On January 28, the BLAST Premier Spring Groups tournament will kick off, featuring 12 teams. Six squads will secure a spot in the Blast Spring Final, while the rest will head to the Spring Showdown to make another bid for the final event. On the first day in Group A, there’s a matchup between NIP and BIG. The format is BO-1. We’ve put together a prediction for the game.
Ninjas in Pyjamas
The Swedish organization had a solid year overall. The team won one of the RMR events, finished second at IEM Winter and Flashpoint. They entered the Major as one of the favorites but ended up in 5th-8th place, losing in the playoffs to G2 Esports. Since IEM Winter, their star player dev1ce has been absent from the main lineup. The Danish player is out due to illness, but fans are already speculating, with rumors of a possible return to Astralis. With dev1ce sidelined, the team is using academy player phzy as a stand-in. Additionally, the team changed coaches: Threat moved to a leadership role, and djL from Apeks took over.
Berlin International Gaming
We’ve discussed the Germans in previous predictions. faveN played his first tournament with the team. They took third place at the Chinese event FunSpark ULTI 2021 Finals and earned $15,000. BIG couldn’t handle the Russian teams Entropiq and Gambit. After the championship, the team climbed two spots in the world rankings, landing at 13th.
Statistics and Prediction
Both teams have a win rate of 47% over the last three months. Excluding a charity match, they’ve faced off six times last year, with the Swedes winning five and the Germans just once. So, BIG has a tough opponent here.
However, Ninjas in Pyjamas will be without their main sniper. With phzy in the lineup, the team has lost three out of four matches. They’ve had plenty of time to gel with the young sniper. BIG started FunSpark on a strong note but ran into issues later. The team struggled on the attacking side, and the newcomer didn’t fully adapt.
Bookmakers see both teams as evenly matched. You can back the Swedes at 1.79, while BIG is around 1.9. But betting on a outright win is risky. For one, we haven’t seen the Swedish team in action lately, and two, it’s a BO-1 format. It’s smarter to look at the likely map and bet on the total.
Honestly, BIG is struggling on Ancient, Inferno, and Nuke right now. NiP has 0% wins on Dust2 and Overpass, and they don’t play Vertigo. The only viable option for both teams is Mirage. You might think Nuke could be in play, but BIG never picks it, preferring to ban it. Plus, they only win 25% of their games on it, so it’s unlikely.
NiP has 2 wins in 5 games on Mirage (40%), while BIG has 5 wins in 11 games (45%). All of BIG’s recent games on this map have been close, and NiP won their last two. Considering the teams’ current form, their head-to-head history, and past performances on this map, the best bet is on the total rounds over 26.5.
