Astralis vs Natus Vincere Prediction 18 January 2025

📢Which team will advance to the next stage of the 1st season of BLAST Bounty? The final match of the game day will feature a showdown between Astralis and Natus Vincere. In our prediction, we will try to determine if the Danes can make it to the LAN finals and perform on their home arena in Copenhagen.

Astralis

📝The current Astralis roster was formed 4 months ago, but during this time the team has yet to fully prove themselves in championships. The main disappointment for the Danes was device missing the PW Shanghai Major. Without their key player, they failed to overcome the European RMR and qualify for the main tournament of the season. In their first BLAST Bounty match, the team easily defeated Wildcard (2:0), with all players achieving positive statistics.

❗️It is noteworthy that Astralis wins the 2nd map in 6 out of their last 7 matches.

Natus Vincere

📝Natus Vincere were recognized as the best team of last year, but they ended it in 3rd place in the HLTV world rankings. Towards the end of the previous season, they failed to win a single match at the BLAST Premier World Final and only took 9th-11th place at the PW Shanghai Major. The start of this tournament wasn't very successful either. In their first match, the "born to win" unexpectedly faced difficulties against the women's team Imperial fe, who managed to win 15 rounds over two maps.

❗️Interestingly, Natus Vincere loses the 3rd map in 4 consecutive matches.

Editorial Prediction

📊At the moment, Natus Vincere is clearly not in their best form and have been unable to please their fans with their performance for more than one tournament. Therefore, we do not consider them clear favorites in this match. The upcoming LAN final will take place in Copenhagen, so the Danes are undoubtedly motivated to make it to their home arena. In our opinion, Astralis winning with a handicap (+1.5) is the most optimal outcome for a bet in this match.