The journey of the Lower Bracket of Group D of ESL Pro League Season 17 begins with ATK taking on Astralis
It’s always hard for fans or even distant admirers to swallow the fall of a giant, and watching Astralis go from being the best of all time to a team that can’t seem to win against Tier 1 teams has been akin to that. It’s the feeling of watching an irreparable end of an era, and it’s almost surreal. Now they’ll be up against South African side ATK, and if they fail to win this even with their recent recruitments, they’ll have to consider some major changes. If you’re looking to place bets on CSGO today or just want to know more about the teams, here’s our in-depth preview.
ATK
There’s no doubt that ATK have shown that they’re better than most people assumed them to be after taking a map off of ENCE and putting up a decent fight in one map against Team Liquid. The young side has a lot of talent, and could really come into their own with more matches against top-level opponents. In fact, considering the fact that Astralis have a habit of losing to much lower ranked opponents, this is a great chance for this team to etch their name into ESL Pro League lore.
Players
Gareth “MisteM” Ries
- HLTV Rating: 1.04
- Impact Rating: 1.06
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 68.7%
- Average Damage Round: 75.0
- Kills Per Round: 0.68
Jonathan “b0denmaster” Bodenmalm
- HLTV Rating: 1.08
- Impact Rating: 1.12
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 69.5%
- Average Damage Round: 73.1
- Kills Per Round: 0.69
Michael “Swisher” Schmid
- HLTV Rating: 1.10
- Impact Rating: 1.12
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.8%
- Average Damage Round: 80.0
- Kills Per Round: 0.72
Jonathan “djay” Dallal
- HLTV Rating: 1.03
- Impact Rating: 0.98
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.6%
- Average Damage Round: 73.8
- Kills Per Round: 0.67
Aleksandar “CacaNito” Kjulukoski
- HLTV Rating: 1.15
- Impact Rating: 1.24
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 69.1%
- Average Damage Round: 85.6
- Kills Per Round: 0.76
Player to Watch
Considering his incredible consistency at the event, it’s hard not to go with Swisher as the player to watch on ATK. The entry-fragging rifler looks like the most LAN-ready player on his team by some way.
Astralis
Even as we start to write this, we can’t help but heave a deep sigh. Astralis can’t seem to swallow the fact that the primes of some of their best players have slipped away, and that they will only occasionally come alive just like many other aging stars on the scene right now. They were able to put up a good fight against Natus Vincere, but that’s more of a giveaway as to how far Na’ Vi have also fallen than credit to the Danes. Here’s to hoping they understand their issues and do something to fix them.
Players
Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth
- HLTV Rating: 1.01
- Impact Rating: 0.96
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 72.1%
- Average Damage Round: 74.4
- Kills Per Round: 0.66
Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander
- HLTV Rating: 0.98
- Impact Rating: 1.04
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.0%
- Average Damage Round: 74.4
- Kills Per Round: 0.66
Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz
- HLTV Rating: 1.16
- Impact Rating: 1.28
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.3%
- Average Damage Round: 80.4
- Kills Per Round: 0.78
Benjamin “blameF” Bremer
- HLTV Rating: 1.23
- Impact Rating: 1.23
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 74.0%
- Average Damage Round: 85.7
- Kills Per Round: 0.77
Christian “Buzz” Andersen
- HLTV Rating: 1.04
- Impact Rating: 1.04
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 69.8%
- Average Damage Round: 74.9
- Kills Per Round: 0.66
Player to Watch
Once again, it’s a contest between dev1ce and blameF, but we’d rather watch the former because he’s less likely to bait his teammates and put his team in jeopardy as a result.
ESL Pro League Season 17 Group D: ATK vs Astralis Predictions
Astralis’ game seems to have improved following their loss to Spirit, so we’ll go with them for a 2-0 win.
Maps
Astralis haven’t played Anubis at the pro level yet while it’s ATK’s best map, so it’ll probably be removed as the South Africans go for Mirage instead. The Danes will probably go for Ancient as ATK will be forced to remove Nuke since they haven’t played it at the top level. The decider, should it be needed, will probably be Mirage.
Score
Map 1: Astralis to win with ATK <12.
Map 2: Astralis to win with ATK <8.
Top Fragger
Although dev1ce is a strong contender, blameF is notoriously good against smaller teams, and we think he’ll take it upon himself to pad his stats this game.
Match Links
ESL’s Twitch and YouTube channels will both broadcast the matches, with coverage set to begin at 07:30 ET/06:30 CST/05:30 PT.
Keep tabs on us for more in-depth match previews, and go through our vast library of CSGO articles while you’re at it.
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