Not a lot of time today, something short for those interested.
Vitality vs Team Liquid – BLAST Premier Global Final 2020
Team Vitality won their BLAST Premier Global Final 2020 opener against Complexity (0-2), who did not put up much resistance and fell fairly quickly on Mirage (9-16) and Dust2 (8-16). As expected, it was more of a practice match for Vitality who quickly justified their tag as the favorites with superb performance from their star player Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut who ended the series with 46 kills and 1.49 HLTV rating.
Team Liquid were equally as impressive in their victory against Natus Vincere, who they swept with 16-6 on Inferno and 16-14 on Nuke. Liquid’s best player of the series was Keith “NAF” Markovic with 42 kills and 1.46 HLTV rating.
These teams last met way back in 2019 at the IEM Chicago 2019, where Liquid won 2-0 with 16-9 on Overpass and 16-11 on Dust2. I would not put too much weight on that result since the game happened quite a while ago and both teams have made roster changes since then on top of the fact that the game has changed.
We are not betting on this match, because the betting odds look too short on Liquid and seem a bit exaggerated likely due to their win over the dysfunctional NaVi squad. However, it’s not entirely unlikely to see Liquid’s honeymoon phase to continue versus Vitality.
The French squad should still win this match more times than not, but TL have the tools to keep it close. The North American side also enter this match without any pressure to perform since no one expects them to win their first tournament with a new player, which could work in their favour. Vitality to win 2-1.
Prediction: Team Liquid +1.50 Maps, 1.657 at Pinnacle
