Esports News: With the Sparekassen Fyn Arena in Odense, Denmark the destination for the finals, the North American-based CS:GO teams have been competing to join their European rivals at the Premier event.
OpTic a Surprise Pacesetter
When all was said and done, it was the new-look OpTic Gaming who secured the first overall seed from the ESL Pro League Season 6 (North America). With four new members joining mixwell, OpTic Gaming have had an up-and-down time post-roster transition. Struggling thus far offline, although with limited showings, OpTic completely dominated the online portion of the event, completing a 20-6 season.
Luckily for OpTic Gaming, multiple unexpected lower-tiered teams secured playoff slots, with even some tier-one teams unable to clinch a place in the finals. While typically, OpTic would be seen as an early-round exit candidate, the easier field allows for a potential playoff run for the new squad.
SKG Lurking
SK Gaming are the clear-cut favourite to claim first place in playoffs, given both their pedigree offline as well as their most recent roster addition. While still a top team, SK always appeared to be missing their maximum potential with felps in the lineup. In comes boltz, who perfectly complements the style of both fer and coldzera, allowing them to play more aggressive given his own passive style. One concern for SK Gaming is that they have failed in this event before while being massive favourites, losing to Cloud9 on home soil back in Season 4. However, given the circumstances with fairly poor competition surrounding them, SK are expected to make a major push this time.
Changes May Disrupt Liquid
Team Liquid, who finished 17-9, are a team to watch, given that they just made a roster move this week after a series of disappointing finishes. Stanislaw has been removed, with steel taking his place; a move that leaves one of the tournament’s dark horses with major question marks hanging over them. While it is true that stan has been in a prolonged slump, adding a new piece to a roster will almost always take time to develop. Given the star power of both EliGE and Twistzz, Team Liquid still have the ability to make a strong playoff run.
Surprise Finalists
The final three teams to reach the playoffs have limited expectations, with Misfits (15-11) having the highest ceiling compared to both NRG Esports (16-10) and Luminosity Gaming (15-11). Misfits have shown the ability to compete with the best this season, splitting 1-1 vs. SK in Week 5, for example, while also having players that have dealt with the pressure before, such as in-game leader sgares.
While again, none of these teams are expected to make an impact in playoffs, the ability for Misfits to anti-strat, directly preparing counters for their opponent – something it is famous for doing in previous years – gives them at least some hope of an upset along the way.
Cloud9 a Stunning Omission
The team that stands out as a disappointment this season in North America is Cloud9, whom struggled early to find success with their new roster. Finishing one game out of playoffs at 14-12, Cloud9 would have been favourites alongside SK Gaming should they have made it through. The final week was incredibly poor given Cloud9’s standard of play, as they lost 0-2 OpTic as well as splitting 1-1 vs. Liquid, whom deemed their showings so inadequate that they roster changed. While Cloud9 will always blow hot and cold given their minimal tactics, finishing below the likes of NRG and LG is something that will sting for quite some time.
Immortals Face Slump
The entire Immortals situation has been unfortunate, with every single player that started on the team leaving for other teams by the season’s end. With controversy surrounding HEN1, LUCAS1, and kNg, Immortals went from one of the favourites to challenge Cloud9 and SK Gaming, to having a fight in relegation matches just in order to secure their spot for next season. Immortals are more than likely on their way out, unless their new roster of players can band together in a fairly short amount of time and begin to show signs of life.
With the shocks and surprises in the North American qualification, the finals over in Denmark are set up as a fascinating affair, as the teams prepare to battle early next month for the $225,000 first-place prize.
