Preview of Esports Championship Series Season 7 - Finals
Ihor MatusGeneral information
Esports Championship Series Season 7 - Finals will be taking place from 6 till 9 June. The holding place is SSE Arena в Лондоне, and the main prize pool will consist $500,000.There is no information about the way the prize money will get divided. The event will be take place in two stages: group and playoff. At the group stage the teams will be divided into two groups with four in each and will be playing by the GSL system. Two best teams from each of the groups will make it to the final stage where they will play in the single-elimination bracket. The first matches in the group stage will be held in the Bo1 format. All the other meetings will be held in the series of two wins.
Tournament favorites
Astralis (place in the HLTV rating — #2)WIn odds: 1.50
Astralis are the main favorites of this championship. We have not seen this roster for a long time, however it does not mean the team was relaxing and was not preparing for the championship. If Astralis are going to the championship, they are likely to make it to the grand final and win the competition. The last official match with the Danish team was held on 11 May at BLAST Pro Series. By the way, Astralis lost at the spectacular grand final against ENCE. Since then almost one month has passed and the collective must have worked on their mistakes to gain a great gaming shape and to perform at Esports Championship Series Season 7 - Finals properly. We want to add that on 3 June the Danish lost their leadership in the list of the best CS:GO teams in the world for the first time in a year and a month. Liquid and ENCE are not partici[ating in this event, and it means that Astralis are unlikely to face any serious opponents on their way..
Astralis roster and rating of the players:
Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz — 1.20Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen — 1.18Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Hojsleth — 1.10Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander — 1.05Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif — 1.18Danny ‘zonic’ Sorensen — coach
Team Vitality (place in the HLTV rating — #4)Win odds: 5.00
In our opinion, Team Vitality are one of the main pretenders to the winning at the event. Now Vitality are the strong team in France even if they have mixed results at their performances. Recently they have won cs_summit 4, winning over Team Liquid at the final. After that, they also performed well at DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019. Unfortunately, the team gained the 5-6 place, losing a battle against FURIA Esports who managed to surprise with their performance. Nevertheless, we think that Vitality are stronger than many participants at the upcoming ECS Season 7 - Finals. The prize pool of half of a million dollars must be good motivation for NBK- and his teammates.
Team roster and rating of the players:
Nathan ‘NBK-’ Schmitt — 1.11Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire — 1.07Cedric ‘RpK’ Guipouy — 1.00Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut — 1.32Alex ‘ALEX’ McMeekin — 1.02Remy ‘XTQZZZ’ Quoniam — coach
Teams that have a chance
Ninjas in Pyjamas (place in the HLTV rating — #9)Win odds: 15.0
Despite the fact that the player have lost their position in the world rating, Ninjas in Pyjamas are one of the best teams in Sweden, To make it to the playoff, GeT_RiGhT and his teammates have to do their best. NiP got to Group A together with such opponents as Astralis, NRG Esports, and FURIA Esports. Apart from the Danish team, the other teams will be playing equally. If Ninjas in Pyjamas are able to make it to the playoff, they will have a good chance to pass to the grand final, as their opponents who will make it out of Group B, can be not as strong as the Swedish roster.
Ninjas in Pyjamas roster and rating of the players:
Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg — 1.10Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund — 0.91Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner — 1.07Dennis ‘dennis’ Edman — 1.07Jonas ‘Lekr0’ Olofsson — 0.94Faruk ‘pita’ Pita — coach
FURIA Esports (place in the HLTV rating — #11)Win odds: 35.0
FURIA Esports are ready to surprise their audience again. At the recently finished DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 they took the 3-4 place making a sensation several times. , Now FURIA should be considered as the strongest Brazilian team after MIBR. The team have gone up to the 11 place in the world rating created by HLTV.
FURIA got to Group C with such opponents as Astralis, NRG Esports, and Ninjas in Pyjamas. They are unlikely to win over the Danish, but NRG and Ninjas in Pyjamas are real for them of course in case if they are well-prepared. We will observe how FURIA will be performing as this team may make a good surprise. Maybe after the events which will happen at Esports Championship Series Season 7 - Finals FURIA will outrank MIBR in the rating table and will take the first place in Brazil. At first thought it seem to be fantastic, however FURIA may use the fact that they are not expected to make up good competition and surprise their opponents. FURIA are dark horses of the championship which should not be underestimated.
FURIA Esports roster and rating of the players:
Yuri ‘yuurih’ Gomes — 1.28Andrei ‘arT’ Piovezan — 1.15Vinicius ‘VINI’ Figueiredo — 1.09Kaike ‘KSCERATO’ Cerato — 1.22Rinaldo ‘ableJ’ Moda — 1.01Nicholas ‘guerri’ Nogueira — coach
MIBR (place in the HLTV rating — #8)Win odds: 7.00
The last match for MIBR was held on 25 May and since then enough time has passed for the team to lose gaming shape. Then the Brazilians won over Team Liquid, however afterwards Liquid took the 2 place at cs_summit 4 and became champions of DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019, and it means that at the battle against MIBR they were not in their optimal gaming shape. In total, MIBR are the second favourite to make it to the playoff in Group B, as there are also North and Complexity Gaming there. FalleN and the team are ready to fight with these players. We should remember that the prize pool is big and this will stimulate the Brazilians.
MIBR roster and rating of the players:
Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo — 1.19Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga — 1.13Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David — 1.19Epitacio ‘TACO’ de Melo — 0.95Joao ‘felps’ Vasconcellos — 1.08Wilton ‘zews’ Prado — coach
North (place in the HLTV rating — #15)Win odds: 15.0
If the things which were told by Kjaerbye in his interview are true and the players are really working on development of their team and individual skills, North will be able to defeat their opponents in Group B and make it to the playoff. Regrettably for the Danish team, the players are able to make it to the grand final, as at the semifinal they are likely to meet with Astralis, who will not let North participate in the final battle.
North roster and rating of the players:
Philip ‘aizy’ Aistrup — 1.13Valdemar ‘valde’ Bjorn — 1.08Markus ‘Kjaerbye’ Kjærbye — 1.07Nicklas ‘gade’ Gade — 1.05Jakob ‘JUGi’ Hansen — 1.14Torbjorn ‘mithR’ Nyborg — coach
NRG Esports (place in the HLTV rating — #10)Win odds: 13.0
Taking into account that NRG Esports represent Group A together with Astralis, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and FURIA Esports, we cannot say that the NRG can make it to the playoff. In our opinion, each of the teams in the group looks like a worthy competitor for NRG, but we cannot say that this roster is unlikely to win. They may lose the match with FURIA and they may defeat Ninjas in Pyjamas. It will depend on their level of preparation for this championship and attitude to the upcoming matches of the group stage.
NRG Esports roster and rating of the players:
Damian ‘daps’ Steele — 0.85Vincent ‘Brehze’ Cayonte — 1.15Cvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov — 1.14Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold — 1.13Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik — 1.07Chet ‘ImAPet’ Singh — coach
Outsiders
Complexity Gaming (place in the HLTV rating — #43)Win odds: 101.0
The main outsider of the championship is Complexity Gaming. The reason for that is one interesting fact: on 3 June Complexity roster was changed. One of the key players, stanislaw, left the team and his place was taken by the 15-year-old schoolboy known for his streams on TwitchTV and performing for semi-professional teams, Owen ‘oBo’ Schlatter. He has experience in a succession of triumphs at the CS:GO competitive event, however this will not be enough to perform at Esports Championship Series Season 7 - Finals properly. Complexity Gaming are interesting to watch as it will be a debut performance at the LAN tournamenyt for oBo. His first LAN is the championship of $500,000 which is surprising for sure. Should we say that Complexity may not have proper teamwork with oBo and all there will be a cut between the opponents and Complexity?
Complexity Gaming roster and rating of the player:
Rory ‘dephh’ Jackson — 1.06Shahzeeb ‘ShahZaM’ Khan — 1.10Ricardo ‘Rickeh’ Mulholland — 1.16Hunter ‘SicK’ Mims — 1.03Owen ‘oBo’ Schlatter — 0.00Matt ‘Warden’ Dickens — coach
Summing up
We think that Astralis will win Group A. FURIA Esports may make it to the playoff if they play as well as at the previous tournament. In our opinion, Ninjas in Pyjamas and NRG Esports hold the 3 and 4 place at the group stage, correspondingly.
In Group B Team Vitality and MIBR will play better than others. North and Complexity Gaming will take the 3 and 4 positions, correspondingly.
If our suppostions are true and the teams will play in the semifinal by the classical scheme A1 vs B2 and A2 vs B1, Astralis will play against MIBR, and Vitality will oppose the players from FURIA. Therefore, FURIA have a good chance to pass to the grand final as at DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 they won over the French by the score of 2-0. We should mark that the battle will not be easy as NBK- and his teammates has worked on their mistakes but in spite of it, FURIA are still able to make a surprise. At the battle between Astralis and MIBR, Astralis are more likely to win, but if they are in a bad gaming shape and MIBR win, we will see a nice Brazilian derby at the final of ECS Season 7 - Finals.
Suppositional placement of the teams in the tournament bracket:
1 place — Astralis2 place — FURIA Esports3-4 place — MIBR3-4 place — Team Vitality5-6 place — Ninjas in Pyjamas5-6 place — North7-8 place — NRG Esports7-8 place — Complexity Gaming