ESL Pro League Season 17 Group D Preview: Team Spirit vs Astralis
| Tags: CS2
| Author The Old One
The final day of the Group Stage of ESL Pro League Season 17 begins with the Lower Bracket clash between Astralis and Team Spirit
It’s been quite the journey for ESL Pro League Season 17, with many upsets, glorious triumphs, tenacious escapes from eliminations, and big names falling by the wayside. One such clash no matter which way you cook it will take place in Group D between Team Spirit and Astralis. Both have a strong CSGO pedigree, and although most people would have expected both in the Playoffs, only one will continue. Here’s an in-depth preview for anyone betting on CSGO as well as aficionados of the game.
Contents
Team Spirit
The CIS squad has had some big moments so far at this tournament, but they’ve also fallen when it has mattered the most, and are now on the brink of elimination. They’re definitely the favorites to win this matchup as things stand, but things might get tricky now that Astralis have shown that they have a little bit of life left in them. The good news for Spirit is that as long as they have a good day in the field, they’ll have what it takes to finish the Danes off — which they’ve already shown they can do.
Players
Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov
- HLTV Rating: 0.96
- Impact Rating: 0.99
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 69.9%
- Average Damage Round: 72.0
- Kills Per Round: 0.65
Boris “magixx” Vorobyev
- HLTV Rating: 1.05
- Impact Rating: 0.98
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.6%
- Average Damage Round: 70.7
- Kills Per Round: 0.65
Robert “Patsi” Isyanov
- HLTV Rating: 1.09
- Impact Rating: 1.16
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 69.5%
- Average Damage Round: 79.7
- Kills Per Round: 0.71
Pavel “s1ren” Ogloblin
- HLTV Rating: 1.03
- Impact Rating: 0.95
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.3%
- Average Damage Round: 71.1
- Kills Per Round: 0.65
Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov
- HLTV Rating: 1.20
- Impact Rating: 1.12
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 74.6%
- Average Damage Round: 76.7
- Kills Per Round: 0.76
Player to Watch
It’s hard to pick a player from a team that got crushed by a regional rival just yesterday, but we’ll go with Patsi for this match.
Astralis
The Danes survived a right scare at the hands of their South African opponents yesterday, barely squeaking through in Overtime after being down 11-4 at half time. Now they’ll have to face a team that dominated them in the Upper Bracket, and revenge should be far from their minds as the first idea should be about survival. The four-time Major winners are not used to being underdogs yet, but they’re going to have to accept that reality in order to get back to their winning ways, if that can even happen.
Players
Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth
- HLTV Rating: 1.01
- Impact Rating: 0.96
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 72.2%
- Average Damage Round: 74.4
- Kills Per Round: 0.66
Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander
- HLTV Rating: 0.98
- Impact Rating: 1.04
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.0%
- Average Damage Round: 74.3
- Kills Per Round: 0.66
Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz
- HLTV Rating: 1.16
- Impact Rating: 1.28
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.3%
- Average Damage Round: 80.4
- Kills Per Round: 0.78
Benjamin “blameF” Bremer
- HLTV Rating: 1.23
- Impact Rating: 1.23
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 74.0%
- Average Damage Round: 85.8
- Kills Per Round: 0.77
Christian “Buzz” Andersen
- HLTV Rating: 1.04
- Impact Rating: 1.03
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 69.8%
- Average Damage Round: 74.8
- Kills Per Round: 0.66
Player to Watch
There are few shining beacons on this team, but we’re hoping that In-Game Leader gla1ve can lead by example. Keep an eye on the guy.
ESL Pro League Season 17 Group D: Team Spirit vs Astralis Predictions
As much as we’d love to see the Danes bounce back, we’ll have to go with Spirit for this one. Spirit to win 2-0 once again.
Maps
Spirit will most likely be able to pick Ancient, while the Danes go for Nuke. The decider has a high chance of being Mirage.
Score
Map 1: Spirit to win with Astralis <10.
Map 2: Spirit to win with Astralis >11.
Top Fragger
We’ve got Patsi as the player to watch, and we’ll also put him in as the potential top fragger of this contest.
Match Links
ESL’s Twitch and YouTube channels will both broadcast the game. Coverage begins at 07:30 ET/06:30 CST/05:30 PT.
Feel free to look around our CSGO section for tons of content that you might enjoy.
When he's not sighing at sub-standard teammates in Dota 2 and CS2, The Old One is writing about those two games (among other things). If you see his name around the site too many times for your liking, well, the guy just never stops writing. Yes, we've tried an intervention.