Tune in Wednesday for the CS:GO Showmatch The Battle of Betway
What better way could there be for two of the top European CS:GO teams to get their new year underway, than with a showmatch between the two? Well, that is what esports betting site Betway have managed to organise between two of the teams that they sponsor.
The game will see Swedish outfit Ninjas in Pyjamas facing off against their German rivals BIG on Wednesday, January 13, with the first game set to get underway at 4.30 pm CET. The action will be streamed live via Betway’s dedicated Twitch.tv channel.
Renewal of Rivalries
While effectively a pre-season friendly for both teams, the Betway Showmatch is going to be a chance for the two teams to renew their rivalry once again. The teams last faced each other during the IEM XV – Beijing Online: Europe event.
In that tournament, Ninjas in Pyjamas defeated G2 Esports in Group B’s upper bracket Round 1, before going down 2-1 to Heroic in Round 2. That dropped them into the lower bracket Round 2, where they came up against BIG, who had beaten ENCE 2-0 in the opening round.
That match saw the German side triumph, with BIG winning on Vertigo (19-17) and then Mirage (16-9) sandwiched either side of Ninjas In Pyjama’s 16-7 win on Nuke, to claim a 2-1 victory.
The win earned BIG a place in the Playoffs, but they fell 2-0 to Complexity in the quarterfinals, with Complexity then being beaten by the eventual tournament winners Team Vitality in the semifinal.
Ninjas in Pyjamas Vs BIG Head to Head
It is fair to say that both teams have been rivals since the 2017 season when they first locked horns in the ESL One: New York 2017 EU Closed Qualifier. On that day, BIG came out on top 2-0 winners, but since then, in the ten meetings that followed, BIG have only managed two wins.
Their second win came in the ESL Pro League Season 8: Europe when they defeated Ninjas In Pyjamas 16-5 and their third win was the one mentioned earlier in the last meeting between the two at the IEM XV Beijing event.
That means the other eight clashes have all gone the way of the Swedish team. This includes the Esports Championship Series Season 8 – Europe, ESL Pro League Season 10 – Europe, ESL One Cologne 2020 Online – Europe and a number of wins in Seasons 6, 8 and 10 of the ESL Pro League.
With Ninjas in Pyjamas leading the head to head 8-3 between the teams, BIG will want to close that gap further with a second win in succession over their rivals in the showpiece game.
Exciting Prelude to BLAST Premier Global Finals
The match up between the two European CS:GO giants is a nice prelude to the start of the BLAST Premier Global Finals 2020, which starts just six days later on January 19 with Betway confirming that they have extended their partnership with BLAST Premier back in December this year.
Unfortunately for Ninjas in Pyjamas and BIG, neither managed to claim a place in the eight-team tournament, which has a prize pool of $1,000,000 up for grabs.
Instead, Complexity, Team Vitality, Evil. Geniuses, Astralis, Natus Vincere, G2 Esports, Team Liquid and FURIA Esports will battle it out to take home the $600,000 first prize on January 24.
Featured Image Credits: Betway
Since: August 10, 2015
