Natus Vincere vs. BIG Prediction on July 31, 2024

Match info

The group stage of the 2024 fall regular season for Counter-Strike 2 BLAST tournaments, the BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024, will recommence on Wednesday, July 31. Natus Vincere and BIG will take on one another in the first match of Group D. The Upper Bracket semifinal duel at the BLAST Studio in Denmark’s capital of Copenhagen is set to begin at 5 p.m. local time.

Meeting statistics

The current form of Natus Vincere

Natus Vincere will compete in the BLAST Groups carrying the status of the best team in the world (ranked first in the HLTV rating). After two years, during which Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev was still a member of the Ukrainian organization, it has reclaimed its CS2 place. Andrij “B1ad3” Ghorodensjkyj, who replaced a three-time IEM MVP and a one-time MVP of the Blast Premier: World Final, has shown everyone that he can succeed with any lineup and without stars in the roster. But will NAVI continue to rule the global CS2 scene, or will they get tired?

The team coached by Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen won the 2024 Esports World Cup, defeating FaZe, MOUZ, and G2 along the way. Valerij “b1t” Vakhovsjkyj won the MVP prize in Riyadh; the support rifler/AWPer performed admirably. However, the fundamentals of “born to win” remain the same: their success is built on teamwork, with exceptional individual play being an added benefit. “B1ad3” acknowledged that the team performs better during extended boot camps and finds it more difficult to play at the tournament level. The fact that Esports World Cup 2024 is followed directly by BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024 means that opponents will have an easier time getting ready for Natus Vincere because the number of their coach’s ideas has likely shrunken a little.

Either way, NAVI is the clear favorite in this contest as per the best betting sites for CS2. The history of head-to-head encounters with BIG demonstrates that although the Germans give Natus Vincere a lot of trouble, they are ultimately unsuccessful. Before IEM Cologne 2024, BLAST Groups offer an excellent chance to practice against the toughest opponents. Teams of the Natus Vincere’s class will prefer to invest more time in training matches over official ones, leaving them with less time to prepare for the game battle itself.

The current form of BIG

The Berlin-based organization is making a brief return to the top division. BLAST Groups “membership” enables BIG to sporadically participate in major matches and gain HLTV points. Furthermore, the German team’s performance within the group stages is typically strong. They came just one step short of making it to the BLAST seasonal finals at the last three of these competitions. When Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz & Co. last made it to the finals, which was in January, they were defeated by Astralis for the coveted berth. BIG defeated Cloud9 and Heroic, two of the top teams in that tournament, and prevented Virtus.pro from winning their group. It has been six months since then, and both the composition of the German organization and the power dynamics inside CS2 have shifted.

With his new teammates, “tabseN” appears to have a lot stronger and more seasoned squad in terms of positions. We’d like to highlight two players in particular: Karim “Krimbo” Moussa, who’s regarded as the finest young German player at the moment, and Florian “syrsoN” Rische, who was one of the best snipers during the coronavirus era and entered the top 20 best players of 2020. But “tabseN” remains the center of attention for the entire team; he’s a skilled shooter and upholds strict team discipline.

Although everything appears to be going well on paper, BIG’s results have remained the same, which is now a big deal. The squad’s final opportunity came at IEM Dallas 2024 when it was on the verge of making the playoffs. While there was optimism that BIG had gained momentum and assembled the ideal lineup to reenter the tier-1 ranks, the organization struggled to defeat teams ranked by HLTV below 30th place in the tournaments that followed. As a result, they may attempt to hold onto a few series here, but BIG won’t likely win Group D.

Head-to-head

Since 2017, these two have met 22 times. NAVI prevailed 17 times – eight times in a row – while BIG won five times.

Match analytics

Natus Vincere is the favorite, but BIG will gnaw out rounds even in their death throes. Usually, teams spend at least 22 rounds on the server. In Copenhagen, they’ll play in a BO3 format, and the Germans have a chance to cling to one map.

Main prediction: Number of rounds – map 1 over 21.5, with odds of 2.05 on PlayFast Casino.