Cyber.Bet Cup Day 3 saw Heretics and Syman Gaming pick up convincing 2-0 victories. While these two teams will fight for a spot in the playoffs, Nordavind and SMASH gaming must now fight to remain relevant and for a chance to make it out of groups.
Team Heretics vs Syman Gaming
Heretics are looking very strong in this tournament. Picking up Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom has been a welcoming improvement. Even though they’ve played only 1 bo3 here, Nivera is currently the highest rated player in the Cyber.Bet Cup, with a stunning 1.41 rating. His other teammates, Fabien “kioShiMa” Fiey and Bryan “Maka” Canda are also part of the top 6 performing players at the event. However, this doesn’t mean that they Team Heretics will have an easy time against Syman Gaming. After their win against SMASH, they can adequately contest Heretics pound for pound.
In fact, the two teams have similar map pools. Currently, Heretics usually pick Inferno as their first map. The problem is, Syman Gaming have 100% win-rate on this map following their 7 wins. On the other side, Syman might want to pick Dust 2, but this is where Heretics have a 100% win-rate but over 4 maps. Both teams might want to go with their usual bans. Heretics should ban Train, and Syman Gaming should remove Nuke. But here both teams might want to play to their strengths. If that’s the case, the win-rates do go in favour of Syman, especially when we consider Inferno as a possible pick or a decider.
Heretics are the bookmaker favourites for this match. However, Syman Gaming are still the higher-ranked team, and one shouldn’t underestimate them in the upcoming bo3. They are also a heavy-fragging roster, with a similar map pool to that of the Frenchmen. We’re predicting a tight bo3 here, as both teams have a good chance of finishing first in Group B.
Nordavind vs SMASH Esports
Nordavind didn’t look good in Day 3’s match against Heretics. The first map was the pick of Heretics – Dust 2. Even though that’s an excellent map for the Frenchmen, it was a mid-tier map for Nordavind. Nordavind could have made the map close. Unfortunately, this was not the case as they lost 16-4. It seemed like the trend might continue on Inferno, but at least they made it competitive. On the other hand, SMASH had to play their game with a stand-in, minimizing their effectiveness. That explains why they lost an 8-1 lead on the CT side of Train and numerous eco rounds on Inferno.
In terms of map pool, this is where Nordavind have the advantage. Their opponents have been losing a lot of official matches lately. That is why their win-rates are looking subpar. The one map that could give them a sure victory, Train, is the permaban of Nordavind. On all the other maps, Nordavind is superior. On the other hand, SMASH could try to pick into Inferno, a map which recently has become shaky for Nordavind. Apart from that, Nuke could be a viable option, but even that is questionable.
It’s still important to remember that Nordavind is currently playing with a stand-in of their own – Haris “H4RR3” Hadžić, however, even with a temporary fifth Nordavind seem to be a stronger opponent. Yet, on statistical merit, neither team has incredibly strong players, so everyone here is on the same playing field.
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*Odds are subject to change.
