On January 29, matches in group B will kick off at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups tournament. Astralis will face OG in their first match. The winner will take on the victor of the Na’Vi vs. MiBR game. We analyzed whether the revamped OG lineup can handle a challenging opponent in this BO-1 matchup.
Astralis
The Danish team has fully parted ways with the trio of dupreeh, Magisk, and zonic, who moved to Vitality. blameF, k0nfig, and ave have stepped in to fill their spots. The team returned from the winter break early to compete in the Funspark ULTI 2021 Finals. They didn’t perform well, losing to CIS teams Entropiq and k23, though they did beat fnatic. Ultimately, they finished in 5th-6th place, earning just $5,000. Despite the recent roster changes, rumors are circulating about potential further adjustments.
OG Esports
The European squad missed out on the Stockholm Major, which was a major setback for a team of their caliber. From mid-October to early December, they didn’t play a single match, skipping a couple of events. They reappeared at IEM Winter in early December but fell short, losing to Liquid and Ninjas in Pyjamas, while only beating the Chinese team Tyloo. At the start of this year, captain Aleksib left for G2, and nexa came over from G2 in the opposite direction.
Statistics and Prediction
Last year, the teams faced off three times. The Danes claimed two wins, while OG took one. All matches ended 2-0. This upcoming game will be in a BO-1 format. Bookmakers favor Astralis, offering odds of 1.56 for their win. You can get 2.31 for an OG victory. Astralis sits at 8th in the world rankings, with OG at 16th.
blameF and k0nfig are the driving forces for the Danish team. blameF averages 86.2 damage per round, which is impressive. k0nfig also deals heavy damage and racks up kills, but he dies too often. The rest of the trio is inconsistent, though gla1ve has looked solid in recent games.
For OG, valde and mantuu stand out. The sniper contributes significantly, as shown by his KAST stats. Valdemar delivers solid average damage, dies infrequently, and makes key plays, but his impact rating is only 0.96, which is low. flameZ is not far behind them, while niko has underperformed. The aggressive style of the new captain might help the team reclaim their spot at the top.
Predicting a winner in this matchup is tough due to the single-map format and OG’s long absence from competitive play. Looking at the stats, four out of six recent maps went over 26.5 rounds, with three featuring overtimes. Expect a hard-fought battle ahead.
