What to expect from BOSS v. NIP

Tomorrow will be do-or-die for BOSS as they look to stay alive in Malta. While the team has given us glimpses of the squad that impressed so much at the Americas RMR, they have run up against much difficulty at the international level. As they get ready for NIP tomorrow, the matchup may provide them a way out of a 0-3 exit as the European Frankenstein has had their own shares of problems.

BOSS' Pink Slip?

BOSS have had moments of greatness at this tournament, but have seemingly always collapsed when it mattered most. They played BIG close and had a close first map against FlyQuest but otherwise may be relegated to being an NA also-ran at this tournament. This match will be a do-or-die for BOSS and after struggling some much they will really need to rally. They just may be able to do it against NIP, but it will take something special especially from the players who have been underperforming.

• With FaNg's experience more should be expected from the Canadian

• Cryptic has been fragging

• We can trust that Axed is putting the hard work to try and get his team ready for tomorrow

Frosty NIPs

There's not a whole lot to say about NIP at EPL other than they've looked awful. Some may rush to blame it on Fredrik "REZ" Sterner being out of the lineup for this event, but honestly NIP is probably one of the worst rosters with a place in world Counter-Strike right now.

With all of that said though, there is a fairly plausible reality in which they still beat BOSS owing to their experience and BOSS' relative lack of experience. Only time will tell, but a loss for NIP here would be profoundly embarrassing.

• xKacpersky and BluePho3nix are having poor tournaments and do not look ready for this level

• maxster is the sole player you can look towards and say he's doing a good job

• Even now, many would say NIP losing to an NA squad is a bridge too far

Previous Matchups

These two teams have never played each other.

Likely Vetoes

As you will see later this veto was difficult to predict because BOSS have not had a great EPL run while NIP is more of a dumpster fire than usual. With these facts in mind, it is reasonable to expect that both teams will veto in a way that will allow them to play maps they've done well on at EPL rather than how they've done historically, especially NIP as they have a stand-in.

As always, these vetoes come with the caveat that they are highly speculative as they depend on whether NIP, as the higher-ranked team at the time of seeding, chooses to pick first or ban last. We will assume they ban last.

• BOSS ban Nuke (Permaban)

• NIP ban Mirage (Permaban)

• BOSS picks Ancient (53% Winrate, almost beat BIG)

• NIP pick Vertigo (50% Winrate, beat PERA on it at EPL)

• Decider could be Anubis (NIP unlikely to play Overpass, BOSS have a 0% Winrate on Inferno)

Analysis: BOSS may ban Inferno to prevent NIP from picking a map they have a 0% Winrate on. However, NIP's wins are against fairly low level EU squads so it us uncertain whether NIP would pick it, allowing BOSS to gamble floating it.

With NIP's potential pick of Vertigo, the logic is that a team struggling so much may go for a map they've won with this lineup at EPL to have some degree of confidence in a must-win series.

Finally, BOSS can reasonably expect NIP to ban Overpass, so they should be able to get rid of Inferno with their final ban, leaving Anubis as the remaining map.

Overall, this veto is quite confusing to predict as NIP are a complete mess right now and BOSS' wins are exclusively against Americas competition, but NIP probably has a slight edge just because of the experience gap.

The two teams will battle tomorrow to stay alive at EPL S19 at 01:30PM.