponents. For now, though, they are at a significant advantage against NIP, who are facing a lot of problems in their lineup. This victory will thus fall to the Danes.
My bet:
Astralis @ 1.66 (bet365)
COUNTER-STRIKE: Intel Extreme Masters Season XVI - Winter (World) - Winners stage
Ninjas in Pyjamas, after a relatively successful engagement at their home Major, decided to make a lineup change to push them even further forward, but the Swedish organization failed to do so. Conversely, Patrick "es3tag" Hansen probably wasn't an outright misstep (plus it's impossible to tell after two games), but it wasn't the best move in such a short period of time. As captain Hampus "hampus" Poser admitted, he and es3tag have language problems, so in stressful situations he sometimes doesn't understand Swedish, so he probably has to switch to English for now. This led to a last place finish at the BLAST Premier Fall Finals after losses against the crumbling Liquid and of course Astralis.
Astralis have no such problems at all, as they speak their native Danish even after a significant lineup change. At BLAST they scored an excellent third place after losses against Vitality, but surprisingly good wins against FaZe, NIP and Heroic. The question is whether this is just their "honeymoon phase" and they will soon become predictable, or if they are able to remain an enigma to their opponents. For now, though, they are at a significant advantage against NIP, who are facing a lot of problems in their lineup. This victory will thus fall to the Danes.
My bet:
Astralis @ 1.66 (bet365)
