The preview of FACEIT Major: London 2018

One of the largest CS:GO tournaments in terms of importance and scale, FACEIT Major: London 2018, will be hosted on September 5-23. We will tell you about the tournament and the chances of one or another team to achieve victory at the Major championship.

The general information

The prize pool of FACEIT Major: London 2018 will amount $1,000,000 and the format is unusual enough. The number of participants is big enough as 24 teams will compete in it. We will tell about all this further.

The format

FACEIT Major: London 2018 will be carried out in three stages: The New Challengers Stage, The New Legends Stage, and The New Champions Stage (however, the prefix New can be replaced as this system is not new).

Teams that have shown themselves good enough at ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 but not that good enough to get to The New Champions Stage will take part in The New Challengers Stage. These teams have placed 9th-16th at the previous Major tournament and received invites to The New Challengers Stage of the upcoming FACEIT Major: London 2018. This list includes such teams as Gambit eSports, Vega Squadron, Space Soldiers, BIG, Astralis, Team Liquid, North, and Virtus.pro.

Besides teams that have held the 9th-16th place at FACEIT Major: London 2018, the champions of previous Minor tournaments will participate in The New Challengers Stage. The Minor championships were hosted in four regions: America, Europe, CIS and Asia. Such teams as Ninjas in Pyjamas, OpTic Gaming, compLexity Gaming, Rogue, HellRaisers, Team Spirit, Renegades, and TyLoo showed the best performance at Minor tournaments.

The top eight teams of ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, that have received a “Legend” status, and the top eight participants of The New Challengers Stage will take part in The New Legends Stage. Sixteen teams will fight for eight invites to New Champions Stage where the major part of the prize pool will be up for grabs. The first eight participants of The New Legends is known and looks in the following way: Cloud9, FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere, MIBR, mousesports, Winstrike, G2 Esports, and Fnatic.

The prize pool

The prize pool will amount $1,000,000 and the main money will be in the sum of $500,000. The silver medalist will earn a $150,000 prize and participants that have placed 3rd-4th in the standings will grab $70,000. Teams that hold the 5th-8th place in the standings of FACEIT Major: London 2018 will become the last lucky owners of a “Legend” status and will earn a money prize in the sum of $35,000 for their efforts. Participants that place 9th-14th will earn $8,750 and an invitation to IEM Katowice Major 2019 The New Challenger Stage. Teams that hold the 15th-16th place will receive a money reward in the sum of $8,750 but will be left without an invite to The New Challenger Stage of the next Major tournament. Teams that achieve the weakest results, the 17th-24th place, will earn nothing and leave the tournament.

The analysis of participants

We usually analyze participants by groups, in which they have been seeded, however, due to the fact that the format of FACEIT Major: London 2018 is not like the format of other championships, we have decided to divide participants in three groups: the favorites, the teams that have a chance, and the underdogs.

The favorites of the tournament

Astralis (#1 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 2.75

Astralis is one of the most obvious favorites to win for a simple and clear reason. The Danish team heads the world top of the CS:GO roster, which was created by HLTV.org. It’s worth to notice that the Danes managed to achieve four top titles over the last four months. They became the champions of such tournaments as DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018, ESL Pro League Season 7 - Finals, Esports Championship Series Season 5 - Finals, and LEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018. In such a short term, Astralis earned $1,100,000, which is an incredible result. After the arrival of such player as Magisk, the team has started playing in a new way and it’s still unknown how long a lucky streak will last for the Danes. We think that the second Major is a tournament, for which Astralis will prepare very diligently. To become a two-time champion of a Major tournament is what many people dream of. Let’s remind that Astralis became the champion of ELEAGUE Major 2018 at the beginning of 2017 and it seems that they are ready to repeat their last year’s success with Magisk.

The roster of Astralis and the players’ rate:

Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz — 1.33Peter “dupreeh” Rothmann — 1.16Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth — 1.08Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander — 1.17Emil “Magisk” Reif — 1.16Danny “zonic” Sorensen — a coach

Natus Vincere (#2 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 5.50

Natus Vincere is not only the strongest roster of the CIS division but one of the strongest CS:GO rosters, which is likely to head the list of the best teams in the world soon. After the legendary captain Daniil Teslenko returned to Na’Vi and Denis "electronic" Sharipov, an ex-player of FlipSid3 Tactics, joined the squad, the team got a second breath and started showing good results. In 2018, Natus Vincere achieved victory at three tournaments in a row in the last two months: StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 5, CS:GO Asia Championships 2018, and ESL One: Cologne 2018. It’s worth to notice an interesting fact: Na’Vi has not been doing reshuffles on its roster for the longest time among all professional teams: electronic had become a part of Natus Vincere on November 6 last year.

The roster of Natus Vincere and the players’ rate:

Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev — 1.01Egor “flamie” Vasilyev — 1.06Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev — 1.32Daniil “Zeus” Teslenko — 0.94Denis “electronic” Sharipov — 1.22Mykhailo “kane” Blagin — a coach

North (#4 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 34.0

North is the one that has recently started surprising the public. They made a sensation at the previous championship, being an outsider, having beaten the best team in the world twice. We noticed for a number of times that after the arrival of Kjaerbye, an ex-player of Astralis, North started playing a way better and it’s clear that besides a team element, the players’ individual skills improved. It’s worth also to notice that niko that had been loaned from Heroic has fitted the team’s atmosphere good, adding what the team lacks. MSL has also started surprising the public. A captain with an AWP is a thing, which you don’t see very often in the world of the professional CS:GO, however, the Dane manages to combine these not so combined things and as a result, MSL became the MVP of the previous DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018. We think that North is some kind of “a dark horse”, to which chances hardly anyone relates seriously but the Danes have very good chances both to enter the top 8 teams of the Major tournaments and to prevail at FACEIT Major: London 2018. We will follow the results of the team with pleasure at the upcoming championship and see if their victory at DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018 is not an accident.

The roster of North and the players’ rate:

Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen — 0.97Philip “aizy” Aistrup — 1.09Valdemar “valde” Bjorn — 1.18Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjaerbye — 1.11Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen (loaned from Heroic) — 1.05Alexander “ave” Holdt — a coach

FaZe Clan (#6 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 6.00

FaZe Clan is a vice-champion of the previous Major tournament, which took place in Atlanta. The European mix was not able to beat its opponent in the face of Cloud9 there and was defeated hurtfully. Compared to other teams-favorites, FaZe Clan doesn’t have a series of victories at large championships or an unreal income from a prize money. Over the last three months, FaZe Clan managed to prevail at such championships as ESL One Belo Horizonte 2018 and Intel Extreme Masters XIII - Sydney. They won mousesports in the final of ESL One Belo Horizonte 2018 and they managed to beat a dangerous opponent in the face of Astralis at Intel Extreme Masters XIII - Sydney.

Olofmeister quit an inactive on July 10 and continued playing for FaZe Clan. Since olof became active, the team has managed to place 5th-8th place twice at such tournaments as ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 and DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018. Many people will agree that these performances are not successful but these results can’t be called a total failure for FaZe Clan. If the Europeans prepare for the Major tournament diligently, they will be able to show a good performance.

The roster of FaZe Clan and the players’ rate:

Havard “rain” Nygaard — 1.09Finn “karrigan” Andersen — 0.93Nikola “NiKo” Kovac — 1.31Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs — 1.17Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer — 1.09Robert “RobbaN” Dahlstrom — a coach

Team Liquid (#3 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 8.00

Team Liquid, like Astralis, is one of the most obvious favorites to win the upcoming Major tournament. It was interesting to watch the confrontation between Team Liquid and Astralis in the recent time and we watched it a number of times. Liquid advanced to the final against Astralis at such championships as ESL Pro League Season 7 - Finals, Esports Championship Series Season 5 - Finals and ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 but was unlucky to beat their Danish opponents. As a result, Liquid earned about $430,000 and if Liquid and Astralis get to the final again, it will be doubly interesting to watch the final and Liquid will have the third chance to make a rematch against Astralis in such case. The roster of Team Liquid is very strong too and this means that we can not to doubt about the players’ skills. They will advance to The New Legends Stage without an effort, like Astralis, and will get to The New Champions Stage after that.

The roster of Team Liquid and the players’ rate:

Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella — 0.98Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski — 1.11Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken — 1.10Keith “NAF” Markovic — 1.17Epitacio “TACO” de Melo — 0.90Wilton “zews” Prado — a coach

mousesports (#5 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 9.00

The European team has relatively recently made replacements on its CS:GO roster. The head of mousesports decided that STYKO should be benched after which STYKO started playing under the tag of Cloud9. Instead of the young player, an ex-player of Virtus.pro, Snax, was invited to the team, who helped mousesports to improve their results. With regard to the results, after Snax’s arrival, mousesports placed 9th-12th at ESL One Cologne 2018, 3rd-4th at ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 and 3rd-4th at DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018. It’s worth to notice that mousesports took part in ESL One Cologne 2018 only a week after the refreshment of its roster.

Now, it’s clear that mousesports is in a good shape and have some tactics and strategies. It’s also clear that the individual skill of each player has become better. They will have to improve a synergy with each other and prepare for the Major tournament fundamentally.

If mousesports does a good preparation and prepare some surprises for their enemies in the face of an unexpected map or something like this, the Europeans will definitely enter the top 8 teams of FACEIT Major: London 2018.

The roster of mousesports and the players’ rate:

Chris “chrisJ” de Jong — 1.07Tomas “oskar” Stastny — 1.08Robin “ropz” Kool — 1.10Miikka “suNny” Kemppi — 1.13Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski — 0.99Сергей “lmbt” Бежанов — a coach

MIBR (#7 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 18.0

The Brazilian team was one of the lucky teams, which received invites to The New Legends Stage at FACEIT Major: London 2018 and for a reason. During three years, the roster with FalleN was proving everyone that it was one of the best in the world. The path of the team started under the tag Luminosity Gaming in 2015 and was made some changes. Now, there are Stewie2K and tarik, who, by the way, won the previous Major tournament, instead of fnx and TACO.

Stewie2K’s and tarik’s motivation to achieve victory at the second Major competition in a row, Fallen’s great skills, who is a leader, coldzera’s and other players’ individual skill is the list due to which Made in Brazil will be able to advance high enough at this championship. MIBR’s recent triumph at ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018 is a confirmation of this. Opponents at the last tournament were not like at DreamHack Masters 2018 and the upcoming FACEIT Major: London 2018 but Made in Brazil had to prepare but not to rest. Their loss at DreamHack Masters 2018 can be explained by the fact that the second tournament in a row might create too much pressure on the team. Probably, MIBR has prepared for the participation in FACEIT Major: London 2018, however, we will see later if it’s true or not.

The roster of MIBR and the players’ rate:

Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo — 1.14Fernando “fer” Alvarenga — 1.15Marcelo “coldzera” David — 1.22Jacky “Stewie2K” Yip — 1.08Tarik “tarik” Celik — 1.10Janko “YNk” Paunovic — a coach

Teams that have a chance to win

Fnatic (#10 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 15.0

The Swedish team has a good roster now and holds a high enough place in the rate by HLTV.org and odds for the victory of the team is low enough. All this reflects that the audience is sure that Fnatic will have to enter the top 8 participants of the Major tournament and receive an invitation to The New Legends Stage.

This year, Fnatic surprised everyone, having won World Electronic Sports Games 2017, the largest international CS:GO tournament. Due to their efforts at the tournament, Fnatic earned the money prize in the sum of $800,000. After that, the Swedes’ results became worse as there were replacements on the roster. Such esportsmen as Xizt and draken joined the team instead of the captain Golden and Lekr0. Due to this, the Swedes placed 5th-6th or even worse at the last tournaments. We think that Fnatic has some kind of a chance to get to the top 8 but they will have to try hard as there are many other participants at this tournament, who are also worth to receive a “Legend” status.

The roster of Fnatic and the players’ rate:

Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson — 1.05Jesper “JW” Wecksell — 1.05Robin “flusha” Ronquist — 0.95Richard “Xizt” Landstrom — 0.87William “draken” Sundin — 0.95Jimmy “Jumpy” Berndtsson — a coach

G2 Esports (#14 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 26.0

G2 Esports can’t show good results after the great French reshuffle, on the outcome of which they lost such players as NBK and apEX, and this lasts long enough. Poor performances are not higher than the 5th-6th place at all last tournaments: Esports Championship Series Season 5 - Finals, ESL One: Cologne 2018, DreamHack Open Valencia 2018. G2 Esports was not able to advance to the playoffs even at DreamHack Open Valencia 2018, where there were average teams. It’s unclear why the French have relatively low odds for the victory. However, they are not an underdog for sure. They have a chance to get to The New Champions Stage (if only the team prepares for the tournament) but they will have to work a lot for this.

The roster of G2 Esports and the players’ rate:

Richard “shox” Papillon — 1.08Alexandre “bodyy” Pianaro — 1.00Kenny “kennyS” Schrub — 1.14Edouard “SmithZz” Dubourdeaux — 0.87Kevin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans (a stand-in) — 0.97Jerome “NiaK” Sudries — a coach

Cloud9 (#21 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 26.0

There is a lot to say about Cloud9. First of all, C9 is famous to us for being the champions of ELEAGUE Major 2018, however, not much left from their roster. Stewie2K and tarik moved under MIBR’s colors, Golden and STYKO joined Cloud9 instead of them. The last ones joined the team in the middle of August and the quality of their preparation for the Major tournament, which was short enough, is obviously questioned. Cloud9 have chances to get to the top 8, however, they are small enough. Odds in the sum of 26.0 were created only due to the fact that C9 is the champion of the previous Major tournament at the beginning of the year.

The roster of Cloud9 and the players’ rate:

Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham — 1.04Timothy “autimatic” Ta — 1.11Will “RUSH” Wierzba — 0.95Maikil “Golden” Selim — 0.90Martin “STYKO” Styk — 0.94Soham “valens” Chowdhury — a coach

Ninjas in Pyjamas (#8 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 32.0

Now, the Swedish team Ninjas in Pyjamas is not in a very good and unambiguous gaming shape. They had recently placed 5th-6th and 5th-8th at such tournaments as CS:GO Asia Championships 2018 and StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 5 and also 13th-16th at ESL One: Cologne 2018 but their results became better later. Ninjas in Pyjamas managed to hold the first place at Europe Minor Championship - London 2018, which was dedicated to the upcoming Major tournament and earned the money prize in the sum of $30,000 and an invite to the Major competition by FACEIT. NiP held the 3rd-4th place at recently concluded DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018, which is good enough, considering all participants and their gaming level. We think that Ninjas in Pyjamas should advance to The New Legends Stage but they are unlikely to get to The New Champions Stage. It’s not worth to forget that Major tournaments always surprise their viewers and the upcoming FACEIT Major in London will not probably be an exception.

The roster of Ninjas in Pyjamas and the players’ rate:

Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg — 1.12Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund — 1.04Fredrik “REZ” Sterner — 1.14Dennis “dennis” Edman — 1.04Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson — 1.11Faruk “pita” Pita — a coach

OpTic Gaming (#17 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 32.0

OpTic Gaming is one more team, which low odds for the victory we consider unjustified. OpTic Gaming showed bad results at last championships and we think that this team will not enter the top 8 teams of FACEIT Major: London 2018 for sure. The second place at the European Minor tournament is the only thing, which the team can be proud of in their last performances. OpTic Gaming placed 5th-8th and 9th-12th at recently finished ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018 and DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018, respectively.

The roster of OpTic Gaming and the players’ rate:

Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke — 1.16Rene “cajunb” Borg — 1.08Nicklas “gade” Gade (loaned from North) — 0.99Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer — 0.95Jakob “JUGi” Hansen — 1.09Casper “ruggah” Due — a coach

HellRaisers (#15 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 34.0

HellRaisers is one more not a very strong team from this list. The team’s recent results are weak enough. The victory at the European Minor tournament is the only exception, which allowed HellRaisers to go to London at the Major championship by FACEIT. Intel Extreme Masters XIII - Shanghai is the last tournament, in which HellRaisers took part. There, HR managed to hold the 5th-6th place and left the championship with a prize in the sum of $10,000. It’s also worth to notice that HellRaisers have been playing with stand-ins at the last large tournaments as one of the players faced visa issues a few times. Due to this, the team’s team play may be even worse than it is expected by viewers. We think that getting to The New Legends Stage is the top of their abilities at this championship but they might not get to this stage.

The roster of HellRaisers and the players’ rate:

Kirill “ANGE1” Karasov — 0.98Vladyslav “bondik” Nеchуроrchuk — 1.09Bence “DeadFox” Böröcz — 0.95Özgür “woxic” Eker — 1.34Issa “ISSAA” Murad — 1.17Ivan “Johnta” Shevtsov — a coach

Space Soldiers (#31 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 41.0

Space Soldiers is the best CS:GO team of Turkey. Their recent results cause a twofold feeling. On the one hand, there is a victory at DreamHack Open Austin 2018, which means something, on the other hand, there are the 5th-6th and 5th-8th places at the qualifiers to StarLadder #6 and IEM Chicago, which reflects the team’s bad preparation. However, we don’t know how the preparation for the Major tournament is going and the bad performance at the qualifiers may be a required sacrifice, which was made to achieve good results at FACEIT Major: London 2018.

In any case, we are sure that Space Soldiers will surprise all viewers. They will probably not achieve victory but if they try hard, they will enter the top 8, having guaranteed itself a “Legend” status and an invite to the next Minor tournament.

The roster of Space Soldiers and the players’ rate:

Can “XANTARES” Dortkardes — 1.26Engin “ngiN” Kor — 0.88Ahmet “paz” Karahoca — 1.05Engin “MAJ3R” Kupeli — 0.99Bugra “Calyx” Arkin — 1.03Canpolat “hardstyle” Yildiran — a coach

BIG (#11 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 75.0

BIG managed to impress the public three months, having won ESEA Season 27: Global Challenge and they showed a good result later at ESL One Cologne 2018, having placed second there. Besides these two results, BIG didn’t show up in 2018. We think that the fact that they hold the 11th place in the world rate by HLTV.org is the result of BIG’s 2nd place at ESL One Cologne 2018 and this has no relation to the players’ real skills. BIG is unlikely to enter the top eight but they might make it to The New Legends Stage. In any case, it will be interesting to follow the team.

The roster of BIG and the players’ rate:

Fatih “gob b” Dayik — 0.89Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz — 1.19Johannes “nex” Maget — 1.15Tizian “tiziaN” Felbusch — 1.00Owen “smooya” Butterfield — 1.06Nikola “LEGIJA” Ninic — a coach

TyLoo (#12 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 75.0

TyLoo held the second place at the Asian Minor tournament in July due to which received a money prize in the sum of $15,000 and an invitation to the Major tournament by FACEIT. At the beginning of August, TyLoo placed second again at Intel Extreme Masters XIII - Shanghai and earned $50,000 of grabs for their efforts. TyLoo held the 5th-8th and 9th-12th place at ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018 and DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018, respectively. They earned nothing at ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018 and they received a money prize in the sum of $2,000 for the 9th-12th place at DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018. Considering TyLoo recent results and their actual shape, we think that the Chinese will not achieve a big success, playing in such a way, and risk to stop outside of The New Legends Stage. However, we think that they should advance to the next stage but this will not be easy.

The roster of TyLoo and the players’ rate:

Ke “Mo” Liu — 0.96Hui “DD” Wu — 1.08Haowen “somebody” Xu — 1.12Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand — 1.14Kevin “xccurate” Susanto — 1.13

Gambit eSports (#19 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 91.0

Gambit eSports’ team play doesn’t get better. The recent results of the team are disappointing: the 3rd-4th place at Intel Extreme Masters XIII - Shanghai and the 13th-16th place at ESL One Cologne 2018. The signing of Nikolay “mir” Bityukov didn’t fix the situation. Maybe, Gambit eSports is doing a strong preparation for this championship but we can say for sure — Gambit will not be able to repeat their last year’s success and become the champions of the Major tournament.

The only thing that can create doubts about our opinion is the recent statement of Rustem “mou” Telepov, one of the team’s players: “As you can see, our things don’t work out and my too, so I will come back to a free role where I will be able to be more active and do open frags just like everyone expects:) However, I was playing all my best tournaments in such way, we will have the Major now and I will bet everything on it. If everything continues and the game doesn’t change and everything stays sad, I will promise you that I will leave the team soon”.

The roster of Gambit eSports and the players’ rate:

Mikhail “Dosia” Stolyarov — 0.92Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev — 1.03Rustem “mou” Telepov — 1.08Abay “Hobbit” Khassenov — 1.06Nikolay “mir” Bityukov — 1.02Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy — a coach

Renegades (#16 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 101.0

It is difficult to call Renegades’ results good in the recent time. Renegades placed 7th-8th at DreamHack Open Summer 2018, which was hosted two months ago, and the Australians even held the 9th-12th place at ESL One Cologne 2018. Renegades missed such tournaments as ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018 and DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018. The only result, with which they pleased their fans, is they held the first place at the Australian Minor tournament. It’s worth to notice the fact that the former coach of Counter Logic Gaming, Steve “Ryu” Rattacasa, joined the team two months ago. Maybe, the new coach will help the Australians to come to some kind of a solution, which will help to improve results. Jkaem, a Norwegian esportsman, will play for Renegades as a stand-in. We think that Renegades will maximum advance to The New Legends Stage but they will try hard for this.

The roster of Renegades and the players’ rate:

Aaron “AZR” Ward — 1.05Justin “jks” Savage — 1.23Karlo “USTILO” Pivac — 1.06Noah “Nifty” Francis — 1.01Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad — 1.18Steve “Ryu” Rattacasa — a coach

The obvious underdogs

Rogue (#30 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 201.0

The team from North America is unlikely to advance to The New Challengers Stage and Rogue’s recent results is the reason, why we think so. Rogue had placed third at DreamHack Open Austin 2018 three months before and since then, they have taken part in one championship, a Minor tournament, where also placed second and received an invite to the Major championship. Rogue tried to make it to ZOTAC Cup Masters, DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018, and ESL One New York 2018 but all ended with no result. What might the team, that didn’t qualify for a single LAN tournament in three months, achieve at the Major tournament? We think that the correct answer to this question is “Nothing”. There will be a lot of strong teams at this championship and Rogue will need to work really hard to advance to the next stage, at least.

The roster of Rogue and the players’ rate:

Daniel “vice” Kim — 1.06Spencer “Hiko” Martin — 1.05Casper “cadiaN” Moller — 1.19Hunter “SicK” Mims — 1.07Ricardo “Rickeh” Mulholland — 1.17Matthew “mCe” Elmore — a coach on a trial period

compLexity Gaming (#29 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 201.0

At the moment, we think that compLexity Gaming is a team of one tournament and Americas Minor Championship - London 2018 was an event, at which compLexity had a success. At other championships, compLexity didn’t manage to qualify or to perform properly, having finished its participation on the last place. CompLexity Gaming visited not more than 4 LAN tournaments over the last half a year, which is a miserably little for a team that will participate in the Major tournament. The Americans might surprise the public but we doubt a lot about this, relating the team to the underdogs, who are likely to be the first who leave the tournament.

The roster of compLexity Gaming and the players’ rate:

Rory “dephh” Jackson — 1.12Brad “ANDROID” Foder — 1.17Jacob “yay” Whiteaker — 1.16Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz — 1.09Shahzeeb “ShahZaM” Khan — 1.19Ronald “Rambo” Kim — a coach

Winstrike (#47 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 251.0

Winstrike is an obvious underdog. The team managed to show a great performance at the previous Major tournament, playing under the tag Quantum Bellator Fire, and reached the top 8, having earned a “Legend” status and received an invite to FACEIT Major: London 2018. It’s possible that Winstrike will impress everyone and enter the top 8 but the chance of this event is even lower than at the previous tournament. The players were showing very weak results during the whole season and they are not ready to compete with the world teams.

The roster of Winstrike and the players’ rate:

Gregory “BALbINA” Oleinick — 1.02Aurimas “Kvik” Kvakšys — 0.99Nikita “waterfaLLZ” Matveyev — 1.04Saveliy “jmqa” Bragin — 0.98Kirill “BoombI4” Mikhailov — 1.12Dmitriy “iksou” Mihailichenko — a coach

Virtus.pro (#20 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 75.0

It is one of the main candidates to be eliminated from the tournament first. Why? Because the morale of the team is almost on the zero level and the players don’t have a motivation to win. Many people know the fact that FACEIT Major: London 2018 is the last tournament for byali, in which he competes under the tag Virtus.pro. Due to this, he is unlikely to try to achieve victory. The confirmation of our thoughts is the facts that the Polish esportsman has been feeling uncomfortable in the team for some time. Let’s see how Virtus.Pro will play at this tournament. If they advance to the next stage, this will be incredible.

The roster of Virtus.pro and the players’ rate:

Filip “NEO” Kubski — 1.02Jaroslaw “pashBiceps” Jarzabkowski — 1.05Pawel “byali” Bielinski — 1.12Michal “MICHU” Muller — 1.11Michal “snatchie” Rudzki — 1.09Jakub “kuben” Gurczynski — a coach

Team Spirit (#36 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 301.0

Team Spirit is a tier-3 team from CIS. This description is enough to describe the chances of the team for further participation in this championship. Despite Spirit placed second at such tournaments as ESEA Season 27: Global Challenge, GG.BET Majestic, and CIS Minor Championship - London 2018 over the last half a year, their chances are such small as the chances of other teams-outsiders. We will say one thing: if Team Spirit gets to the next stage, this will be a miracle.

The roster of Team Spirit and the players’ rate:

Pavel “COLDYY1” Veklenko — 1.18Dmitry “S0fF1k” Forostyanko — 0.94Vadim “DavCost” Vasilyev — 1.12Dmitriy “Dima” Bandurka — 1.06Victor “somedieyoung” Orudzhev — 1.14

Vega Squadron (#211 in the rate by HLTV.org)Odds for the victory — 301.0

We will tell you one fact to understand how low the chances of the team are just to struggle for an advancement to The New Legends Stage: Vega Squadron held their place in the rate by HLTV.org only yesterday and this place is not very good. They place 211th in the world rate and is the weakest team among all participants of FACEIT Major: London 2018. After they held the 9th-11th place at ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, the team was not able to show good results. They came, held the last places and left. The chances of the team to advance to The New Legends Stage are too small, so odds for the victory of the team are impossibly maximum.

The roster of Vega Squadron and the players’ rate:

Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov — 1.03Dmitriy “jR” Chervak — 1.00Pavel “hutji” Lashkov — 1.08Igor “crush” Shevchenko — 0.98Anton “tonyblack” Kolesnikov — 1.05Artem “Fierce” Ivanov — a coach