The first day of the Cyber.Bet Cup is finally with us with where we will see four teams from Group A battle it out. In the first match, we will see Europe’s Movistar Riders (#35) face-off the recently formed CIS NAVI Junior (#143). In the second match of the day, we’ll be seeing two Russian teams face-off, and that is Hard Legion (#46) versus Mustang Crew. In this analytical piece, we’ll be going through our thoughts on how both matches will play out.
Movistar Riders vs NAVI Junior
Heading into this first bo3, there’s a significant disparity of played maps between these two squads. In the case of Movistar Riders, they participated in the 33rd Season of MDL. Here they’ve had a chance to upkeep their form and play with opponents of a similar calibre. That’s why there’s a lot more data available on Movistar Riders. Whereas for NAVI Junior, they’ve played in some of the smaller cups, but didn’t win the CMD368 Championship nor the LEGENDS.BET L33T cup.
However, it’s still possible to dissect some of the initial map picks and vetoes. This is where Movistar Riders have an edge initially. One of the most reliable maps for NAVI, Dust2 is Movistars’ perma-ban. With this map being removed, NAVI have a few options here. They can veto out the most prominent map of Movistar in the form of Overpass or go for Nuke. The latter one is a map that NAVI Junior ban first 79% of the time. After the initial veto stage, Movistar Riders can begin to flex their superior map pool and go for many options with maps like Overpass and Inferno. But there are a few weak maps NAVI Junior can exploit. Vertigo and Train have been two atrocious maps for Movistar Riders. Even with their limited map pool, these could be two maps NAVI Junior can win.
As for a possible third map, we have to look for Inferno or Mirage. These two maps are commonly played between these two teams, and one of them is bound to appear in the bo3. What initially looked like an absolute victory for Movistar Riders, could potentially be contested by the youngsters. They have talent on their side in the form of Valeriy “B1T” Vakhovskiy who averages at a stellar 1.18 rating. It’s possible for the Juniors to get an upset on one of the maps, but to win an entire bo3 will be difficult against a well-oiled Movistar Raiders team.
Hard Legion Vs. Mustang Crew
Mustang Crew is a newly established roster. They participated in the most recent qualifier for LOOT.BET Season 6. This is where the Mustang Crew played their first-ever official games. In the first one, they got stomped on their map pick of Vertigo 16-5 and after having a 13-4 lead on Mirage, lost it 16-14. Then came the elimination game against Singularity where they yet again lost their map pick of Vertigo, barely clinched by Nuke and lost a tight match on Dust2.
As much as Hard Legion has been struggling the past three months, they have a few advantages going their way. For starters, they have a resemblance to a map pool. But even here there are chinks in their armour. Taking a look at the initial veto’s, Mustang Crew is bound to remove Overpass, a map they’ve vetoed twice and is also the stronger map for Hard Legion. Hard Legion might just go for the removal of Nuke, which has been their permanent ban. Now Mustang crew doesn’t have many options for their first map. They can pick Vertigo a third time and hope to win it or go for something like Dust2.
Hard Legion can punish the newly formed team by picking a tactical map like Train. If Mustang Crew hasn’t worked on their executes and set-up’s, this should be a home-run victory on this map. But if there will be more pug-friendly maps like Mirage or Inferno available, this is where Mustang Crew could potentially put up a fight. But the odds are stacked against them.
Tune in on to our Twitch Channel and be sure to follow us on twitter @CyberBet_ for more updates!
*Odds are subject to change.
