PGL Astana 2025 has begun. The tournament is played between May 10 – 18 and features 16 teams, many of which have a good chance of winning.
Group Stage Favorites
Here are the 16 teams that compete in the group stage of PGL Astana 2025:
- Astralis
- BIG
- FURIA
- G2 Esports
- GamerLegion
- HOTU
- M80
- MIBR
- Natus Vincere
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- PaiN Gaming
- Team Spirit
- The MongolZ
- Virtus.pro
- Aurora Gaming
- ODDIK
Eight of these teams will advance to the playoffs. The format is the well-known Swiss System. Every match is a best-of-three series.
These are the top eight favorites:
- The MongolZ
- Astralis
- G2 Esports
- FURIA
- GamerLegion
- Natus Vincere
- Team Spirit
- Aurora Gaming
Some of these teams, such as Aurora, started poorly. But they are very likely to make a comeback in the coming rounds. Meanwhile, teams like BIG had a great start but it’s doubtful they will succeed in the end.
There have been plenty of cases when a team started with a 0 W – 1 L or even a 0 W – 2 L score and then went on to qualify for the playoffs. We’ve also seen numerous teams having an excellent start but then losing several consecutive matches.
Overall roster strength and recent results are better indicators than a single match performance.
Overall Favorites
Based on everything we know about the participants, four teams are considerably stronger than the rest:
- Team Spirit
- Natus Vincere
- G2 Esports
- The MongolZ
One of these four teams should, in principle, win the tournament. Team Spirit’s recent results suggest that they are the candidate with the highest chances.
Given that Team Vitality, Team Falcons, and MOUZ are not here to contest them, while NAVI, G2, and The MongolZ have done poorly against them in recent months, Danil “donk” Kryshkovets and his crew should have no problem reaching the Grand Final and winning the trophy.
