NAVI Junior vs BIG Academy: The favourite will not go wrong

The tournament in Cologne has come to an end, and the professional CS:GO scene is taking a break, but that doesn’t mean CS:GO fans will be left without exciting matches. On July 19, WePlay Academy League Season 1 kicks off. It’s a tournament specially designed for youth teams, and it’s open to players aged 16-20. The excitement, daring, and desire to prove to the world that you are the best player on the planet, these feelings will be concentrated in the WePlay Academy League Season 1, and the big prize fund of $100,000 will only add to the motivation of the teams.

In the second edition, NAVI Junior and BIG Academy will play their match. Will the Germans be able to surprise and get their first win, or will NAVI Junior easily take on the tournament's underdogs?

NAVI Junior can be classified as a team that will qualify for LAN and arena play. For the Born to win team, a place in the top 4 of the tournament is quite realistic. While it is challenging to compete with the Mouses and the Swedes, the Germans from BIG still look like a total mystery, and no one knows what to expect from them. Therefore, NAVI Junior has to rely on their strengths, and from the powers, we can highlight, of course, Dust2. This is the best map in terms of win rate for Born to win. They have won three matches in a row and feel very confident. Of course, getting to this map in a bo1 game will be difficult, but it is unclear what to expect from the Germans, so there is hope.

In the NAVI Junior line-up, m0NESY stands out brightly, showing an incredibly high level of play. The 16-year-old has impressed the organization so much that they’ve put him on reserve for StarLadder CIS RMR 2021. You can expect a lot from this guy at this tournament, and he should be able to handle the Germans, who have not played a single match in this squad.

BIG Academy has gathered an entire squad only before this tournament. The team has not managed to play a single official match, although, on HLTV, some players are already listed for almost half a year in the squad. BIG already had a youth squad, but something did not work out, and now BIG Academy has completely different people. Of interest is glaVed, who now has an individual rating of 1.31. This guy is cool, but whether he will compete with m0NESY is a big question. Mainly because all of his teammates have no rating at all on HLTV. In my opinion, the experience and the chemistry of the NAVI youth squad will play a vital role in this confrontation.

NAVI Junior looks like the favourite. They have a well-functioning training process, and they have an academy that gets results. What happens to the Germans, who have not played a single match with this squad, what kind of players they have in their team, it’s all a mystery. Therefore my choice is in favour of NAVI Junior.

The bookmakers are offering odds of 1.93 for NAVI Junior to win with a handicap (-5.5).