Astralis vs. Liquid, Preview & Prediction - Free 12/20 CS:GO
Astralis and Liquid will fight for the title and whopping prize money of $200,000 when they meet in the Grand final of the IEM Global Challenge 2020 on Sunday. The losing team will earn $100,000, and Astralis is a favorite to win this Best of 5 encounter.
Astralis Team Stats and Latest Results
Astralis has an excellent chance to climb up to the top of CS:GO rankings and leapfrog Vitality with a win at this tournament. The Danish side won the title at the DreamHack Masters Winter 2020 Europe thanks to victories over Liquid, G2, Gambit, FURIA, and mousesports and made $60,000 for 1st place. They reached the playoffs with wins over Complexity and Vitality and then defeated Natus Vincere 2-1 in the semis. Astralis won 12 of the previous 15 matches.
During the last three months, Astralis was dominant on Inferno (81.8%) and Overpass (75.0%), while their “weakest” displays came on Dust2 (55.6%). Since November 2020, Astralis is playing with the same squad and appeared on 47 maps with a record of 31 wins and 17 losses. The lineup consists of Xyp9x (1.02 rating), dupreeh (1.10), gla1ve (1.00), device (1.19), and Magisk (1.06).
Liquid Team Stats and Latest Results
Nobody expected Liquid to come this far after receiving an invitation to join the tournament, but they deserve to be here and they proved it with wins over Heroic, FURIA, and BIG, without dropping a single map along the way. Following some not very good displays at a recent tournament, the Americans impressed at the IEM Global Challenge 2020, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they win a trophy. Liquid won 12 of the last 19 games.
In the previous three months, Liquid displayed excellent performances on Dust2 (85.7%), Overpass (83.3%), and Nuke (81.8%), while they were below average on Vertigo (40.0%). Although they assembled its squad in September this year, Liquid appeared on only 56 maps with a record of 35 wins and 21 losses. The team members are NAF (1.15), EliGE (1.20), Stewie2K (0.97), Twistzz (1.01), and Grim (1.11).
Astralis vs. Liquid H2H Record
These rivals have met on even 27 occasions, and Astralis is leading the all-time series 23-4. The Danish team is on an eight-game winning streak, and they beat Liquid in the most recent clash at the DreamHack Masters Winter 2020 Europe earlier this month.
Astralis vs. Liquid Betting Preview
I am usually not looking at the H2H record too much when backing the winner, I am more looking at recent form. However, on this particular occasion, I cannot ignore the fact that Astralis is dominating this matchup since their first-ever meeting in 2018. The Danes are hoping to move to the top of the CS:GO rankings, and I am backing them to do it with a trophy at the IEM Global Challenge 2020. I am going with a safer option and straight win at -227 with PINNACLE, but you can also try with Astralis to cover the -1.5 spread at -164 with GG.BET.
The Pick: Astralis to win (-227 @PINNACLE)
