The new Astralis roster is off to a good start in PGL Astana, but it faces a stiff test in round two of the group stage against Pain Gaming.
Astralis made a big roster change ahead of PGL Astana, benching captain Casper “cadiaN” Møller in favor of G2 Esports’ Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen. In its first official match, the team scored a tough win. By the very nature of a tournament, though, matches get tougher as time goes on.
So how will Astralis hold up against Pain Gaming? Here’s a full betting breakdown.
paiN vs HOTU – HIGHLIGHTS – PGL Astana 2025 | CS2
Pain Gaming and Astralis will play against each other on May 11, 2025. This Mother’s Day showdown is part of the PGL Astana group stage, where all matches are best-of-threes. The winning team is one more victory away from a playoffs spot. The loser will have to win two more in order to advance out of the group stage.
Pain Gaming is off to a disastrous 2025. The team has been an early elimination from almost every tournament it has competed in, and it entered PGL Astana on a nine-match losing streak. It finally ended that skid with a win over HOTU.
Pain Gaming is playing with a substitute in PGL Astana:
Pain Gaming has maintained a semblance of relevance thanks to its strength on Nuke and Mirage. The team has a losing record everywhere else, including a brutal 4-14 record on Inferno, 1-5 record on Anubis, and 0-5 start on Train. Pain Gaming bans Ancient.
Astralis has been generally underwhelming throughout 2025. Outside a third-place run in PGL Cluj-Napoca, Astralis has been a group stage exit from every tournament it has played in. Worse yet, the team failed to clear the BLAST Austin Major qualifiers, losing to the unheralded B8 in a deciding match.
This prompted the shakeup within Astralis, with the team’s roster now standing as follows:
Astralis’ first match in PGL Astana was a 2-1 win over ODDIK.
Astralis has been solid on Inferno and Ancient, winning more than 60% of its matches there. Unfortunately, the team has struggled mightily on both Mirage and Dust 2. Astralis consistently bans Anubis.
Pain Gaming and Astralis have played twice in 2025. The first match came at IEM Katowice, with Pain losing 2-0. The Brazilians got revenge two weeks later by beating Astralis 2-1 in PGL Cluj-Napoca.
FIRST MATCH! Astralis vs ODDIK – HIGHLIGHTS – PGL Astana 2025 | CS2
Astralis is a big favorite over Pain Gaming. Pain’s recent struggles and the fact that the team is playing with a substitute seem to have betting sites very skeptical of the Brazilian team’s chances. The moneylines stand at 1.4 against 2.93.
Astralis should be able to get the victory over Pain Gaming. Astralis has shown flickers and glimmers of strength in 2025, and that hasn’t been the case with Pain. Couple that with Pain playing with a substitute and all this points to an Astralis win.
Think you know who will win? Place your bets here!
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