eSports Betting: Counter Strike BLAST Premier Fall Groups

MyBookie brings you a free Counter-Strike: Global Offensive betting preview for two bouts in Group C at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2021.

Here are our best picks for Natus Vincere vs OG and FaZe Clan vs Complexity.

Top BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2021 Group C Matches to Wager on Friday 24

Natus Vincere vs OG

When: Friday, September 24 – 16:30 CEST

Natus Vincere and OG will clash in the opening round of Group C at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2021, marking their first meeting since October 2020, when OG stunned NaVi and won 2-1 at BLAST Premier Fall Series 2020. With that win, OG are 6-7 in the head-to-head with NaVi, albeit 2-0 across their last two meetings.

Although a good record, it’s been nearly a year since these two European CS:GO teams last met, and sufficed to say, a lot has changed. Since then, Natus Vincere emerged as the world’s best team, having won ESL Pro League Season 14 and the prestigious Intel Grand Slam.

OG were also present at the ESL Pro League, where they have done well and made it to the semi-finals, only to lose against Team Vitality (0-2) with 12-16 on Mirage and 7-16 on Nuke. Regardless of that defeat, OG impressed many with their remarkable run.

They won against Virtus.pro (2-0), G2 Esports (2-0), forZe (2-1), Sinners Esports (2-1), Complexity (2-0), and Ninjas in Pyjamas (2-1). With that, OG rose up the global ladder and are now ranked as the 10th-best team in the world.

As the offered betting odds would suggest, Natus Vincere are a much better team and should win this bout; however, there is a chance we might see OG cause an upset. As strong as NaVi can be, they’re also known for slow tournament starts, which isn’t something you would want to heat when betting on them.

What’s more, you could question Natus Vincere’s motivation to try and win the tournament since there is nothing in it for them outside of the $25,000 winner’s share. It might sound like a lot of money, but NaVi pocketed nearly $1.2 million just last week, so they’ll likely be unphased by the $25,000 purse.

Adding to all that, it’s not like OG are a bad team and incapable of giving NaVi a run for their money. I still expect NaVi to win since I wouldn’t count on them not caring, albeit, at the offered odds, I will gladly side with OG with a map handicap and rely on them to steal at least one map.

Prediction: OG +1.5 maps

FaZe Clan vs Complexity

When: Friday, September 24 – 19:30 CEST

The esports bookmakers have priced FaZe Clan as the favorites for this match, which doesn’t make much sense. Even though you could argue that FaZe field a stronger roster, they haven’t been playing much better than Complexity of late.

Outside of their fairly impressive run to the semi-finals of Intel Extreme Masters XVI – Cologne, FaZe haven’t achieved much on the year, particularly in online tournaments. Most notably, FaZe crashed out of ESL Pro League Season 14 in 13th-16th place with a 3-2 record. In contrast, Complexity have made it to the playoffs, where they played a close 1-2 series against the eventual finalists, Team Vitality.

Complexity and FaZe last met in July, during Intel Extreme Masters XVI – Cologne, when FaZe won 2-0. However, that was when FaZe were on a hot streak, so I wouldn’t overreact to that result.

This match could easily go both ways, but I would favor Complexity over FaZe based on what we have seen from these two sides over the last couple of weeks. And it certainly helps to make a decision, seeing how Complexity are priced at +110 at most esports bookmakers.

Prediction: Complexity to win