K23 vs BIG: An unexpected pairing

On January 18, the world of CS:GO was revived. The teams are waking up after the Christmas Eve hibernation and are ready to play some top-level fights. The first tournament for all CS fans will be the Funspark ULTI 2021 Finals, scheduled for January 18-24. Eight teams will compete for $250,000 and two slots at the Funspark ULTI 2022. Gambit Esports, K23 and Entropiq will entertain CIS fans. Exciting matches, unpredictable upsets, and crazy highlights await all fans of the beloved shooter at the first tier-1 tournament in 2022.

On January 21, K23 and BIG will play their next match in the Funspark ULTI 2021 Finals. We'll find out which team will be stronger and make it to the top-seeded final very soon.

K23: The team surprised

K23 has been showing very strong results lately. The team has won ten matches in a row, including great victories over top teams. The team started the Funspark ULTI 2021 Finals with a victory over Astralis. The Danes lost two out of three maps in the extra rounds and looked weak. But it is worth noting the sharpshooter K23, who played a great match. In that match, K23 picked Mirage. The team can repeat this pick in the upcoming match. The Germans have now lost three Mirage in a row, while K23 has five straight wins on this map. We don't believe in Nuke or Overpass, yet the Germans looked fairly confident in recent matches on these maps. And on the Mirage, K23 will have a good chance to win, but you can't call it the clear favorite. 

BIG: A hard-fought win

With a new-look squad, BIG started the Funspark ULTI 2021 Finals with a victory. The team didn't quite make it to the end of the year but has already beat Fnatic 2-1 in the new year. The Germans surprised on Overpass, where they managed to pick up 12 rounds for defending while losing the pistol. The remaining maps were more closely fought, with BIG coming out stronger at the end. The Germans still consider Dust2 their strongest map, but picking it against K23 doesn't feel like it. After all, the opponent has a 100% win rate. However, I think it won't stop BIG from picking this map anyway. Considering the Vertigo ban, the other options are much less believable. On Dust2, BIG has three losses in a row, but it should be noted that it lost to NaVi, Gambit and Faze. Top 1 and top 2 of the HLTV rankings. Yes, and Faze is very strong on this map. So it is not necessary to attach great importance to these defeats. The Germans will have an advantage on this map even despite the 100% win rate of the opponent.

Expert Betting Tips

BIG is a more experienced team that looks like the favorite in the upcoming match. K23 surprised by outplaying Astralis, but this is more due to the weakness of the Danes than the incredible play of K23 (although there is no denying that the team played well). The bookmakers are offering odds of 1.65 on a BIG win, which looks like a good option. You can also take Total Over 2.5 maps for 1.90.