The player welcomed his first child earlier and took some time off competitive gaming in mid-February to focus on his family. Dupreeh returns in time for the team’s campaign in the ESL Pro League Season 17 playoffs, which will take place this week.

French rifler Audric “?JACKZ?” Jug filled in during dupreeh’s absence, recording impressive numbers as the team went unbeaten in the ESL Pro League Season 17 group stage. With him on the squad, Vitality defeated FaZe Clan, Grayhound, and OG to finish top of Group C and clinch a spot in the quarterfinals.

JACKZ recorded a 1.26 average rating during the group stage, second only to Mathieu “?ZywOo?” Herbaut on the lineup. Also, he finished on top of the leaderboard in terms of headshots per round at 0.49 – significantly higher than some of the top CS:GO players during ESL Pro League Season 17, ZywOo and Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov included.

In contrast, dupreeh did not have the most impressive start to the year, recording a 0.98 rating in the past six months and a 0.91 average rating during IEM Katowice. The Dane’s only positive rating in the past few months was at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups, where he posted a 1.12 average.

Vitality’s current lineup includes dupreeh, ZywOo, Dan “?apEX?” Madesclaire, Emil “?Magisk?” Reif, and Lotan “Spinx” Giladi. The team will play their first match with dupreeh back in the starting five on Friday, March 24, when they are slated to face one of Movistar Riders, ENCE, or G2 in the ESL Pro League quarterfinals.

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?Natus Vincere and forZe last met in April 2022, during the PGL Major Antwerp 2022 European RMR A, when NaVi secured a comfortable 2-0 win en route to the Major finals. But the Ukrainian team was much stronger back then.

After a rough patch, we saw a bit of a resurgence from NaVi earlier this year when they reached the semifinals of Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023. However, they need to show more to convince anyone of their ESL Pro League title credentials.

Natus Vincere have better players than forZe, but they’re not the same beast they were in 2021 or early into 2022. Moreover, NaVi haven’t played an official match in over a month and are notorious for starting tournaments slowly.

At the offered CS:GO betting odds, forZe to win one map makes the most sense. They can be competitive in big events such as the ESL Pro League, and facing a rusty NaVi – who are still finding their new identity – will give them a perfect chance to prove it.

?Team Spirit enter this match as +110 underdogs with esports betting sites, which is interesting to see – not necessarily because Spirit are very strong, but rather because Astralis aren’t. Even though Astralis are still highly respected, the Danes are not playing at their best.

Astralis are 9-1 over their last 10 outings, with just two notable wins against OG (2-1) and Ninjas in Pyjamas (2-1). Still, even those minor achievements are overshadowed by unconvincing victories against EYEBALLERS (2-1), Aurora (2-1), and SAW (2-1).

In terms of tournament results, Team Spirit are in a similar spot; they’ve won two events since the start of 2022 and haven’t beaten any strong teams recently. So even though Spirit are not stronger than Astralis, they’re not that much worse.

This should be a close series between two struggling teams, so we’ll put our money on over 2.5 maps.

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Ninjas in Pyjamas and paiN Gaming will meet on Wednesday for the first time in what promises to be a very one-sided affair. Ninjas in Pyjamas enter this match as -500 favourites with CS:GO betting sites, which makes sense since they’re ranked 17th in the world, whereas paiN are no.31 in the global CS:GO standings.

Still, NiP haven’t won anything over the last four months. They crashed out early from BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023 and Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023. Their only notable achievement since winning Global Esports Tour Dubai 2022 was reaching the semifinals of BLAST Premier Fall Finals 2022 in November.

PaiN Gaming have, over the same period, finished first or second in eight tournaments. Most were B-tier events, except for ESL Challenger at DreamHack Melbourne and the FiReLEAGUE 2022 Global Finals, when they placed second. So despite doing better in their competitive endeavours, paiN Gaming haven’t produced better results than NiP.

Ninjas in Pyjamas might have struggled against the world’s top teams, but they’re still a class above paiN Gaming and we expect that to show on Wednesday.

Three weeks ago, OG made it through BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 European RMR Qualifier B; however, the field was very weak, and they still didn’t place first. OG beat JANO, Anonymo Esports, and Aurora Gaming, but lost against HEET.

Before the RMR qualifier, OG attended IEM Katowice 2023, where they beat Sprout, Fnatic, and MOUZ and lost against Heroic and Outsiders. 00 Nation haven’t played in an S-tier event since IEM Rio Major 2022, but they performed well in some lesser tournaments and qualifiers.

In January, 00 Nation made it through the ESL Pro League Season 17 South American Conference, then added a bronze medal from IEM Rio 2023 South American Qualifier and finished just above the cutoff line two weeks back at the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 South American RMR Qualifier.

00 Nation have achieved plenty for their standards, but we’re comparing two teams that are not on the same level. OG haven’t won much lately, but they’ve only really struggled against some of the world’s top teams.

Despite their struggles at the top level of play, OG are still ranked eighth in the world and shouldn’t have too many issues beating 00 Nation.

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Heroic gave away their status as the world’s best CS:GO team to G2 Esports when they lost the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023 finals (1-3). But that defeat doesn’t change the fact that Heroic are still one of the current strongest squads in the scene.

Over the last seven events, Heroic placed outside the top four just once – a seventh-eighth finish at BLAST Premier World Final 2022 – which is seriously impressive. But perhaps even more noteworthy than their record is Heroic’s improved consistency. Once considered chokers, Heroic turned a new leaf and are now one of the more consistent teams in the world.

This spells problems for Movistar Riders, who can’t count on Heroic underperforming, and they definitely can’t rely on their talent to earn them a win. Although a solid second-tier team, the Spaniards can’t match Heroic.

Esports betting sites are offering $1.90 on Heroic to win the series with at least 14 rounds to spare, which should be easily achievable for the Danish powerhouse.

BIG and Complexity are at about the same level if we consider their recent tournament results, with both teams finishing second in their respective regional Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2023 qualifiers. Although European events usually feature much stronger teams, that wasn’t the case this time out, as BIG only had to defeat Sprout, HEET, ENCE, and HONORIS.

Yet despite there being very little to separate the teams results-wise, BIG enter this match as -151.52 favourites with CS:GO betting sites. That likely has to do with the community’s perception of Complexity as a terrible team, which they were not too long ago, but they’ve improved significantly over the last month.

Complexity showed up big at IEM Katowice 2023, where they placed seventh-eighth, catapulting them from no.23 to no.10 in the global CS:GO rankings. Even though their impressive run in Poland doesn’t prove that Complexity are stronger than BIG, they aren’t weaker, so we have to take their side at plus money.

An all-Brazilian clash between Imperial Esports and FURIA Esports promises to be one-sided, but regional derbies rarely play out as expected. There is no hiding that Imperial are not at the level of FURIA, who reached the semifinal of Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major in November. Still, we haven’t seen much from Andrei “arT” Piovezan and co. since then.

FURIA have played just three matches in 2023 at IEM Katowice 2023, where they defeated Permitta Esports (16-4) but then lost against BIG (1-2) and IHC Esports (1-2). In contrast, Imperial Esports have played 14 games since the turn of the year (12-2) and even made it through BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 South American RMR Qualifier.

FURIA Esports look to be a class above Imperial Esports, but this is a clash between players who know each other well, which increases the chances of Imperial Esports causing an upset. Granted, considering FURIA’s recent showings, seeing them lose wouldn’t be a massive shock.

SAW will meet with MOUZ in the opening round of ESL Pro League Season 17 Group B following a solid showing at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 European RMR Qualifier A last week, when they made it through the decider series with wins against HEET (2-0) and JANO Esports (2-0). MOUZ played their last match at the start of the month, when they attended Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023, but crashed out early, with two 1-2 defeats against OG and Complexity.

Losing against OG and Complexity isn’t too concerning, but MOUZ not playing a single match in three weeks is. MOUZ have achieved significantly more than SAW in 2022, so seeing them priced as -250 favourites makes sense, but there is little value backing the European squad at the offered CS:GO betting odds.

SAW might struggle to overpower MOUZ; however, they have the talent to put up a fight. SAW to win one map isn’t a bad choice, but we like over 2.5 maps at -111.11 better.

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