Much of the early chat around ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals revolved around scheduling and jetlag, as is often the way in CS:GO, but fortunately for the sponsors of the event day one wasn’t too coloured by shocks and upsets.
With the number of tier-one teams flying straight in from Arlington at a worrying high there was a chance we’d enter our second day in a state of disarray, but that turned out not to be the case.
Astralis vs G2 is due to start at 2.35pm GMT / 3.35pm CET / on Wednesday, December 4th, 2019. The Sharks vs Renegades live stream, stats and betting odds is available via the Luckbox match page and you can check the full ESL Pro League Odense schedule.
The opening day saw Astralis take on the now-Renegades, who were known as Grayhound Gaming when they signed up for this event, and comfortably dispose of the Oceanic mix 16-8, a result which should come as little surprise.
Their reward for a quick turnaround from Texas is a match-up with G2 Esports today that could be very interesting indeed, but based off what we have seen from the pair so far possibly won’t be.
Danes heating up
You see, while G2 did earn a place in this upper bracket match with a win on day one, they did it at the expense of the Sharks, a team that lacks pedigree to some extent.
The excitement around their young star Ignacio ‘meyern’ Meyer is justified and understandable for anyone who has seen him in action, but overall teams like G2 are expected to win a little more comfortably against the South American mix than was the case on day one.
The last two meetings between the cores ended with Astralis taking the win, and Arlington definitely revitalised the Danish team further, which only makes them more dangerous coming into the home straight of 2019.
On the other hand, G2 have somewhat stalled since the impressive early progress their team made in the wake of the latest set of changes and find themselves at a crossroads, where going back is hard, and going forward may be impossible unless they are willing to finally rid themselves of their French connection.
Any chance of an upset?
It’s hard to see a map G2 can spring on the Danes to put them outside their comfort zone too, so a lot of what will decide the game will most likely be individual levels, but even that doesn’t stack well for the men in black and white. While kennyS is in theory still a top talent, his days of carrying teams to big wins seem behind him, and this being a best-of 3 means G2 will have to do more than just rely on flashes in the pan from their AWPer.
If Kenny is joined by huNter- in top form then there is an outside chance of a shock here, so it’s not to say this is over before click-off, but it looks like an uphill battle for G2. In fairness, Astralis haven’t been at their absolute peak at all times since the Major, but that’s the point really, they probably don’t have to play their A1 game to come away with the victory and a 2-0 record to start their EPL finals.
