ESL Pro League Season 17 Playoffs CSGO Predictions: Outsiders vs Natus Vincere Predictions and Preview

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ESL Pro League Season 17 Playoffs CSGO Predictions: Outsiders vs Natus Vincere Predictions and Preview

After a first day full of surprises and near misses, we move on to Day 2 of the ESL Pro League Season 17 Playoffs with Outsiders taking on Natus Vincere


It’s the quintessential CIS battle as Russian outfit and reigning Major champions Outsiders  take on Ukrainian 2021 Major champions Natus Vincere. Both sides have been deadly over the years, but seem to have hit a bit of a rough patch in the last few months. Neither of them have had overly-convincing tournaments, but the Russians certainly look stronger given their results. Whether you bet on CSGO or not, you’ll want to take a look at this preview to know more about each team and check out our predictions.

Outsiders

One of the first teams to qualify for the Playoffs, Outsiders were in Group A and made short work of IHC Esports before making it through to the Upper Bracket Final after grappling hard with Fnatic. However, despite a brave attempt they lost out to Cloud9. Outsiders look as though they’re in better form than they were earlier this year, but with their new recruit settling in, the team might be in full flow by now, and ready to take on the likes of Na’ Vi.

Players

Aleksei “Qikert” Golubev

  • HLTV Rating: 1.10
  • Impact Rating: 1.07
  • Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.8%
  • Average Damage Round: 76.8
  • Kills Per Round: 0.69

Dzhami “Jame” Ali

  • HLTV Rating: 1.17
  • Impact Rating: 1.11
  • Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 73.9%
  • Average Damage Round: 72.7
  • Kills Per Round: 0.71

Evgeniy “FL1T” Lebedev

  • HLTV Rating: 1.13
  • Impact Rating: 1.08
  • Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 72.2%
  • Average Damage Round: 80.4
  • Kills Per Round:0.73

Aleksandr “KaiR0N-” Anashkin

  • HLTV Rating: 1.11
  • Impact Rating: 1.20
  • Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 69.5%
  • Average Damage Round: 82.0
  • Kills Per Round: 0.75

Pyotr “fame” Bolyshev

  • HLTV Rating: 1.11
  • Impact Rating: 1.14
  • Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.8%
  • Average Damage Round:77.4
  • Kills Per Round: 0.72

Player To Watch

With FL1T in excellent form, we’d be hard pressed to find a more suited candidate than him for this.

Natus Vincere 

The black and yellow of Na’ Vi may not inspire as much fear in opponents as it once used to, but there’s still a beast lurking inside somewhere. Despite a dominant performance in the third map, Na’ Vi had to really struggle to beat Brazilian minnows 00 Nation. One can’t help but feel that had this match taken place even a few months ago, the Ukrainians would have routed their opponents. However, they are currently much weaker than they used to be, and might need a while to get back to full flow.

Players

Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev

  • HLTV Rating: 1.24
  • Impact Rating: 1.35
  • Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 74.0%
  • Average Damage Round: 85.8
  • Kills Per Round: 0.85

Denis “electroNic” Sharipov

  • HLTV Rating: 1.09
  • Impact Rating: 1.19
  • Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.7%
  • Average Damage Round: 82.6
  • Kills Per Round: 0.74

Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy

  • HLTV Rating: 1.03
  • Impact Rating: 0.87
  • Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 73.2%
  • Average Damage Round: 69.9
  • Kills Per Round: 0.62

Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi

  • HLTV Rating: 1.11
  • Impact Rating: 1.11
  • Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 72.0%
  • Average Damage Round: 75.5
  • Kills Per Round: 0.70

Andrii “npl” Kukharskyi

  • HLTV Rating: 1.00
  • Impact Rating: 0.96
  • Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.1%
  • Average Damage Round: 70.7
  • Kills Per Round: 0.63

Player to Watch

Given his apparent return to form, we’re putting b1t out there as the player to watch on Na’ Vi for this matchup.

ESL Pro League Season 17 Playoffs: Outsiders vs Natus Vincere Predictions 

It’s probably going to be a fantastic back-and-forth match, but we’re going with Outsiders as 2-1 winners as Na’ Vi just seem too inconsistent right now. 

Maps 

Outsiders will likely ban Ancient as they don’t really like the map, so chances are, Na’ Vi will pick Anubis. At the same time, the Ukrainians will take out Vertigo and leave Outsiders with what will probably be Overpass. 

Score 

Map 1: Na’ Vi to win in Overtime.

Map 2: Outsiders to win with Na’ Vi <11.

Map 3: Outsiders to win with Na’ Vi >12.

Top Fragger

Although FL1T will be more entertaining to watch, Jame is the most probable candidate for top fragger.

Match Links

ESL’s Twitch or YouTube channels will both be broadcasting the match, with coverage set to begin at 10:30 ET/09:30 CST/07:30 PT.

Check out the rest of our CSGO section for a plethora of content about your favorite FPS.

ESL Pro League Season 17 Playoffs CSGO Predictions: Outsiders vs Natus Vincere Predictions and Preview
The Old One
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.