Welcome to all esports and Counter-Strike 2 fans! From November 3 to November 9, 2025, one of the biggest tournaments of this autumn — IEM Chengdu 2025 will take place. Sixteen teams will compete for the championship title and a prize pool of $300,000. Among the matches of the third game day, we highlight Astralis vs Team Falcons, which promises to be a very exciting one. While the teams are preparing, we’ll share our CS2 betting tips and insights for this match.
How the bookies view it: Team Falcons favorite
Most bookmakers consider Team Falcons the favorite in the match against Astralis at IEM Chengdu 2025. The team is one of the strongest this season and has earned numerous top placements at high level tournaments.
Astralis form. What result can be expected from Astralis
Our betting tips and CS2 picks for the Astralis vs Team Falcons matchup begin with analyzing Astralis form. CS fans surely know this team, as they have achieved many victories at the highest level. As usual, we start our form analysis with the 2023 season. The team began it quite successfully, taking 4-6th place at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2023 and immediately following it up with a victory at the Tier-B tournament CCT Season 1 North Europe Series #3.
Astralis continued the season by playing in qualifiers and A-tier events, and things seemed to be going well. They successfully qualified for the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 and won the CCT Season 1 South Europe Series #4, but then the team slightly lost form. The best achievement of the 2024 season for Astralis was 3-4th place at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023.
Astralis roster: dev1ce, Staehr, jabbi, HooXi, Magisk.
The 2024 season began for Astralis with a showmatch and qualifiers. Then there were two attempts to get to the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, but both were unsuccessful: TOP-11 at European RMR B and TOP-6 at European RMR Decider put an end to Astralis' participation in the home Major.
In the first match of IEM China 2024, Astralis played against steel helmet, as Monte could not make it to China. And if Monte had played there, the score would hardly have been as lopsided as 13-2 in Astralis’ favor. However, judging by the match against FaZe, where Astralis were a cut above and beat the world’s top team 2-0, perhaps Astralis were really fired up for IEM China 2024. In the playoffs of the tournament, Astralis met FaZe Clan again, but this time were the weaker team and lost 1-2, exiting the tournament.
Astralis took part in ESL Pro League Season 19, where they reached the top 4 but lost to Vitality in the match for a grand final spot. The team later achieved similar results at the CCT Season 1 Global Finals and YaLLa Compass 2024.
At BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2024, Astralis played in Group A, where they finished in third place. They advanced to the playoffs but lost to VP and exited the tournament at the TOP-6 stage. After that, Astralis played at IEM Cologne 2024, where they placed 12th.
In the long season of ESL Pro League Season 20, they lost to Fnatic (1-2), then to CoL (0-2). They ended ESL Pro League Season 20 just as badly as they started — with another loss to CoL and elimination at the TOP-28 stage.
Next, Astralis competed at BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024, where they placed TOP-8, and at Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024, where they ended their run in the TOP-12. As you can see, their attempts were unsuccessful.
The team returned to good form at the BLAST Premier: World Final 2024, leaving behind MOUZ, FaZe, and NaVi. After winning Group A, Astralis advanced directly to the semifinals. However, their journey at BLAST Premier: World Final 2024 ended there, as Spirit advanced to the grand final instead.
At PW Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B, Astralis Long Sogpeg started with a loss to 9 Pandas, then lost to Sashi Esports. Only in the third match against B8 did the team manage to regroup. However, this "music" quickly ended, and Astralis failed to qualify for Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024.
The 2025 season began with Astralis hoping to return to the top of professional CS2. So far, their best results are 3rd place at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 and 2nd place at PGL Astana 2025 and FISSURE Playground #1.
Astralis started IEM Cologne 2025 with a 2-0 win over B8, then lost 0-2 to FURIA and beat paiN Gaming 2-1, which allowed them to advance to the Group Stage of the tournament.
In the Group Stage, Astralis suffered two defeats and were eliminated from the tournament, finishing 13-16th.
Astralis performed successfully at BLAST Bounty Fall 2025: Closed Qualifier — the team secured victories over Rare Atom and Natus Vincere, earning a slot in the main event.
At BLAST Bounty Fall 2025, Astralis lost to MOUZ and were eliminated from the tournament in the TOP-8.
The next tournament for Astralis was Esports World Cup 2025, where they lost their first match to Tyloo and finished TOP-16.
At ESL Pro League Season 22, Astralis passed Stage 1 with a score of 3-2, but in Stage 2 they played 0-3 and were eliminated from the tournament, finishing in 15th-16th place.
At PGL Masters Bucharest 2025, Astralis played with a 2–3 record in the Group Stage and were eliminated from the tournament, finishing in 9–11th place.
Team Falcons form. What result can be expected from Team Falcons
We continue our CS2 tips with analyzing Team Falcons form. Team Falcons made their first appearances at S-tier events in 2023, but for the most part competed at B-tier tournaments. That year, the team played at Thunderpick Bitcoin Series #2, OMEN WRG Challenge 2023, and CCT West Europe Series #1. At the first two events, they placed 2nd, and at the more prestigious CCT, they finished in the top 8.
Later, Falcons attempted to qualify for the Paris Major. They had two chances — at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR A and BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR B. Both were unsuccessful, finishing 11th and 6th respectively.
In the middle of the year, Falcons continued searching for the right tactics and playstyle. They placed 13th at ESL Challenge League Season 45: Europe, 10th at ESL Championnat National Spring 2023, and 24th at Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #1.
As a Saudi Arabian club, they received a slot at Gamers8 2023, which became their first S-tier tournament, where they placed 9th–16th.
Team Falcons roster: NiKo, TeSeS, kyxsan, m0NESY, kyousuke.
At the end of the year, Falcons tried to form a DreamTeam. However, things did not start well — their first tournament with the new roster (BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024) ended with only a top-12 finish.
At IEM Katowice 2024, the team earned a slot thanks to ESL Ranking points. They were seeded in the top 10 before the start of the Long Shogpeg, though what exactly earned them that place was unclear.
At IEM Katowice 2024 Falcons showed their first solid results. Although they started with a loss to Eternal Fire, they then defeated Rebels, Complexity Gaming, and Natus Vincere, advancing through the lower bracket to the playoffs. In the playoffs, Team Falcons beat ENCE but fell to Team Spirit, finishing in the top 4.
Next came ESL Pro League Season 19, where Falcons completely failed — finishing 28th. At IEM Dallas 2024, they started with a loss to G2 but then confidently defeated Monte 2-0. However, they could not go further and ended up in the top 9–12.
Overall, the 2024 season was better than the previous one, but still unsuccessful for a team with such a star-studded roster.
The 2025 DreamTeam Long Sogpeg season began with BLAST Bounty Season 1. Falcons once again failed — 16th place. At IEM Katowice 2025, the situation did not change — again 16th, with no real chances.
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 became Falcons’ best tournament of that season. They reached the playoffs for the first time in a long while, winning the Swiss stage 3-1. In the first playoff round, they pleasantly surprised by beating Eternal Fire 2-0. They then defeated FaZe but lost to MOUZ in the grand final.
At ESL Pro League Season 21, they started with a win over Liquid, but then lost to MOUZ and 3DMax. They stayed alive by beating FURIA, but Eternal Fire knocked them out, finishing 11th.
At BLAST Open Lisbon 2025, Falcons Long started with a loss to MOUZ and finished last in Group A, beating only Huns Esports. In the next round, they lost to VP and ended the tournament in 12th place.
At PGL Bucharest 2025, Falcons lost to CoL and GamerLegion but managed to beat paiN, keeping playoff hopes alive. They went on to defeat Rare Atom and MongolZ, securing a playoff spot. In the main stage, they opened with a win over GamerLegion, then beat FaZe 2-1, and in the grand final crushed their biggest rival G2, claiming their first major CS2 title in a long time.
At IEM Melbourne 2025, Falcons began with a victory over sAw, then defeated NaVi, but lost to Vitality in the seeding match, starting the playoffs from the quarterfinals. There, they demolished GamerLegion 2-0, giving up only 7 rounds in total. The semifinals followed a similar scenario — 13-3 and 13-6 in favor of Falcons. In the grand final, they lost to Vitality 2-3 in one of the most spectacular matches in Counter-Strike 2 history.
Also worth noting is their performance at BLAST Rivals Season 1, where Team Falcons once again finished 2nd, losing the grand final to Vitality with the same score of 2-3.
The team also placed 3rd–4th at IEM Dallas 2025 but had less successful runs at BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 and IEM Cologne 2025, finishing 22nd and 12th respectively.
The Esports World Cup 2025 turned out to be a very successful tournament for Falcons, as the team delighted their fans by finishing in 3rd place on home soil.
At ESL Pro League Season 22, Team Falcons went 3-0 in both Stage 1 and Stage 2. In the playoffs, the team defeated 3DMAX and MOUZ, but in the grand final, they lost to Vitality, finishing in 2nd place at the tournament.
Recent head to head
Astralis and Team Falcons have faced each other 5 times, with Astralis winning 3 and Team Falcons winning 2. The match at IEM Chengdu 2025 is not a decisive one, as both teams have already advanced to the playoffs, but a victory will allow the winner to go directly to the Semifinals.
Which maps does Astralis pick and ban most often?
Let’s analyze both teams map statistics to make smart CS2 picks.
Strong maps
- Nuke: high win percentage (63.6%) with 44 matches played.
- Ancient: high win percentage (61.3%) with 31 matches played.
- Inferno: high win percentage (58.5%) with 41 matches played.
Average results
- Train: average winning percentage (42.9%) with 14 matches played.
Weak maps
- Mirage: low win percentage (38.2%) with 34 matches played.
- Dust2: low win percentage (25.0%) with 20 matches played.
Which maps does Team Falcons pick and ban most often?
Strong maps
- Ancient: high win percentage (75.8%) with 33 matches played.
- Mirage: high win percentage (62.5%) with 24 matches played.
- Nuke: high win percentage (60.0%) with 30 matches played.
- Dust2: high win percentage (57.6%) with 33 matches played.
Average results
- Train: average winning percentage (47.6%) with 21 matches played.
Weak maps
- Inferno: low win percentage (43.3%) with 30 matches played.
Predicted result of the match between Astralis and Team Falcons at PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Most analysts and experts consider Team Falcons the favorites in the match against Astralis at IEM Chengdu 2025. The team has been showing solid performance this season and has achieved multiple top finishes at high-level tournaments. However, Astralis should not be underestimated, as they claimed victories over strong opponents in the previous two rounds. In our opinion, based on recent results, Team Falcons are likely to win this match. Fans can expect a dynamic and exciting game.
Betting prediction: Team Falcons wins.
