Astralis vs Ninjas in Pyjamas Prediction: Danish Team to Start with a Win

Prediction for the ESL Pro League Season 18 match which will take place on August 30th. Who will turn out to be stronger? Check the team conditions! Several betting options are available.

Astralis has moved to sixth place in the HLTV rankings in recent months. The Danes had a great result at IEM Cologne 2023, taking 3-4th place. Such a performance should give confidence to the squad for Dash 1 tournaments. After that, Astralis lost to 00NATION, which is not even in the top 80 HLTV, but it happened at Pinnacle Cup V, not the most important tournament for the Danes. As for the upcoming match, Astralis will almost certainly pick Ancient. At the end of July, they easily outplayed NiP on this map, allowing them to take only six rounds of their opponent. Giving up their best map makes no sense, so the other pick options are not at all believable. Over the past month, Ancient Astralis has outplayed almost all the strongest teams in the world. Out of the last eight matches, the team has lost only once, at IEM Cologne 2023, to G2 Esports, who were crowned champions. NiP will likely offer any resistance on this map.

Ninjas in Pyjama failed at IEM Cologne 2023, finishing 13-16th in the tournament. The team did not win a single match and showed a weak game. After that, the Swedish team failed to qualify for IEM Sydney 2023, losing to BetBoom Team 0-2 in the deciding match. In the game against Astralis, NiP will need help to clinch the map. In the last few games, the Swedes have picked Ancient and Mirage. The Danes play the first map better, but the second map is sure to get banned. On all other maps, NiP does not look the best. It is tough to call them a favorite on at least one. Perhaps NiP will want to take Nuke because of Astralis' terrible rate, but for the last three months, the Swedes have been unable to outplay any serious team on this map, and even 1WIN and Complexity were defeated. With Inferno, the situation is similar; on this map, there are also no victories over serious opponents, and against MOUZ, NiP could take only seven rounds. The Swedes' win, even on one map, is not believable.

Astralis looks stronger than Ninjas in Pyjamas right now. BlameF is in great shape and continues to drag his team up the rankings, and NiP should be able to cope with NiP solo, with minimal support from teammates.