The review of ESL One New York 2018

A yearly championship by ESL has finished in New York few days ago. The time has come to make a conclusion.

The teams-losers

Fnatic

Changes had been made on the roster of Fnatic before the start of ESL One New York 2018. Flusha was sold to the organization Cloud9 and ScreaM held his position. As it was expected, the team was not able to prepare well and played not its best at the championship. In the first match, Fnatic played against mousesports, who were in a good shape, and lost. The Ukrainian-Russian roster of Natus Vincere played against the Swedes in an elimination match. In the case with mouse, the match had not been easy and one of the maps had been brought to overtimes but Natus Vincere managed to achieve an easy victory against Fnatic. The participation of the Swedish team was over at ESL One New York 2018 and Fnatic earned a consolation prize in the sum of $4,000 for the 7th-8th place.

Natus Vincere

Natus Vincere can be called the main disappointment of the tournament. The CIS team didn’t even manage to get to the playoffs there. In the first match, Na’Vi played with the representatives of Gambit, who beat their opponents with a score 2-1. The CIS team faced Fnatic in the second match and beat them with a score 2-0. Natus Vincere faced Gambit again in the last match, which determined the fate of two participants, and was not able to win a rematch. The match was not easy, however, Gambit advanced to the playoffs, while Natus Vincere placed 5th-6th and earned a money prize in the sum of $8,500. Such result disappointed fans of the yellow-black tag and surprised a lot of viewers.

FaZe Clan

What FaZe Clan showed was also an unexpected turn of events. Many people expected to see FaZe in the playoffs, however, this didn’t happen. The first match was played against the representatives of the most famous tag of France, G2 Esports. There, the Europeans showed their opponents a difficult fight on two maps and were close to the victory but the match finished with a score 2-1 in the favor of G2. In the next match, FaZe faced NRG eSports, one of the most famous teams from the USA. The representatives of FaZe were also very close to the victory on the first map and brought the match to the overtimes but they were not able to win more than ten rounds on the second map and finished their participation in the championship in such way. As a result, the European team placed 7th-8th in the standings and was eliminated from the tournament one of the first. FaZe Clan earned a money prize in the sum of $4,000 for the participation in ESL One New York 2018.

G2 Esports

The French from G2 Esports played almost as they had been expected by the public. They were not able to make it to the playoffs because there were more obvious favorites in Group B than shox and his team. G2 Esports struggled in a tough battle against FaZe Clan in the first match. G2 was close to a loss but prevailed over the strong European opponent after all. Later, the French faced Team Liquid in a match of the winners where had a hard loss on one map and managed to compete with the American opponents on the second map. As a result, G2 lost with a score 0-2 and had to fight with NRG eSports in an elimination match. G2 made their opponents struggle a lot there. On the first map, the teams played equally and played to an overtime. But G2 was not able to win the first and the second map and was eliminated from the tournament, having held the 5th-6th place. The French grabbed a money prize in the sum of $8,500 for their efforts.

The teams-winners

Let’s remind that ESL One New York 2018 was the last championship for Gambit, in which the team participated with HObbit. After the end of the participation in the event, Abay Khassenov left the main roster and was put on a transfer.

Gambit eSports

Gambit eSports showed a good enough performance. This team faced Natus Vincere, another CIS team, in the first match, where prevailed over Natus Vincere with a score 2-1. In a match of the winners, Gambit played against the European team mousesports and lost with the same score. In the decisive match, Gambit played with the representatives of the yellow-black tag against and beat Natus Vincere in a tough battle with a score 2-0.

Gambit’s success finished at the tournament after that as the Kazakhs faced one of the main favorites of the championship, Team Liquid, in the playoff stage. Gambit eSports performed very bad in the semi-final, having prevailed in six round on the first map and in three rounds on the second one. The Kazakh team finished its participation, having placed 3rd-4th, and it earned a money prize in the sum of $25,000 for its efforts. Fans of the tag were pleasantly surprised as the majority of viewers was sure that Gambit would not advance to the playoffs and the Kazakhs beat one of the favorites of the tournament in the first stage. Such a good result was probably influenced by the fact that this championship is the last for HObbit on the roster of Gambit and he wanted to do his best.

NRG eSports

Like Gambit, NRG eSports pleasantly surprised viewers. They were defeated in a tough battle against Liquid in the group stage but managed to beat the rest two opponents. They prevailed in the match against FaZe with a score 2-0 and, playing against G2 Esports, the victory was achieved again by NRG with a score 2-0.

In the quarterfinal, NRG played against the further champion of the tournament, the team mousesports. There, mousesports achieved victory over NRG eSports with a score 16-12 and 16-11 and as a result, the Europeans advanced to the final and the Americans finished their participation in the tournament, having stopped on the 3rd-4th place. The American team prepared well for the event and surprised all viewers with their performance.

An interesting fact: NRG eSports played overtimes in all matches of the group stage.

Team Liquid

Liquid upset their fans. Initially, the American team was considered to be one of the favorites to win ESL One New York 2018 and their advancement to the playoffs was not a big surprise for viewers. The public expected the final between Team Liquid and Natus Vincere most of all, however, this didn’t happen.

In the group stage, Liquid beat their countrymen from NRG eSports in a tough match. Liquid played against G2 Esports in the second match and beat the French without an effort.

Having made it to the playoffs, Liquid faced Gambit eSports, who showed a good game in the group stage. Gambit was not able to make great problems to the Americans and Liquid crushed its opponent in an easy match, having advanced to the final.

mousesports got to the final against Team Liquid. The majority of viewers was confident about Liquid’s victory but the game had a different scenario. Unlike standard championships, the final of ESL One New York 2018 was hosted in a bo5 format and the teams played all five maps, having an intrigue till the very end. As a result, Liquid was not able to show something serious to their opponents on de_dust2, the last map, and lost the final match. Team Liquid became the silver medalist of the tournament and earned a money prize in the sum of $50,000. Liquid’s loss in the final match means that none of the favorites was able to meet the expectations at the event.

mousesports

Mousesports showed themselves the best at this championship. The European team could not be called an underdog of the event but many viewers supposed to see the final with other participants. In the group stage, mousesports showed what they could and continued surprising everyone during the whole tournament. In the semi-final, they beat NRG eSports, who lost not the easiest match, and maps were finished with a score 16-12 and 16-11. Mousesports faced Liquid as an outsider in the final, which helped them in the match with the American team. The Europeans prevailed on the first map and lost the next two maps. The fourth map was the most difficult and the longest for the participants as it was over with a score 19-17. The final map was de_mirage and Liquid was not able to show a resistance there and as a result, mousesports prevailed with a score 16-8. This victory has become a debut for the renewed European team and the signing of the Polish esportsman Snax has finally brought the expected results. Mousesports earned a money prize in the sum of $125,000 for their efforts.