Ninjas in Pyjamas will play with Astralis in the match of the 1st round of the group stage of IEM Winter 2021. Who will start with a victory?
Ninjas in Pyjamas
In the first third of December, "Ninja" won IEM Fall 2021 Europe, showing a confident game, and easily beating ENCE Esports in the final (3-1). It seemed that the Swedes would continue to play even better, but at PGL Major Stockholm 2021 they performed negatively - they took 5-8 places, losing in the quarterfinals of G2 (0-2). And after that, they failed in all respects at the BLAST Premier Fall Final 2021, suffering two losses in two games, and taking 7-8 places.
Astralis
The guys from Astralis performed even worse at the Major, finishing their performance after the second stage, where they won one victory with three defeats, and finished in 12-14 positions. At the previous tournament, which was BLAST Premier Fall Final 2021, nothing good was expected from the Danes, as there were two substitutions in their composition - blameF and k0nfig came instead of Magiska and dupreeh, but the newcomers joined the squad so quickly that it was a pleasant surprise. As a result, the updated five took third place, losing in the semifinals to Team Vitality (1-2).
Forecast
Ninjas in Pyjamas did not have time to really climb to the top, as they fell again. But Astralis began to play much better after the substitutions, and they are already predicting a bright future for her. In the upcoming meeting, even though it will be held in the bo1 format, I propose to bet on the Danes who are striving to regain leadership on the professional stage as soon as possible, and who performed very powerfully at the BLAST Premier Fall Final 2021, stopping a step away from the grand final.
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Astralis
