Esports: CS:GO BLAST Premier Fall Groups Friday & Saturday matches

It is all about the BLAST Premier Fall Groups in the world of Counter Strike: Global Offensive right now and the S-Tier tournament continues with the play-in stage this weekend.

The tournament in Copenhagen has a prize pool of more than $170,000 and has already completed its initial group stage, with Ninjas in Pyjamas winning Group A, Heroic winning Group B and FaZe Clan topping Group C.

Those three sides are therefore through to the BLAST Premier Fall Finals later this year, but there are still three spots up for grabs and they will be determined by the three gauntlet winners in the play-in stage.

On Friday OG take on BIG in the first round of the play-ins, before G2 Esports clash with Evil Geniuses.

Expect BIG to see off OG in play-in stage

What	OG vs BIG
Where	Copenhagen, Denmark
When	12:30PM EST, Friday July 21
How to watch	Twitch & YouTube
Odds	OG +100, BIG -138

Both OG and BIG had tough times of it in the initial phase of this year's CS:GO BLAST Premier Fall Groups and there should not be too much between them when they clash in the play-in stage.

While BIG lost their opening match in the upper-bracket against Heroic 2-0, OG lost by the same scoreline at the same stage in Group C against FaZe Clan, leaving both teams to find a way through the lower bracket.

OG's journey came to an immediate end as they were beaten 2-0 by G2 Esports, knocking them into the play-in stage, but BIG at least put up a fight with a 2-1 win over Astralis putting them into the lower-bracket final.

They went on to lose that final 2-0 to Natus Vincere nonetheless, but can draw a little confidence from the Astralis result and they are -138 to see off OG in the first round of the play-in stage.

Awaiting the winner of this tie in the second round of the play-in stage are Team Vitality and BIG look like the best bet.

They are 37th in the HLTV world CS:GO rankings, whereas OG are way down in 93rd spot and BIG at least enjoyed a decent run at the CCT West Europe Series Four last month, finishing second in the tournament.

They are the bigger of the two sides and are worth backing to progress.

Evil Geniuses likely to be out of their depth

What	Evil Geniuses vs G2 Esports
Where	Copenhagen, Denmark
When	9AM EST, Saturday July 22
How to watch	Twitch & YouTube
Odds	Evil Geniuses +800, G2 Esports -2500

The second first-round match in the play-in stage of the BLAST Premier Fall Groups is expected to be more one-sided with G2 Esports -2500 to see off +800 shots Evil Geniuses.

G2 Esports began their Group C campaign with a surprise 2-1 loss to Team Liquid before bouncing back with a 2-0 win over OG in the lower bracket.

That was, however, followed by a 2-0 defeat to FaZe Clan and now they risk missing out on the BLAST Premier Fall Finals later this year.

But it is worth remembering G2 Esports are fourth in the HLTV world CS:GO standings and placed in the 3rd-4th positions at the BLAST Premier Spring Final only last month.

They were also crowned IEM Katowice winners earlier in the year and remain one of the fiercest teams on the CS:GO circuit.

USA-based outfit Evil Geniuses, meanwhile, are down in 39th spot in the HLTV world rankings and were comprehensively beaten in both of their Group A matches in the tournament.

They opened with a 2-0 defeat to Team Vitality before losing to Ninjas in Pyjamas by the same scoreline and they won just nine rounds against the former.

They will likely be out of their depth in this one and G2 Esports are worth a bet at -13.5 on the rounds handicap at -125.