Preview BLAST Pro Series Miami 2019
Ihor MatusThe events will be taking place in one of famous American cities, Miami. The collectives will get there to divide a common prize pool of $250,000 and 30 BLAST Pro Series points. The winner will get a main prize of $125,000 and 10 BPS Points.
Astralis (position in the HLTV rating — #1)
Win coefficient: 1.70
We shouldn't speak a lot about power of Astralis. The most stable and the strongest CS:GO team in the esports history. The collective won three Major tournaments in a row and is a current world champion. Taking into account the modern level of the competitive CS:GO, it is rather commendable, and the fact that at all bookmaker's offices Astralis is the main favorite to win is not surprising to anyone. We should mark the fact that the last tournament of BLAST Pro Series Astralis participated in, that is BLAST Pro Series São Paulo 2019 also resulted in a victory for the Danish CS:GO Titans. Team Liquid and Natus Vincere are the only teams that can oppose to them and make some obstacle on their way to the top. To our mind, Astralis will continue their series of wins. Our opinion is supported by the format of BLAST Pro Series and the fact that in case of their win Astralis will get a lot of points that will let them perform at BLAST Pro Series World Finals 2019.
Astralis roster and rating of the players:
Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz — 1.26
Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen — 1.14
Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Hojsleth — 1.24
Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander — 1.09
Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif — 1.24
Danny ‘zonic’ Sorensen — coach
Team Liquid (position in the HLTV rating — #3)
Win coefficient: 4
The last championship for Team Liquid, where the representatives of of the North American division performed was BLAST Pro Series São Paulo 2019. There Liquid played at the group stage pretty well and made it to the grand final where they managed to take only one map from their opponents. If Twistzz with his teammates had been preparing for the upcoming championship in Miami actively, the team has a big chance to win the tournament. The fact that Miami is geographically closer to the players from Liquid than to anyone else can be also beneficial for the esportsmen. It means that it will be easier for them to pass the period of acclimatization and get fully concentrated on the game. Team Liquid look as one of the main favorites of winning the upcoming competition, but their chance is fading away when Astralis appear.
Team Liquid roster and rating of the players:
Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella — 1.10
Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski — 1.16
Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken — 1.12
Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic — 1.14
Jacky ‘Stewie2K’ Yip — 1.05
Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag — coach
Natus Vincere (position in the HLTV rating — #2)
Win coefficient: 5
Natus Vincere became the champions of the recently completed StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Invitational Season 7. The representatives of this team made a few interesting highlights and a number of good impressions from watching the tournament. It's worth noting that there weren't such opponents as Astralis and Team Liquid, and it means that at this tournament they are not likely to become the champions. In our opinion, they also may not get to the grand final especially if we take into account the fact that they have just completed participation in one tournament and they are going to play one more having no rest unlike their opponents. The coach of the team Mihail ‘kane’ Blagin says the opposite. He claims that the teams has a perfect gaming shape and is going to Miami to win. If we evaluate their chance paying attention to the results of the previous BLAST Pro Series, the likelihood of the win is not as big as they would like to have as there are rather strong players, but if the team is at the peak of the shape and is ready to win indeed, Natus Vincere will get to the grand final and will fight for the title of the champion.
Natus Vincere roster and rating of the players:
Ioann ‘Edward’ Sukhariev — 1.07
Egor ‘flamie’ Vasilyev — 1.08
Aleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev — 1.37
Daniil ‘Zeus’ Teslenko — 0.91
Denis ‘Electronic’ Sharipov — 1.21
Mikhail ‘kane’ Blagin — coach
FaZe Clan (position in the HLTV rating — #7)
Win coefficient: 11
FaZe Clan can be described in the same way as all the other participants in the tournament: the team that has been having bad times. The European team has good individual players, but it doesn't affect the results of the team. The esportsmen can't find their way to success and at the last tournaments they are getting worse and worse. To prove it, we can take a look at the last event where they participated, StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Invitational Season 7. There FaZe Clan finished their playing at the group stage with a result of 2-3. Thanks to their efforts, they got a money reward of $8,500, that was unlikely to satisfy the representatives of FaZe. We think that FaZe, are more likely to take the 5 position of the tournament bracket of the upcoming championship of BLAST Pro Series.
FaZe Clan roster and rating of the players:
Havard ‘rain’ Nygaard — 1.04
Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovac — 1.21
Ladislav ‘GuardiaN’ Kovacs — 1.03
Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer — 0.96
Dauren ‘AdreN’ Kystaubayev — 0.92
Janko ‘YNk’ Paunovic — coach
MIBR (position in the HLTV rating — #9)
Win coefficient: 17
The Brazilians from MIBR have lost their gaming shape completely At several recent tournament they we're not able to show any good result and the previous BLAST Pro Series became the worst championship for the Brazilian roster. There FalleN and his teammates lost everything that were able to lose including five duels against ENCE eSports. At StarSeries the representatives of MIBR also weren't able to perform worthily. They ended up their participation in the group stage by the statistics of 2-3 and left the tournament with a consolation prize of $8,750. In our opinion, the Brazilians have to pull themselves together and to perform at this tournament winning over at least Cloud9 and FaZe Clan. As for the other participants, we will not tell anything as the chance of victory at the meetings with Natus Vincere and Team Liquid is very little and Astralis it doesn't exist at all. In total, if we tried to find out the definite placement of MIBR when the event is finished, we would tell that MIBR would take the 4 place.
MIBR roster and rating of the players:
Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo — 1.05
Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga — 1.12
Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David — 1.14
Epitacio ‘TACO’ de Melo — 0.98
Joao ‘felps’ Vasconcellos — 1.03
Wilton ‘zews’ Prado — coach
Cloud9 (position in the HLTV rating — #142)
Win coefficient: 22
Cloud9 is the weakest team of the upcoming StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Invitational Season 7. Firstly, the best result the team managed to achieve last year was the 3 place at BLAST Pro Series Lisbon 2018, after that the roster was change. Secondly, the roster of the American team was renewed at the beginning of April one more time. The French shooter, kioShiMa, left the team for free search and his place was taken by Rene ‘cajunb’ Borg as a trial player. In the middle of March, the team also was changed: the player Swole Patrol, Zellsis left C9, and his position was taken by Daniel ‘vice’ Kim as a trial player. BLAST Pro Series Miami 2019 will become the first serious test for Cloud9, that, in our opinion, the team is going to fail. As a reminder, Cloud9 went down to the 146 place in the world rating. This fact also supports our confidence in their failure.
Cloud9 roster and rating of the players:
Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta — 1.09
Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba — 0.95
Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim — 0.00 (has been inactive for the last 3 months)
Daniel ‘vice’ Kim (trial period) — 1.16
Rene ‘cajunb’ Borg — 1.05
Ronald ‘Rambo’ Kim — coach