Preview of BLAST Pro Series Moscow 2019

Main favourite

Natus Vincere (place in the HLTV rating — #7)
Win odds: 3.30

At StarLadder Berlin Major 2019, NAVI could not perform in the way their fans had expected. The team took the 5-8 place at the championship having lost the unequal battle with the well-prepared NRG Esports at the quarterfinal. Nevertheless, we think that Natus Vincere are the main favourites due to one simple reason.

This tournament will become the last for the current roster of Natus Vincere and Zeus in particular. Daniil Teslenko announced the termination of his gaming career after the event in Moscow. There he will perform in front of the CIS audience for the last time and will announce the end of his career on stage. In our opinion, this factor is decisive at the tournament and Natus Vincere are to do their best and show brilliant performance. On top of that, they will be supported by the audience and the championship will be taking place on the home ground, Despite the fact that the roster got down to the 7 position in the world rating, Natus Vincere is represented by ones of the strongest players in the world, s1mple and electronic. Taking into account the fact that almost all teams will perform at this championship with substitutes, which will be told further, NAVI along with the support of fans are to get the trophy easily while Zeus will end up his career cheerfully. Natus Vincere are the main favourites at this championship for sure.

Natus Vincere roster and rating of the players:

Egor ‘flamie’ Vasilev — 1.05
Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kpstyliev — 1.28
Daniil ‘Zeus’ Teslenko — 0.88
Denis ‘electronic’ Sharipov — 1.22
Kirill ‘Boombl4’ Mikhailov — 1.03
Mykhailo ‘kane’ Blagin — (coach)

All the others

Team Vitality (place in the HLTV rating — #4)
Win odds: 4.00

Team Vitality have recently removed Nathan ‘NBK-’ Schmitt and at the moment of this material being published, it is still unknown who is going to perform as a substitute in the roster of the French team. On the internet, there also was a rumour that the team could skip the competition. Of course, this mood can affect Vitality’s performance negatively. At the recently held Major tournament, the French stopped at the quarterfinal. They made both the management of the club and all fans disappointed, as Vitality approached the championship as one of the main win favourites. They played poorly at Challengers Stage and performed not very well at Legends Stage. In the end, having made it to the playoff, they lost the battle with AVANGAR and ended their way at the 5-8 place, getting $35,000 as a reward for the team. This result became so disappointing that it was decided to have a replacement in the team and the first player who got under blow was Nathan Schmitt. The longer Vitality are looking for a replacement for the vacant place, the more time is lost by the players which could be spent for fruitful training. In the ideal case, Vitality will stop at the 3 place and will pass to BLAST Pro Standoff.

Team Vitality roster and rating of the players:

Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire — 0.98
Cedric ‘RpK’ Guipouy — 1.01
Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut — 1.26
Alex ‘ALEX’ McMeekin — 1.00
Remy ‘XTQZZZ’ Quiniam — coach

ENCE (place in the HLTV rating — #5)
Win odds: 4.20

ENCE will come to the tournament with a renewed roster. Right after the end of their performance at the Major tournament where they took the 5-8 place, Aleksib left the team and his slot was taken by Miikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi. We do not exclude the players’ strong motivation and as a result, they can make a surprise for us. Meanwhile, suNny can bring a flow of fresh ideas in the team but we still have doubts that the Finnish can win BLAST Pro Series Moscow 2019. In the best case, they will make it to the grand final, but the likelihood of their failure at the group stage is higher than a chance of making it to the final.

ENCE roster and rating of the players:

Aleksi ‘allu’ Jalli — 1.14
Jere ‘sergej’ Salo — 1.15
Jani ‘Aerial’ Jussila — 1.00
Sami ‘xseveN’ Laasanen — 0.95
Miikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi — 0.00
Slaava ‘Twista’ Rasanen — coach

MIBR (place in the HLTV rating — #15)
Wins odds: 8.00

MIBR have recently made two replacements. At the end of August, LUCAS1 was leased from Luminosity Gaming and 5 days later, the information about kNgV-’s passing to the Brazilian roster was confirmed. How can MIBR perform with the recent changes in the team that has not been able to show any good result for a long time? We think that poorly. Our confidence is supplied with their performance at StarLadder Berlin Major 2019. The fact that the team together with the coach managed to make it to the 12-14 position of the tournament bracket is pleasant for the players for sure, but, nevertheless, MIBR are unlikely to achieve good teamwork with the newcomer kNgV-. We should also add that the players can suffer from jetlag which can spoil their already bad enough performance. One thing in the team is pleasing — zews returned to his direct duties and now he is going to help the Brazilians not from a gaming armchair, but from a coach’s one.

MIBR roster and rating of the players:

Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo — 1.05
Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga — 1.09
Epitacio ‘TACO’ de Melo — 0.92
Lucas ‘LUCAS1’ Teles — 1.05
Vito ‘kNgV-’ Giuseppe — 1.07
Wilton ‘zews’ Prado — coach

Ninjas in Pyjamas (place in the HLTV rating — #16)
Win odds: 8.00

The Swedish team, as well as several other contestants, can have some changes in their roster. The management of the Swedish organization is looking for an esportsman who will be able to take GeT_RiGhT’s place in the long run. It just happened that the search is not successful yet, so Christopher Alesund will perform together with his teammates. At StarLadder Berlin Major 2019, the team took the 15-16 place and we do not think that these several weeks led to fundamental changes in their roster.

Ninjas in Pyjamas roster and rating of the players:

Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg — 1.05
Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund — 0.96
Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner — 1.00
Jonas ‘Lekr0’ Olofsson — 1.06
Nicolas ‘Plopski’ Gonzalez Zamora — 1.12
Faruk ‘pita’ Pita — coach

Play-In

AVANGAR (place in the HLTV rating — #6)
Win odds: 10.0

Strange though it might sound, AVANGAR is another win favourite. despite the fact that the team has to start their way from the Play-In stage, the Kazakh players have a chance of having a great performance. We think that AdreN and his teammates can make it to the grand final even if facing some difficulties.

AVANGAR proved at StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 that they can compete with world-class teams. Their victory over Team Liquid, Team Vitality, and Renegades will not be forgotten soon. If they were able to beat these opponents, their win over all the participants of BLAST Pro Series Moscow 2019, including forZe at the Play-In stage, should not be something unreachable.

AVANGAR roster and rating of the players:

Timur ‘buster’ Tulepov — 1.08
Alexey ‘qikert’ Golubev — 1.09
Ali ‘Jame’ Dzhami — 1.23
Sanjar ‘SANJI’ Kuliev — 0.96
Dauren ‘AdreN’ Kystaubayev — 0.94
Dastan ‘dastan’ Akbaev — coach

forZe (place in the HLTV rating — #20)
Win odds: 10.0

At the upcoming battle for passing to the main stage of BLAST Pro Series Moscow 2019, in our opinion, forZe are more likely to lose. At the recent Major tournament, the team was not even able to make it to the Legends stage, while AVANGAR became vice-champions of the competition. We should also add that forZe’s opponents will do their best to perform well in front of their home audience it is another reason why Jerry and his teammates are likely to lose at the very beginning of the competition.

forZe roster and rating of the players:

Dmitriy ‘facecrack’ Alekseyev — 1.10
Andrey ‘Jerry’ Mekhryakov — 1.07
Almaz ‘almazer’ Assadulin — 1.13
Bogdan ‘xsepower’ Chernikov — 1.23
Evgeny ‘FL1T’ Lebedev — 1.12
Anatoliy ‘liTTle’ Yashin — coach