The two North American teams in this group are no more.
EG is out of playoff contention and Complexity have a very, very slim chance of making it.
While AGO is a good tier-two team, they aren't in conversation for the king of group d - that contention belongs to Astralis and Natus Vincere who will face off today at EPL.
Back to full strength
While it is unclear if Boombl4 is confirmed to be present for the match, both Gla1ve and s1mple had something to say on the matter.
According to s1mple, "[Boombl4] did negative test, so right [Natus Vincere is] booking flight for him so hopefully he will arrive soon. On stream today, Gla1ve also hinted at Boombl4 returning tomorrow, but having him back will be huge for Natus Vincere.
While headtri1k is a good player, Boombl4 is more familar with the team and is able to coach them through any issues they may have.
However, even if he does not return, Natus Vincere are always a threat as Perfecto, b1t, s1mple and electronic can never be counted out of any situation.
Take today's match against Complexity for example. The team had lost nearly 10 rounds in a row, but one of these four amazing players were able to make a player to reverse the momentum in an instant.
Against Astralis, it will be essential for Natus Vincere to get off to a good start as once they have momentum on their side, there is little any team can do to stop them.
The test of the new Astralis Roster
While the loss of Mag1sk and dupreeh definitely hurt the roster, the team gained two instrumental pieces of their roster in blameF and k0nfig to revolutionize the team with a new style of play.
The real problem for this roster has been their lack of a consistent AWPer since the departure of dev1ce.
The team tried out young player Lucky, but benched him for Farlig.
While the move was controversial, Astralis have benefited as a result so far as they've been amazing on the server and the danish team finally has an AWPer who can consistently hit the shots, as well as get instrumental opening picks.
Their ultimate test of this new roster will be against Natus Vincere. Regardless of the presence of Boombl4, it takes a real force to take down Natus Vincere.
If Astralis can manage to take down the number one team in Counter-Strike, their experiment with Farlig and keeping Xyp9x will have been worth it as the team will prove it is a contender despite not having dev1ce.
