ENCE and Astralis will play in the quarter-finals of Elisa Masters Espoo 2022. The winner will advance to the semi-finals, where fnatic is already waiting for him. And it seems to me that such an opponent will almost certainly be the last one for one of these teams.
As for the quarter-final itself, I don't understand the layout of the coefficients, which believe too much in ENCE. Yes, the Danes have big problems with the roster, but SunPayus also got sick with the coronavirus.
On the plus side, we have statistics that give Astralis some chances. So here it makes sense to believe in the map from the Danish team, since the teams have an approximately equal pool, both with their own advantages and disadvantages.
Form ENCE
The thirteenth team of the world ranking recently played at IEM Rio Major 2022. However, the team did not show anything sensible there, and according to the results, everything turned out not in the best way.
Speaking in fact, ENCE found a couple of their victories, but at the same time the team lost to FURIA, fnatic and MOUZ, thus leaving itself without a playoff.
As for the group stage of Elisa Masters Espoo 2022, here the wards of sAw suffered only one defeat from Sprout. Still, ENCE has one small problem, namely the lack of clarity with the health of the sniper.
Latest ENCE results:
- Victory over HAVU with a score of 16:12.
- Victory over GamerLegion with a score of 16:10.
- Lost to Sprout with a score of 16:19.
- Victory over HEET with a score of 16:9.
- Victory over BIG with a score of 16:9.
Best ENCE cards:
- Nuke - 64% of wins.
- Dust 2 - 60% of wins.
- Ancient - 50% win rate.
- Mirage - 50% of wins.
- Vertigo - 50% of wins.
Let's not forget that the European team continues to refuse the Inferno map.
Astralis shape
The eighteenth world ranked team had a terrible performance at IEM Road to Rio 2022 Europe RMR A, where they got only one victory over Eternal Fire, but at the same time suffered three losses.
Then Astralis took part in the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2022 Europe, where they even made it to the final. However, in general, the Danish team already has long-standing problems that they still cannot cope with.
And yet, at the group stage of Elisa Masters Espoo 2022, the team managed to get three victories, although in some places they managed to fly away 1:16 from 500. Nevertheless, in BO3 the Danes can try to impose a fight, even if I don’t believe in a common victory.
Astralis latest results:
- Victory over SAW with a score of 16:11.
- Victory over the Bad News Eagles with a score of 19:16.
- Lost to fnatic at 7:16
- Defeat from 500 with a score of 1:16.
- Victory over Complexity with a score of 19:17.
Best Astralis cards:
- Inferno - 75% of wins.
- Mirage - 75% of wins.
- Dust 2 - 71% win rate
In turn, the Danish team continues to refuse the Vertigo card.
Match statistics ENCE — Astralis
As part of the current season, the teams held four meetings:
- Astralis won at IEM Katowice 2022 with a score of 2:1.
- Astralis won at PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Europe RMR B with a score of 16:11.
- ENCE victory at BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2022 Europe with a score of 2:1.
- The victory of Astralis in the ESL Pro League Season 16 with a score of 2:0.
In this case, the last fight took place in mid-September.
Prediction for the match ENCE — Astralis
It is unlikely that the Danish team will be able to get a victory, although Astralis will definitely not leave the server without a fight. In turn, ENCE may have problems, especially since the statistics do not speak in favor of sAw's wards.
If we talk about maps, then the Danish team will most likely risk Mirage, where they lost to the opponent only once. Therefore, in this case, I would recommend betting on Handicap by cards (+1.5) for the Astralis team.
