Teams are starting to earn their way into the ESL Pro League Season 21 playoffs and two of the favorites to do so are NaVi and G2 Esports. Only one of them is going to be able to do so in round four of the group stage, though.
Team Spirit and Team Vitality both earned their way into the playoffs of the event. NaVi and G2 Esports both sustained early losses that prevented them from winning out, but come together with a 2-1 record. That makes this a high-stakes match, but how should bettors approach it?
paiN vs NAVI – HIGHLIGHTS – ESL Pro League Season 21 | CS2
The Counter-Strike 2 teams sponsored by G2 Esports and Natus Vincere will face off in round for of ESL Pro League Season 21’s second group stage. Both teams have a 2-1 record in the event thus far, so the winner will advance to the playoffs while the loser falls to 2-2 and has to win an elimination match.
G2 Esports is 2-1 in ESL Pro League Season 21 thus far. The team started in the second group stage and kicked off its run with a victory over Pain Gaming. It lost a tough matchup against The MongolZ but righted the ship by sweeping SAW. G2 will bring its 2024 roster, but with the recent addition of HeavyGod:
G2 has posted generally strong results across each map in the active duty rotation, with the key exception of Ancient. Alongside that, it’s not entirely clear how G2 stacks up on Train. That’s the case with pretty much every team, though.
The post-Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev NaVi is still a top-notch squad. In the year and a half since he stepped away, the team has posted numerous strong results and is placed near the top on multiple key Counter-Strike rankings. This is beyond warranted, which was seen as recently as the top-four finish at IEM Katowice 2025.
Here’s the current NaVi roster:
NaVi is at its strongest on Mirage, Ancient, Anubis, and Dust 2. The team has around a 70% winrate on all four of those maps across the last 12 months. It’s not particularly weak elsewhere, either, as it still has a winning record on Inferno and Nuke. It has played just one map on Train since its return to the competitive map pool.
G2 and NaVi have played six times in the last 12 months, with NaVi winning five of those matches. G2 won the most recent showdown at the BLAST Fall Final. G2’s roster has been retooled a few times over that stretch, however, so NaVi’s head-to-head success isn’t necessarily indicative of how the teams stack up today.
NaVi is a small favorite to beat G2 Esports in ESL Pro League Season 21, with the moneylines standing at 1.75 vs 2.05. This is a fair read on the match, as it’s close to a toss-up. “Close” being that NaVi should be regarded as the favorite given their history and NaVi’s stronger recent form.
G2 vs SAW – HIGHLIGHTS – ESL Pro League Season 21 | CS2
NaVi will likely win this and has greater potential to run away to a victory. G2 is capable of gutting a tough one, though, so don’t be afraid to pick a late comeback for the organization.
Think you know who will win? Place your bets here!
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