The deciding match of group A looks clearly different than expected. With Vitality and Astralis, the two favorites to win the tournament meet in the match against elimination. The German team BIG is responsible for this circumstance, which was able to surprise against the two top teams on the first as well as on the second match day and thus secured the first playoffs place.

Table of Content

The games of the group stage, as well as the playoffs, will take place in bo3 format. The duel between Vitality and Astralis is a rematch of last week's final match at the BLAST Fall Finals. About five days ago, the French left the server as winners.

Date and provider

The match between Vitality and Astralis will take place on 18.12.2020 live at 4 p.m.(CET). While the ESL with its channels will take care of an English broadcast on the platforms Twitch and Youtube, the 99Damage will provide a German cast.

Vitality - Latest performance & results

Vitality fully convinced after their successes at the BLAST Fall Finals and the IEM Beijing-Haidian. With victories against almost all the top teams, the French team became the world's best team. Vitality was the first team to implement a six-man roster and successfully put it to use.

While individually as usual ZywOo is on an absolute world class level, the two young stars Nivera and misutaaa also show more and more of their individual skills. Vitality has been the role model and pioneer in terms of adding a sixth player, which is expected to be the future of the CS:GO Pro scene.

Great praise must also be given towards the new IGL apEX. After the departure of ALEX in the middle of the year, the future of the French was uncertain and apEX took over the role as the announcer. The experienced Frenchman managed to tune the team perfectly and bring it back to the world's top.

In favor of Vitality particularly speaks the success in the last encounter a little less than a week ago. The odds are relatively even between Vitality and Astralis.

Astralis - Latest performance & results

As it was to be expected from Astralis, the team has also already switched to a six-man roster and is trying to implement it with Bubzkji. The Danish top team has had a difficult 2020. With health absences of IGL gla1ve and Xyp9x, Astralis played numerous tournaments with different stand-ins and regained their old strength just two weeks ago with the return of gla1ve as announcer.

The win at DreamHack Winter was followed by a second place and excellent lower-bracket run on the part of the Danes in the BLAST Fall Finals. Not only considering the HLTV World Ranking, but also with regard to the last performances, the duel of the two best teams in the world takes place between Vitality and Astralis.

In the duel with Vitality, Astralis is the slight underdog considering the odds. This circumstance is mainly due to the last direct encounter.

Vitality vs. Astralis - Map-Veto prediction

While Vitality bans Train by default, Astralis always decided against Mirage. Both teams have a very deep and strong map pool. Between Vitality and Astralis, the tip in terms of maps is Dust2 and Nuke.

Due to the wide pool of both teams it is difficult to predict the maps. In the last game Vitality decided for Vertigo, Astralis for Dust2.

Vitality vs. Astralis - Prediction

The spectators can expect an absolute top duel between the two best teams in the world. In the deciding match of Group A, one of the two teams will already have to say goodbye on the third matchday and thus before the playoffs. For both organizations, this would be a big disappointment.

Due to the last match and the clear defeat on the part of Astralis in the duel with BIG, we put our bet on the French top team Vitality. The Danes were too shaky in their last three games.

Winner bet: Vitality
EsportFire Tip: Vitality 2:1

Information is provided without guarantee! All forecasts are based on the personal opinion of the author!

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