Natus Vincere (Na'Vi) vs. MAD Lions Preview & Prediction - Free 6/11 CS:GO Betting Picks

We've got a great lower bracket battle on our hands from the DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe between Natus Vincere and MAD Lions. The winner of this contest will live to fight another day and advance to take on the winner of FaZe Clan and Ninjas in Pyjamas. The loser of this matchup won't be so lucky as that will be the end of their tenure in this event. They won't leave empty-handed however as both of these teams are locked in to receive at least $10,000 USD as a prize, possibly more if they can survive a few more rounds.

Natus Vincere Preview

HLTV World Ranking: 1st

The world's top ranked team (for now since they lost to G2 on 6/9) Natus Vincere has been up and down, but when they are on their top game, they can beat anyone. You'd expect a higher win rate over the last three months than 57.1% from the world's top team, but that shows you just how good they can be. They were able to top Group D in the group stage with a 2-1 record and wins over Vitality and Ninjas in Pyjamas. Their only loss in group play came at the hands of ENCE. Despite their high ranking, Overpass, Dust2 and Nuke are the only three maps in which Natus Vincere has a win rate of at least 50% on over the last three months which leaves room for some concern.

Much of Natus Vincere's success has come on the shoulders of s1mple who is arguably the best CS:GO player in the world. He's been excellent over the last three months with an average of 0.86 kills per round while dying only 0.6 times a round, and he's been known to step up when they need him most. His counterpart electronic hasn't been bad over this same period with an average of 0.72 kills a round and only 0.65 deaths per round. Things drop off for Natus Vincere behind these two, however, as none of the other three players on the roster have a positive kill to death ratio over the last three months. Natus Vincere can win this contest fairly easy, they just have to not overlook this MAD Lions team which is up and coming.

MAD Lions Preview

HLTV World Ranking: 17th

The Danish squad of MAD Lions continues to churn out consistent results, and this is why they have sat so highly in the rankings for such a long time. Their play has really elevated over the last three months with a win rate of 72.7% during this time. Despite all their recent success, MAD Lions's path through the group stage wasn't easy. They opened with consecutive losses to BIG and Complexity before taking down Mousesports 2-0 in a winner advance, loser go home match. Something positive for them is the fact that Vertigo is the only map in which they have a win rate lower than 50% on in the last three months.

Bubzkji has been the most consistent player on MAD Lions, but their production hasn't been limited to him as acoR and sjuush have been great contributors as well. This trio has been great over the last three months with a combined average of 2.17 kills per round while only being killed 1.88 times a round. Neither AcilioN or roeJ have terrible kill to death ratios either for the team, and this good overall team play has made MAD Lions a tough outing for anyone. As long as MAD Lions doesn't let Natus Vincere's number one world ranking bother them or get in their head, they should be able to closely compete in this contest. They could possibly even win this battle if they play well and the map selection process falls in their favor.

Pick: MAD Lions ML (+145 @ Bovada)

I'm going to ride the hot hand in the MAD Lions for this battle. I've mentioned this before, but I don't feel as though Natus Vincere deserves the number one ranking. Not to downplay them or make it seem as though they aren't one of the best, but they haven't been playing nearly as well as teams like G2, FURIA or MAD Lions. This Danish MAD Lions squad doesn't have very many holes in their game and they have an excellent variety in their map pool. This won't be the easiest of wins for them, but I fully expect MAD Lions to down the top ranked team to keep themselves alive in this event.