Welcome to EGamersWorld.
The first big tournament of the new competitive season is BLAST Bounty Season 1. This is an experimental championship where the Bounty "poker" system works, which adds excitement to the players and clearly improves the spectator experience, because every match has extra value.
Let's talk about the second day of play, more specifically the match between Astralis and Wildcard. In this matchup, Wildcard has chosen their opponent, for which there is a reward.
We are trying to figure out which team will be stronger and stay in the race for BLAST Bounty Season 1.
Let's go.
Astralis Form
We open the breakdown of Astralis vs Wildcard with an analysis of Astralis' form. In this match they will play as favourites with odds to win at around 1.3.
The Danish club had a difficult period. They have tried their best to "return" to the TIR-1 scene, but they have always fallen short: Astralis finished top-20 at ESL Pro League Season 17 and top-14 at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR B.
At lesser tournaments, however, Astralis fared well. The world's most titled team finished Top 2 at Brazy Party, won CCT South Europe Series #4 and finished Top 4 at Pinnacle Cup V.
Returning to the S-Tier Championships, Astralis took Top 6 at IEM Masters Dallas 2023 and Top 8 at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups.
Prior to the BB Dacha, Astralis attended a number of other events. Those were ESL Pro League Season 18 and Roobet Cup 2023, where the once stellar Danes finished in the Top 16.
Just before the Long Convergence, BB Dacha Astralis finished in the Top 4 at CS Asia Championship 2023 and Top 8 at BLAST Premier: Fall Finals. The swing in performance is primarily due to roster manipulation.
- Astralis roster: Staehr, stavn, jabbi, CadiaN, br0.
Before IEM Katowice 2024 they played at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024. At the end of the championship the Danes made it to the top 6 and it was enough to get to the BLAST Premier: Spring Final. The IEM Katowice 2024 Astralis failed in the dust and dust: took the top 32, not passing the Play-In stage.
Then there were two attempts to get to the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, but both failed: TOP-11 at European RMR B and TOP-6 at European RMR Decider put an end to Astralis' participation in the home Major.
In the first match of IEM China 2024 Astralis played against steel helmet, as Monte could not make it to China. And if Monte had played there, the score would have been obviously not so crushing as 13-2 in favour of Astralis. Although, judging by the match with FaZe, where Astralis were a head and shoulders above FaZe, shutting down the top 1 team in the world with a score of 2-0, maybe Astralis are very energised for IEM China 2024. In the play-offs of the championship Astralis met FaZe Clan again, but this time they were weaker and lost with the score 1-2 and left the tournament.
Astralis visited ESL Pro League Season 19, where they reached the TOP-4, where in the match for the grand final Ledge and Vitality. Later, they had an identical result at CCT Season 1 Global Finals and YaLLa Compass 2024.
At BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2024, Astralis played in Group A, where they finished in the top 3. They made it to the play-offs Ledge or Vp and left the tournament at the Top 6 stage. Later Astralis played at IEM Cologne 2024, where they finished top-12.
At the ESL Pro League Season 20 Long Season they were defeated by Fnatic (1-2). Next was a match against CoL (0-2). They finished ESL Pro League Season 20 as ignominiously as they started - losing to CoL and leaving the tournament at the TOP-28 stage.
After such poor results Astralis continued their attempts to return to the TIR-1 stage. For this purpose, they played at BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024, where they took TOP-8 and at Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024, where they were TOP-12. As you can see, the attempts were not successful.
Astralis did well in the group stage of BLAST Premier: World Final 2024, leaving behind MOUZ, FaZe and NaVi. After winning Group A, Astralis directly qualified for the semi-finals. However, that was the end of their journey through BLAST Premier: World Final 2024, and Spirit made it to the grand finals.
Astralis Long Sogpeg at PW Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B with a loss against 9 Pandas, followed by Ledgeili and Sashi Esports. They managed to come together only by the third match against B8. However, the music didn't last long for Astralis and they failed to make it to Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024.
Astralis Mapple
Astralis has two 100% maps. They are Nuke with 9 wins in 14 matches, and Anubis with 5 matches and 4 wins.
They also play Ancient (66% wins in 3 matches). Still playing Mirage (9 matches, 4 wins). Vertigo with 2 wins and 3 losses and Overpass (2 wins in 7 matches).
Do not play Inferno.
Wildcard Form
We continue the analysis of Wildcard vs Astralis match with the analysis of Wildcard's form. In this match they will play as an outsider with odds to win around 3.5.
The American club is on the 22nd line of the world ranking from HLTV. They managed to get so high thanks to a pretty good game at PW Shanghai Major 2024.
- Wildcard roster: stanislaw, sonic, phzy, susp, JBa.
Wildcard can safely be called newcomers of the CS2 competitive scene. The team appeared on the radar of eSports Counter-Strike in 2023.
During their debut season, Wildcard played in numerous tournaments, mostly TIR-B and TIR-C. These were Thunderpick World Championship 2023: North American Series, ESEA Pro Seris and others. There showed very good performance, winning them consistently. There were also attempts at title tournaments, such as Thunderpick World Championship 2024, which was the only TIR-S tournament of the year. Wildcard finished in the top 18, which is not a good result.
In the 2024 season, they continued to play at roughly the same level and also occasionally made it to title tournaments. Among them in the 2024 season were IEM Chengdu 2024, where Wildcard finished in the top 16, and ESL Pro League Season 20, where Stanislaw and company finished in the top 28.
The team's main achievement during 2024 was reaching the PW Shanghai Major 2024. At the first World Championship in the history of the club, the team got through Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: American RMR with TOP-1-2.
At PW Shanghai Major 2024, Wildcard Long Team started with a win over Fnatic, but then lost to Liquid and FURIA. Next, Wildcard sent home Vp, coming out on a 2-2 score. In the decisive Opening Stage match, they shut out Passion UA, advancing to the Elimination Stage. However, the Elimination Stage was clearly not enough for Wildcard and the team finished 0-3 without any chances.
Wildcard Mapple
The best map for Wildcard remains Ancient, where Wildcard won 3 maps out of 3 played. Among the frequently played ones is Overpass - where Vp have played 11 maps, of which they have won 9.
In the pool there is a good Anubis (3-1 on maps), Mirage (6 wins in 9 matches) and Inferno (7 wins in 11 games).
The worst choice for Wildcard is Vertigo. It has a 44% win rate with 9 matches
History of head-to-head meetings between Astralis and Wildcard
Previously, the teams have not played each other in official meetings.
Predicted result of the match Wildcard - Astralis on BLAST Bounty Season 1
In this match it is logical to bet on Astralis, but seeing the playing condition of the Danes, especially after last season. However, against a team of Wildcard level, a team of the same tournament, they should win.
Bottom line: Astralis win.
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