BLAST Pro Series: Istanbul 2018 preview

Quick recap: What is the BLAST Pro Series?

On September 28, BLAST will be bringing the best teams from around the world to compete in the Ülker Sports Arena in Istanbul. The tournament is split into three stages: Groups, PRO Standoff and Grand Finals. The Group stage will be Bo1 (best of one), and the Grand Finals will be Bo3 (best of three).

The PRO Standoff will be a series of 1 vs. 1’s on the BLAST Aim Map and the winning team will take home $20,000. The winners of the overall tournament will take home $125,000.

BLAST Pro Series: Istanbul 2018 odds

Astralis are the current favourites in the BLAST Pro Series odds with MIBR and NiP close behind. Below is a list of the outright odds for the tournament:

Learn more about the top contenders

Bettors can keep in mind, that the majority of teams have competed at the recent FACEIT Major. It would be beneficial to look back to see how each team performed.

Astralis (priced at 1.57* as the favourite to win the upcoming BLAST event) arrive in Istanbul in amazing form after emerging as winners from the FACEIT Major. Astralis have proven time and time again they have what it takes to win major events and with long term rivals FaZe and Na’Vi not present at this event, this should be another opportunity for them to show the world what they are capable of doing.

MiBR (4.89*) are also arriving in style to Istanbul. MiBR have been on a rampage as of late. Even though they are a new team, out of the 38 maps they’ve played they’ve won 22, having an average team K/D ratio of 1.10. Previous ex-SK members on MiBR have had success at BLAST, defeating then home favourites Astralis to a silenced arena.

The highlights from NiP (7.11*) come from their success at the Europe Minor Championship – London 2018 but they suffered an unfortunate defeat at the Major. NiP should be looking to take a different approach across the CS:GO Map Pool as they’ve had little to no success over the last three months - especially on Inferno (28% win rate) and Cache (33%). The year has been an interesting journey for NiP, with draken moving to Fnatic and Lekro joining as the in-game coach.

Analysing others in the BLAST Pro Series odds

It has been a bumpy ride throughout the last few events for Cloud9 (16.63*) after having success this year at the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018. It’s been a downward spiral since then, but with the new arrival Flusha and fellow recent addition GOLDEN being present for BLAST, we could hope to see the return of Cloud9 from earlier days.

Space Soldiers (16.63*) are the home side favourites for this event, the team all originating from Turkey. Missing the mark at the recent FACEIT Major, losing all three games back to back, Space have had success on the current map pool in the last year, on Mirage, Inferno and Cache they have above 50%-win rate which might work in their favour. They have had major success in the past, most recently at the DreamHack Open in Austin, coming first place after defeating Rogue.

The year has been rough for Virtus.pro (25.43*), going from being the team to get behind now to the team that is behind. The Russian organisation have now moved into a negative K/D ratio and their early drop out in the Challenger Stage at the recent Major has added to their list of woes. They’ve had roster changes recently, with snatchie replacing morelz, byali stepping down and morelz now back on the main roster. VP should use BLAST as an opportunity to show what they’re made of and they have the potential to defy the odds.

Who to watch?

If we look at team synergy alone, then we have to look at all the teams except Astralis. Astralis have had a big share of success at all major recent events, winning them flat out or being close second.

Even though MiBR are still a relatively new team, they have proven they have a strong overall squad. Looking at the most recent tournaments where they’ve defeated competitors NiP and Cloud9 but were ultimately defeated by Astralis during the Legends stage. MIBR should be in fairly high spirits coming into this, their recent success at the Major has given them a chance to show the world what they can do.

On the other end of the spectrum, NiP, Cloud9, VP, Space Soldiers should also be looking to change up their tactics against all of the competitors. In the past, these teams have shown they have what it takes to play with the big boys, but they have yet to do so in recent events.

VP and Space Soldiers both finished bottom of the Challenger Stage at the Major, losing all three games. Cloud9 and NiP had already qualified for the Legends Stage but Cloud9 lost three out of their four matches and NiP lost three of their five.

Some teams have more of an advantage then others, but the outsiders are never to be underestimated, especially in CS:GO. Anything is possible and all it could take is one particular play to put another team on tilt. Astralis are deserved favourites but NiP, Cloud9, VP and Space Soldiers are certainly worth keeping an eye on.

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