G2 Esports vs Astralis

G2 taking on Astralis sounds about as one-sided as it gets. Still, neither team is particularly cohesive right now which means that this game could potentially be a lot closer than one would ever expect. It might be unlikely, but by no means is it unrealistic.

Astralis have looked quite good in their first outing against Misfits. Far from perfect, of course, but a fair bit better than expected. They stood their ground and made a few great plays which, in all fairness, is about as much as we can expect, given their inherent bottom-dweller status. There's still a lot of work to be done for Astralis to ever move the needle, but credit where credit is due.

G2's first showing went about as well as we expected. It was by no means a shellacking nor did anyone really blow our minds, but it was solid and "by the book." They *did* make a few fumbles, but that was to be expected given the fact that this is a completely different (and nowhere near as dangerous) G2 compared to the one from last year. They're re-learning how to play the game as a five-man unit and that always comes at a performance cost.

This time around, they'll face one of the worst teams in the league. Selling this particular match is quite a gargantuan challenge, but it might end up being a lot more entertaining than the odds would lead you to believe. G2 are by no means cohesive or in sync. In fact, Astralis have actually retained more of their players during the course of the off-season so they could, potentially, bring the fight to the former "kings of Europe" and actually make this competitive. It *is* unlikely, sure, but it's nonetheless within the realm of possibility.

We're obviously going to bet on G2 as doing the opposite would be frankly insane, but it's not going to be as big of a blowout as most folks expect.