Gambit vs. Natus Vincere, Preview & Prediction - Free 2/26 CS:GO

Natus Vincere is a favorite in this Best of 3 encounter when they take on Gambit in the quarter-final of the IEM Katowice 2021 on Friday. The winner of this duel will advance to the semi-final and meet Spirit, while the losing team will be eliminated.

Gambit Team Stats and Latest Results

In 2021, Gambit won the Vulkan Fight Series 2020 and $22,500 after defeating Winstrike, Nemiga, and Sinners, without dropping a single map along the way. They didn’t play well at the DreamHack Open January 2021 Europe and Snow Sweet Snow 1, Gambit qualified for the IEM Katowice 2021 with victories over TeamOne and mousesports. The Russian team lost the opening game of the tournament to Evil Geniuses but bounced back with three wins over mousesports, Heroic, and G2. Gambit won 15 of the previous 18 matches.

In the last three months, Gambit was dominant on Mirage (90.0% win rate), Train (87.5%), and Vertigo (85.7%), while their “weakest” displays came on Dust2 (60.0%). Since November 2020, Gambit is playing with the same lineup that appeared on 68 maps with a record of 53 wins and 15 losses. The team members are Hobbit (1.19 rating), interz (1.00), Ax1Le (1.18), sh1ro (1.24), and nafany (1.03).

Natus Vincere Team Stats and Latest Results

Natus Vincere has a chance to return to the top spot in the CS:GO rankings but only if they manage to win this tournament and not Astralis. NaVi was victorious at the BLAST Premier Global Final 2020 and BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021 after beating Astralis and FaZe, respectively, and earned over $600,000 for winning these two tournaments. They won the first two matches at the IEM Katowice 2021 against Virtus.pro and FURIA, while they lost the latest one to Liquid. Natus Vincere won ten of the last 11 games.

When it comes to the maps in the previous three months, Natus Vincere was excellent on Dust2 (85.7%), Mirage (80.0%), and Nuke (78.6%), while they failed to get a victory on Overpass (played twice). NaVi assembled its current squad since December 2020 and appeared on 34 maps with a record of 24 wins and ten losses. The lineup consists of flamie (0.97), s1mple (1.36), electronic (1.12), Boombl4 (1.02), and Perfecto (1.03).

Gambit vs. Natus Vincere H2H Record

These rivals have met on three occasions before, and Natus Vincere won two of those duels, including the most recent one at the IEM New York 2020 CIS in October 2020.

Gambit vs. Natus Vincere Betting Preview

NaVi is a favorite in this one, but they will not have an easy job on Friday because Gambit is a tricky team that has the quality to beat any opponent in the CS:GO. The bookies are favoring NaVi, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Gambit makes a little upset here and advances to the semis. I am pretty sure each team will get at least a map, so I am backing Over 2.5 maps.

The Pick: Over 2.5 Maps (-116 @GGBET)