Preview of ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017 play-off stage

Brief review of tournament and analysis of the competitors.

General information

The championship started on September 8 and will last till October 13 in USA, Atlanta. The venue of the event is G-FUEL ELEAGUE Arena. Turner Sports and WME | IMG have organized the event. Previously, they organized ELEAGUE events for CS:GO. 16 teams will participate in the event, and they will share the prize pool of $1,000,000. 11 participants received direct invites to the tournament. Other teams were managed to get through the qualifiers in Europe and America. Team EnVyUs and Heroic passed qualifiers in Europe, and Immortals, Team Liquid and Renegades in Northern America. [Interesting fact: the teams that passed the American qualifiers have already been eliminated from the tournament, while the winners of European qualifiers managed to get to play-off stage] Prize pool distribution: 1 place — $500,0002 place — $150,0003 place — $70,0004 place — $70,0005 place — $35,0006 place — $35,0007 place — $35,0008 place — $35,0009 place — $8,750 (Natus Vincere)10 place — $8,750 (Immortals)11 place — $8,750 (Ninjas in Pyjamas)12 place — $8,750 (SK Gaming)13 place — $8,750 (Renegades)14 place — $8,750 (mousesports)15 place — $8,750 (Virtus.pro)16 place — $8,750 (Team Liquid)

Format of the tournament

ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017 started from the group stage with GSL system. The first matches of the group stage were played in bo1 format, while Desider and Elimination matches in bo3 format. Today, the play off, which is the final stage of the event, will start. It will be played in Single Elimination bracket with bo3 matches, both in first games and in grand final.

Review of participants

The group stage is over, so we can draw some conclusions and define who has the biggest chances for the event, and who is more likely to drop out from the event after the first quarter final games.

Favorites

FaZe Clan

Considering the latest results of the European means, we can make a conclusion that the team is currently in a good condition. From 13 latest official matches, FaZe won 9. It’s obvious that Ladislav «GuardiaN» Kovacs and Olof «olofmeister» Kajbjer are a valuable acquisition for the team and a rather good booster. After they came to the team, FaZe Clan won ESL One New York 2017. Now, they showed other participants of ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017 that they should be afraid of them. We should also consider the fact that FaZe Clan currently take 4th place of the world rating according to HLTV.org. In the quarterfinal match, FaZe Clan will meet one of the weakest teams of the tournament, Team EnVyUs. It means that we should expect that FaZe will get into semifinal. Except for that, if we compare the level of FaZe Clan development and other possible opponents for semifinal, Heroic or North, FaZe have the same chances to get to the final as to the semifinal. FaZe Clan roster and rating of players: Havard «rain» Nygaard — 1.27Finn «karrigan» Andersen — 0.95Nikola «NiKo» Kovac — 1.31Ladislav «GuardiaN» Kovacs — 1.21Olof «olofmeister» Kajbjer — 1.16 Robert «RobbaN» Dahlstrom (coach)

G2 Esports

G2 Esports is one of the strongest teams in CS:GO for today. A team from France proved that the power is not in the reshuffles but in stability. The players did not change the roster for 8 months, and managed to win three events. But they could have lost their condition, and we can see that in the results of their latest matches. For the past 2 weeks they played 8 official matches, but won only three of them. Fortunately for G2, they managed to qualify to ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017 and ended the group stage taking the second place. Today, they will open the first play off day in the match of the strongest team from Group C, a North American team Cloud9. Spectators think that G2 Esports have the advantage, which means that they can get at least to the semifinal of the tournament. Recently, G2 Esports won DreamHack Malmo 2017. Today, we will see whether they are ready to triumph on another event or they will do that another time. G2 Esports roster and rating of players: Richard «shox» Papillon — 1.02Alexandre «bodyy» Pianaro — 1.02Nathan «NBK-» Schmitt — 1.05Kenny «kennyS» Schrub — 1.15Dan «apEX» Madesclaire — 1.10 Edouard «SmithZz» Dubourdeaux (coach)

Astralis

Astralis is another team that proves that the secret of success lies in the stability of the roster, not in the regular replacement of players. After Lucas «gla1ve» Rossander joined the team last year, they started to play far better. Together with Lucas, they won such events as ECS Season 2 Finals, ELEAGUE Major 2017 and Intel Extreme Masters XI — World Championship, and also took second and third places on other big events. As for the history of the last matches, the results of Astralis are not very stable. The winrate of the team is 50%. The first opponent for Astralis will be a Swedish team Fnatic. Looking at this situation objectively, Astralis have more chances to get to the semi-final than Fnatic. Soon we will see whether Astralis prepared well for playing in semi-final of the tournament with $1,000,000 prize pool. Astralis roster and rating of players: Nicolai «dev1ce» Reedtz — 1.15Peter «dupreeh» Rothmann — 1.16Andreas «Xyp9x» Hojsleth — 1.06Markus «Kjaebye» Kjaerbye — 1.02Lukas «gla1ve» Rossander — 1.08 Danny «zonic» Sorensen (coach)

North

The Danish team managed to show the best results in Group B. They managed to beat Fnatic and Immortals in complicated games, and got to the quarterfinal with 2-0 statistics. In one of the first matches of play-off, North will play against Heroic, another Danish team. Despite the fact that the team is not in a stable condition, their performance on ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017 shows that they can become serious opponents for other teams. Considering the level of their first opponent, North, we may tell that MSL and his team have rather good chances to get to the semifinal. North roster and rating of players: Mathias «MSL» Lauridsen — 1.01Kristian «k0nfig» Wienecke — 1.17Rene «cajunb» Borg — 1.09Philip «aizy» Aistrup — 1.07Valdemar «valde» Bjorn — 1.10 Casper «ruggah» Due (coach)

Team that have average chance for winning

Cloud9

Almost a year has passed from the time when Cloud9 won their last trophy on a big event — ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals. Cloud9 cannot find their style for a long time. After they changed three players in the roster, they started to demonstrate better results. Cloud9 were the best in Group C and overcame such opponents as Ninjas in Pyjamas, Virtus.pro and Team EnVyUs. We should mention that C9 showed the best game in the group stage. They defeated they opponents with a huge difference in score. In the match against Ninjas in Pyjamas they won with 16:6 score, and they beat Team EnVyUs with 16:2 score. The first match of the quarterfinal was played between Cloud9 and G2 Esports. Currently, G2 look more confident than Cloud9, but no one knows what American team has prepared for the opponents. If C9 prepared well, they may get to the semifinal and try to win ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017. We should mention the current condition of Cloud9. For the past 2 weeks, Stewie2k and his team won 16 official matches, and won 13 of them. Their winrate is high enough which means that they can show rather interesting game in quarterfinal. Except for that, the support of spectators will help them as they play on their motherland. Cloud9 roster and rating of players: Tyler «Skadoodle» Latham — 1.05Jake «Stewie2k» Yip — 1.16Timothy «autimatic» Ta —1.12Will «RUSH» Wierzba — 1.15Tarik «tarik» Celik — 1.14 Soham «valens» Chowdhury (coach)

Fnatic

Fnatic have chances to get to semifinal, but they are not high enough. We have come to this conclusion because of the following reasons: 1. Their captain is Maikil «Golden» Selim, 23 years old, who is not experienced enough. Previously, he played in Fnatic Academy and moved to the main roster. Comparing to other team players, he is too young and non-experienced to take the captain position. However, it will be interesting to look at him in the match against Astralis and see how he will cooperate with the team and how the team will play in general.2. The Swedish team has a rather low winrate. They won only 6 matches from 12 matches they played lately. 50% is not very high result for the team that is a candidate to win the event with $1,000,000 prize pool. In order to win, Fnatic should surprise their opponents with a good strategy and high personal skills of each player. Today, we will see how Fnatic have prepared for ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017. Fnatic roster and rating of players: Freddy «KRiMZ» Johansson — 1.09Jesper «JW» Wecksell — 1.09Robin «flusha» Ronnquist — 1.04Maikil «Golden» Selim — 0.93Jonas «Lekr0» Olofsson — 1.11 Jimmy «Jumpy» Berndtsson (coach) Teams with the lowest chances to win

Heroic

As well as Fnatic, Heroic also do not have high chances to win the championship. Their opponents in quarterfinal are stronger than Heroic. As for the history of matches, we may see that for the past 2 weeks they played 17 matches but won only 5 of them. The winrate is too low which proves that the team is too unstable. After winning a small tournament International Gaming League 2016 - Grand Finals with ~$43,000 main prize, Heroic have not seen a trophy for 11 months. It’s unlikely that their bad streak will end on ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017. Apparently, the Danish players will end their performance in quarterfinal, but we cannot exclude the fact that they could have prepared something special for their countrymen-opponents in the first match. Heroic roster and rating of players: Andreas «MODDII» Fridh — 1.03Marco «Snappi» Pfeiffer — 1.04Nikolaj «niko» Kristensen — 1.08Jakob «JUGi» Hansen — 1.18Patrick «es3tag» Hansen — 0.97 Henrik «FeTiSh» Christensen (coach)

Team EnVyUs

Team EnVyUs is another participant that will hardly get to the semi-final. Their opponents, FaZe Clan, take the 4th place in the world rating according to HLTV.or and they recently won ESL One New York 2017. Considering the fact that for the past 2 weeks they won 13 out of 17 matches, this makes them of the victorious teams of ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017. However, despite that fact, FaZe Clan still look more confident than the French team. The chances of EnVyUs to get the semifinal are as small as the chances to get to the final. To win, the team should pay enough efforts and prepare a strong strategy for their European opponents and rather high personal skills for each player. Team EnVyUs roster and rating of players: Vincent «Happy» Cervoni — 1.14Christophe «SIXER» Xia — 1.00Cedric «RpK» Guipouy — 1.15Alexandre «xms» Forte — 1.04Adil «ScreaM» Benrlitom — 1.13 Damien «maLeK» Marcel (coach)

Tournament broadcast

The tournament will be broadcasted for the spectators by famous casters. The host of play-off will be Richard Lewis. We have already seen him on ELEAGUE Major 2017. Sue «Smix» Lee will be interviewer, and Janko «YNk» Paunovic, Jason «Moses» O’Toole, Anders Blume and others will be commentators and analysts. List of casters: Richard Lewis — HostSue «Smix» Lee — InterviewerJason «Alchemist» Baker — Producer Commentators and analysts: Anders BlumeAuguste «Semmler» MassonnatDaniel «ddk» KapadiaJames BardolphJason «Moses» O’TooleJanko «YNk» Paunovic You can watch the tournament on ELEAGUE Twitch-channels by clicking this link