The Power League Gaming Grand Slam 2018 takes place in Abu Dhabi this week, presenting an opportunity for non-tier-one teams to pick up a trophy.
While there are 16 teams in attendance, the four best-known – Fnatic, G2 Esports, HellRaisers and TyLoo – lead the betting market and are the ones to watch.
With qualifiers from Europe, North America, South America, Oceania, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Persia and Africa, plus a further four invited squads in NASR eSports, Energy Esports, Avangar and Chosen5, there is definitely the prospect of an upset or two.
Fnatic look to build
Fnatic start favourites at Dafabet, who offer 3.350 about them taking home the title. They enjoyed a solid showing at their last event. At IEM Chicago they were able to take down Team Liquid 2-1 in the group stage before falling to eventual champions Astralis 2-1 in an incredibly-close clash in the semi-finals.
Fnatic generally have four players capable of star performances, although they typically lean towards KRIMZ to lead them given his continued excellence throughout 2018. With fairly recent additions in Brollan and twist still fresh to the squad, the possibilities seem open for this Swedish team to become a tier-one unit. However if that is to occur, they need to begin finding victories at tournaments such as this.
New-look G2
G2 – 6.490 shots – are finally able to come in with the new iteration of their five-man roster that includes former 3DMAX players Lucky and JaCkz. That duo were a part of the 3DMAX squad that claimed 1st place last week at the ESEA Season 29: Global Challenge, very much being the catalyst for success.
The two largest differences for this line-up is that shox has taken over in-game leading duties, and the loss of SmithZz and Ex6TenZ is massive boon to the team’s overall firepower.
The previous line-up severely lacked in the firepower department, although some of that is put down to the decline of star AWPer kennyS, who is yet to hit his peak form at the same time as shox. If all this change does is see an improvement from kennyS then it’s well worth it given his ability to be one of the best players in the game.
Something to keep track of is whether or not shox can still maintain his incredible form, despite picking up the in-game leading responsibilities.
HellRaisers’ Hobbit hope
Another team looking for positive momentum with a new roster are HellRaisers, who have had minimal time to shine since the addition of Hobbit from Gambit.
The trio of woxic, ISSAA and Hobbit is tantalising, but similarly to Fnatic, this is the type of event that HellRaisers need to come away from with a victory and nothing else.
With the firepower to arguably mess with anybody, the question for HellRaisers is first off whether or not Hobbit can return to his incredible 2017 form, and, secondly, can the team as a whole can start to find some consistency?
HellRaisers have long been dangerous, even with only two stars, boasting the potential to go deep in events should their star duo show up. Now with a 3rd star, the idea is that even if one fails in the series it is not immediately game over, with a golden opportunity here to show what they have got heading into 2019. They are 3.980 2nd favourites.
Consistency key for TyLoo
Another ever-dangerous squad are TyLoo, who come in off an odd showing at SuperNova Malta.
TyLoo (5.490) were able to defeat BIG 16-14 in their opening map before losing in best-of-three series to both HellRaisers and, in a rematch, BIG, where they somehow only managed three rounds across two maps.
This squad remains incredibly interesting to track, given the same five have stuck together for some time, with BnTeT looked upon to not only perform, but to in-game lead while doing it.
One of the players to watch in this team is primary AWPer (sniper) xcurrate, who has a knack for making big plays in key moments.
