We are back for a Sunday CSGO slate today! Hopefully you guys have been finding these playbook articles helpful! Today we have two slates totaling four games, the main slate begins bright and early at 9:00 AM ET, and the two matches beginning at 12:30 PM ET will also be on a separate slate, so therefore we will just go ahead and cover all four right here!
Game 1
Heretics (Ranked 36th in World) vs ENCE (Ranked 24th in World)
As mentioned yesterday, this ENCE team just 2-0 swept the 3rd ranked team in the world in Fnatic in their most recent match. Heretics recently faced off against a decent Digintas team, where they went the distance in three maps before coming out the victors. ENCE comes in as a 2.25-to-1 favorite per the betting odds to win this match against Heretics. I do have to give the slight edge to ENCE myself, as the level of competition they have faced lately (Fnatic, Astralis, NiP, Vitality, etc.) is on quite the different talent-level that Heretics has been facing lately. ENCE comes in having won just 2 of their last three, but we need to not discount the fact that they took Astralis, GODSENT, and Vitality to three maps losing 2-1 as a result. So, they were on the cusp of being 5-0 in their last five, however, the cards did not fall that way. They are still a very good squad, not just going off their top 25 world rank. Heretics have won three of their last five games, however the competition was a bit softer as mentioned, and only one of those matches was a 2-0 sweep against the Movistar Riders, who actually just beat Mousesports be a 2-0 sweep as a huge under-dog on yesterday’s morning slate. Nonetheless, it has taken them three maps to win the other two matches 2-1, and lost by a result of 1-2 to Sprout, and 14-16 in a best of one to AGF. I hate that I discounted Heretics so much, as they do have a few studs on their team in Nivera, Lucky, and Maka, as well as Kioshima who is an excellent flanker, and to be quite honest, the map analysis favors Heretics. So, we could easily see this match being closer than we expect. On paper, it would see that Heretics would be a bit of a bigger under-dog in this match, but they are just slight 2-to-1 dog so, im not sold on ENCE. Let’s talk about some player options we like here.
HERETICS
ANCHOR: Nivera – (1.22 Rating 2.0, 0.79 Kills per Round, 0.58 Deaths per Round!!, 76.3 Kill-Asst%, 1.14 IMPACT, 78.5 ADR)
Top Stacking Options: Nivera, Maka, Lucky (can use Kioshima for value and salary relief)
ENCE
ANCHOR: Allu – (1.08 Rating 2.0 (1.40 in this event so far), 0.72 Kills per Round, 1.11 IMPACT, 75 ADR)
Top Stacking Options: Allu, xseven, Aerial
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Game 2
North (Ranked 26th in World) vs Mousesports (Ranked 4th in World)’
First, just want to say that Mousesports should be coming into this match highly angry after losing in a 0-2 sweep to a team named Movistar Riders…? Let’s face it here, Mouse is a very good team, and they competed very nicely in the FlashPoint 1 tournament over the last couple weeks. North is fresh off a 1-2 loss against FaZe after coming back to win map 2, forcing a third map where FaZe prevailed in the final map. Again, looking at the recent competition, its Mouse that has been playing some of the tougher competition in the world by the likes of Fnatic twice and Astralis twice, both teams in the top five as well in the World ranks. North has had a bit of an easier schedule lately, losing to FaZe of course, as well as Spirit, but were winners in their prior three matches before their last two losses against Endpoint, Japaleno, and Sprout. These two teams faced off in four matches in 2019, Mouse came out winners in 6 of the 8 games played and lost just one of the four matches played. Per the betting odds, Mouse are the clear favorite here coming in as a 3.8-to-1 favorite to take the win. Looking at their prior maps played, it seems that the two maps that North beat Mouse on in these matches were also maps they get handled on in other games during these matches as well, both being Train, and Mirage. They had played Mirage three times, with Mouse winning two of those three, as well as Train twice where they split the two games there. I have to side with Mouse here, I just see them coming off a loss, should be pretty angry, and I just don’t think that North will steal a map on them. I say Mouse 2-0 here. Let’s look at some player options for these squads.
NORTH
ANCHOR: Gade – (Was driving force in their previous match, North’s only win over Mouse in their last four tries. 54 frags in that series, only 47 deaths, carried a 1.17 Rating, 75.1 ADR, and have 2nd highest Kill-Asst% at 68.5%)
Top Stacking Options: Gade, Aizy, Kjaerbye (cajunb has played well lately, if want to look for value)
MOUSESPORTS
ANCHOR: Ropz – (Ropz is easily a top 10 player in this event, and likely in the world – 1.16 Rating 2.0, 0.77 Kills per Round, 73.0 Kill-Asst%, 1.06 IMPACT, 79.1 ADR)
Top Stacking Options: Ropz, Frozen, Woxic
Game 3
G2 (Ranked 5th in World) vs FaZe (Ranked 8th in World)
I feel like this is the best match on the slate for stacking purposes, and love both of these squads in stacks and don’t mind stacking this game together even. Both of these teams are so evenly matched, and FaZe, although they can look like a top ten team, can also allow teams to hang around, as we saw when they played against North a couple days ago. They did get the win in this match but allowed North to take map 2 to force the third map, where Faze did handle the third map pretty easily, but if G2 is a much better squad than North. Both of these squads have been facing good competition lately and have secured wins over teams that their opponent have lost to as well. The betting odds on this game truly reflect how even I believe both of these teams are, as both are currently a minus odds with G2 coming in as a -125 fav, however Faze is also listed as -105 in this match. Very interesting, as it seems Vegas “thinks” G2 will win but are not allowing FaZe to be a dog in this match either. These two squads have faced off just once in 2020, with G2 taking 2 of three maps, but all three were very close games and Faze won 12 and 14 rounds in the two games they loss. Both squads had double-digit rounds as losers. In 2019, they faced off three times, with Faze securing a 2-0 sweep in two of the three, with G2 also securing a 2-0 sweep in their lone win for that year. I don’t think this match will go 2-0 in either fashion, as I believe we see three maps and I love this match for my favorite stacks of the day! Let’s talk about some options.
G2
ANCHOR: huNter- - (Secured a hefty 68 frags in their last matchup compared to 51 deaths. 1.22 Rating 2.0, 81.8 ADR)
Top Stacking Options: huNter-, KennyS, JaCkz, (nexa is good value as well)
FaZe
ANCHOR: Broky – (Going broky here over NiKo, as I feel Broky dies a ton less, and he assisted his team at a team-leading 81.2% last match, while carring a hefty 1.15 Rating 2.0)
Top Stacking Options: broky, NiKo, coldzera (I really think all FaZe can be in play even value in Olof and Rain)
Game 4
Movistar Riders (Ranked 37th in World) vs C0ntact (Ranked 32nd in World)
Thinking maybe Movistart Riders are riding a high as they just 2-0 swept the fourth ranked team in the world in Mousesports. I do think this could be a confidence boost going into this match up against a team that has not exactly played well lately, as c0ntact has lost four of their last five matches, however their win was a 2-1 result against FunPlus Phoenix. I will say that two of their losses were to the MAD Lions, and both were 0-2 sweeps, but they also lost their last match to the Copenhagen Flames, who were missing their best player. Movistar Riders don’t really deserve much credit, and the win over Mouse was likely quite the fluke, as they had lost their prior four matches to AVEZ, Spirit, Syman, and Heretics, with two of those being the 0-2 sweep. These two teams had faced off in three best of one series in 2019, with the Movistar Riders getting a 2 of 3 victories, however, all three were close games with two of them seeing double-digit rounds in the losses for C0ntact. This is another match where it seems Vegas doesn’t exactly have much confidence in either team to be a heavy favorite, but it is c0ntact that is labeled as a -125 favorite, but Movistar’s are also a -105 tag as well, so feel this game should be competitive and could also easily see three maps as well. I do have to give the edge to Movistar as they are off a big win, sometimes this could be perceived in the betting world as a “flat” or a “fat and happy” after a big spot which could be related to a “let-down” spot, but I believe c0ntact just really isn’t that good, but neither are the Stars. Seems like a match of two turds to be honest, so I could see it going in either way to be honest. Let’s talk player options
MOVISTAR RIDERS
ANCHOR: ALEX – (1.07 Rating 2.0, 0.69 Kills per Round, 70.5 Kill-Asst%, 1.09 IMPACT, 75.2 ADR)
Top Stacking Options: ALEX, mopoz, IoWel
C0ntact
ANCHOR: ottoNd – (1.11 Rating 2.0, 0.70 Kills per Round, 73.7 Kill-Asst%, 1.12 IMPACT, 72.8 ADR)
Top Stacking Options: ottoNd, EspiranTo, SHiPZ
***TOP PLAYS, STACKS, VALUES***
Top Plays: Broky, Nivera, Ropz, ottoNd, huNter-, Allu (not ranked in order)
Top Stacks: Mousesports, FaZe/G2, Heretics, c0ntact (ranked in order)
Top Values Under $7k Salary: SHiPZ, Maka, JaCKz, coldzera, Lucky, gade, AmaNek, mopoz, olofmeister (ranked in order)