ESL Pro League Season 17 Group D: Natus Vincere Vs ForZe Preview And Predictions

Republished By Plato

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Ukrainian side Natus Vincere will be taking on Russian team forZe in Group D of ESL Pro League Season 17

The final group of ESL Pro League Season 17 is upon us, and with it we’ll have four more teams to join the Playoffs. That being said, there’s a long way to go till then, with a week’s worth of CSGO lighting up our screens before that. Group D will start with two matches running simultaneously, and the first of these will be Natus Vincere vs forZe. For any avid CSGO fans who’d like to educate themselves on this matchup, here’s an in-depth preview and our own predictions.

Natus Vincere

The 2021 Major-winning side hasn’t been in the best of shapes lately, with a string of relatively disappointing results at big events. Try as they might, they can’t seem to complete their lineup in any meaningful way, with a couple of disappointing recruitments and stand-ins all falling short of restoring them to their formidable former full strength. Now the Ukrainians have a decent shot at making the Playoffs of another ESL Pro League, and although they’ll face stiff opposition along the way, forZe shouldn’t be able to trouble them.

Players

Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev

HLTV Rating: 1.24
Impact Rating: 1.35
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 74.1%
Average Damage Round: 85.9
Kills Per Round: 0.85

Denis “electroNic” Sharipov

HLTV Rating: 1.09
Impact Rating: 1.19
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.6%
Average Damage Round: 82.6
Kills Per Round: 0.74

Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy

HLTV Rating: 1.03
Impact Rating: 0.87
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 73.2%
Average Damage Round: 69.9
Kills Per Round: 0.62

Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi

HLTV Rating: 1.11
Impact Rating: 1.10
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 72.0%
Average Damage Round: 75.5
Kills Per Round: 0.70

Andrii “npl” Kukharskyi

HLTV Rating: 1.02
Impact Rating: 1.00
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.5%
Average Damage Round: 72.4
Kills Per Round: 0.64

Player to Watch

With almost every other Na’ Vi player being in a bit of a lull of form at the moment, our player to watch on the Ukrainian squad will be none other than the GOAT, s1mple. This man needs no introduction, and we believe he’ll speak for himself with his AWP once the match is live.

forZe

Having lingered on the periphery of the invisible line that separates Tier 1 teams from their Tier 2 counterparts for quite a while, forZe are a capable side that has had its occasional moment in the sun. Although most of their triumphs have taken place in the realm of B-Tier tournaments, they pulled off arguably their best ever result by winning last year’s Pinnacle Cup Winter Series #2. It’s been a while since then, and their last triumph was a CCT Central Europe Series in October, but forZe are nevertheless a potent side that has it in them to cause an upset.

Players

Andrey “Jerry” Mekhryakov

HLTV Rating: 1.06
Impact Rating: 1.05
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.9%
Average Damage Round: 76.5
Kills Per Round: 0.68

Vladislav “Krad” Kravchenko

HLTV Rating: 1.06
Impact Rating: 1.09
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 68.6%
Average Damage Round: 76.4
Kills Per Round: 0.69

Aleksandr “zorte” Zagodyrenko

HLTV Rating: 1.14
Impact Rating: 1.14
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 72.6%
Average Damage Round: 73.3
Kills Per Round: 0.72

Evgeniy “r3salt” Frolov

HLTV Rating: 1.05
Impact Rating: 1.07
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 68.8%
Average Damage Round: 76.1
Kills Per Round: 0.69

Aleksandr “shalfey” Marenov

HLTV Rating: 1.12
Impact Rating: 1.10
Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.7%
Average Damage Round: 77.8
Kills Per Round: 0.71

Player to watch

It’s a hard choice to make between zorte and shalfey, but we’re going to go with the latter because he has had a more active presence in forZe’s games in recent times.

See our CSGO betting tips

Predictions

It’d take a brave man to bet against Na’ Vi in this matchup, and we’re not that courageous. We predict a 2-0 win for the boys in black and yellow.

Maps

With their luck on Nuke seemingly having come to an end, we predict that Na’ Vi will pick Overpass, while forZe try to exploit that fallen fortune with a Nuke pick of their own. Both teams are also good on Inferno, so we suspect that it’ll be the map that’s left over.