Preview of ECS Season 8 Finals
Ihor MatusGeneral information
The championship starts on 28 November and will get over on 1 December. Eight teams are going to take part in it, having shown their best at the first stage which had been taking place for five weeks in Europe and North America. AVANGAR, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Astralis and Fnatic gained their trips to the tournament performing in Europe whereas Sharks Esports, Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid and MIBR became the best in the American division.
The venue of the championship is Esports Stadium Arlington, the USA. The prize pool the participants will be playing for is $500,000. The winner will get $225,000.
Favorites of the championship
Astralis (place in the HLTV rating — #1)
Win odds: 2.10
There is only one favorite of the championship — Astralis. The team is approaching the championship as the main contender for victory as the Danish are in a great gaming shape. The last tournament Astralis was participating in ended up with a victory for them. We should mark that it was a Chinese championship where, for example, EG's performance resulted in a failure, maybe because of the jet lag. It proves the fact that the Danish treat adaptation to the new climate in a responsible manner which leads us to the thought that the change of the continent is unlikely to influence their game. They treat preparation for participation in any tournament in the same way and they put in work. But there was an exception at BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2019, as the players could not get prepared there and felt bad which was stated in the interview.
The only teams that may cause some difficulties for Astralis on their way to victory are Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid. Both teams are from the USA and they can be morally ready but it is unlikely to be a stumbling block for the players. The odds for Astralis' win at this championship at outright bets is very low which is 2.10 only proving a high likelihood of the win for the team according to the experts. We totally agree with them.
Astralis roster and rating of the players:
Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz — 1.26
Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen — 1.08
Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth — 1.11
Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander — 1.07
Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif — 1.12
Danny ‘zonic’ Sørensen — coach
Teams that have a chance
Evil Geniuses (place in the HLTV rating — #2)
Win odds: 5.00
Evil Geniuses may be named the first contender for victory after Astralis. Their main advantage lies in the fact that they are American and they are going to perform on their native land. As the practice has shown many times, this factor can be key while performing at the championship. The team can approach the championship not as a favorite but the game at home can encourage the team and the players can make it to the end. As for the gaming shape, it is a bit troublesome for EG. At IEM Beijing, which was their last performance, the team took the 5-6 place out of eight possible ones and did not even make it out of the group. It would be underestimating to say that it made fans disappointed as they root for the team that used to hold the first place in the world rating. If Evil Geniuses are well-prepared for the championship, they will make it to the playoff and maybe even the grand final. The team got to Group A where they will be also fighting with AVANGAR, NiP and Team Liquid. Here any team can be competitive. Even Ninjas in Pyjamas has a chance to surprise and we do not dismiss it. It is quite curious to take a look at what EG can achieve at this championship and we are looking forward to it.
Evil Geniuses roster and rating of the players:
Vincent ‘Brehze’ Cayonte — 1.18
Cvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov — 1.16
Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold — 1.13
Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik — 1.03
Peter ‘stanislaw’ Jarguz — 1.02
Chet ‘ImAPet’ Singh — coach
Team Liquid (place in the HLTV rating — #4)
Win odds: 6.50
Team Liquid’s situation looks like the one we have already told about Evil Geniuses. It is not a weak team, but both Liquid and Evil Geniuses are from the USA and the performance at the last tournament (BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2019) could have been much better. That is why we can trust the experts’ opinion about the win odds 6.50 only because of the authority of the Americans in the past. We think that Liquid has a good chance of passing to the playoff but in Group A, any roster can throw a spanner in their works if the opponents are well-prepared. Team Liquid is not so invincible as they were in the summer. If the Americans do not make it out of the group at the championship, this result could be called a failure. Nevertheless, is it happens, we will not be very surprised.
Team Liquid roster and rating of the players:
Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella — 1.03
Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski — 1.22
Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken — 1.10
Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic — 1.14
Jacky ‘Stewie2K’ Yip — 1.07
Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag — coach
Fnatic (place in the HLTV rating — #3)
Win odds: 8.50
In October, Fnatic had a very successful period when they performed at LAN finals well. At first, the team won DreamHack Masters Malmo 2019, and after that, the players got second place at StarSeries i-League Season 8. In total, the team managed to earn $180,000 at this two championships, which is a pretty good sign. They were able to achieve it only after Golden and Flusha joined the team. This duet strengthened the Swedish roster for sure and as we can judge, they are not going to stop at what they achieved. By the way, Golden, will want to show his best to be transferred from the status of a loaned player to the roster. We should not forget about the fact that in online leagues, Fnatic was not able to make a surprise for us, so we cannot say that the Swedish could be called a favorite of their group. In Group B, Astralis is the team with this status. If we compare a chance of Fnatic, MIBR, and NiP of making it to the playoff, we will lean towards Fnatic, as they play at LANs well, but still it would be logical to choose MIBR as well due to the fact that they are located in the USA and it will be easier for them to adapt to the climate condition and it will also be more pleasant to play at the native mainland.
Fnatic roster and rating of the players:
Freddy ‘KRiMZ’ Johansson — 1.12
Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell — 1.11
Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin — 1.16
Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist — 1.08
Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim — 0.93
Andreas ‘Sumelsson’ Samuelsson — coach
Ninjas in Pyjamas (place in the HLTV rating — #9)
Win odds: 11.0
NiP is another representative of the Swedish CS:GO that has a chance to surprise the audience. The chance is very little but we should not ignore it. Ninjas in Pyjamas may be called an outsider of the group. Besides, the incredible Astralis got to Group A as well as Liquid and Evil Geniuses from the USA. We have already told you why these two teams will be fighting for getting to the playoff and Astralis do not need to be introduced. We do not ignore a chance of NiP passing the group due to the reason that they performed well at the last LAN tournament and the team took second place at BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2019 having a good fight with FaZe Clan at the final. In general, we keep to the opinion that NiP is not likely to make it out of the group and will take the 7-8 place, but if they get to Top 4, it will be interesting.
Ninjas in Pyjamas roster and rating of the players:
Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg — 1.07
Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner — 1.02
Jonas ‘Lekr0’ Olofsson — 1.04
Nicolas ‘Plopski’ Gonzalez Zamora — 1.12
Simon ‘twist’ Eliasson — 1.07
Faruk ‘pita’ Pita — coach
MIBR (place in the HLTV rating — #14)
Win odds: 11.0
Recently MIBR has been performing better and better. At first, they took 7-8 place at StarSeries i-League Season 8 with a prize pool of half a million dollars leaving some famous teams behind in the tournament bracket. After that, they got successfully qualified for ECS Season 8 Finals, and then they took part in CS:GO Asia Championships 2019, where they took the 3-4 position. We think that MIBR is to have a good fight for passing to the playoff with Fnatic. In the best case, they will take the 3-4 place and in the worst — 5-6.
MIBR roster and rating of the players:
Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo — 1.06
Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga — 1.10
Epitácio ‘TACO’ de Melo — 0.99
Lucas ‘LUCAS1’ Teles — 1.07
Vito ‘kNgV-’ Giuseppe — 1.09
Wilton ‘zews’ Prado — coach
AVANGAR (place in the HLTV rating — #11)
Win odds: 34.0
September was very successful for AVANGAR. At first, the Kazakh took second place at StarLadder Berlin Major 2019, after that, they won BLAST Pro Series Moscow 2019. Some time later, AVANGAR lost their shape and recently they have been having mixed results. At StarSeries i-League CS:GO Season 9, they took 9-12 place, but at ECS Season 8 Europe and WESG 2019 Central Asia, they managed to win and get qualified for the LAN finals of both of the events. At ECS Season 8 Finals, it will not be so easy for them as such teams as Liquid and Evil Geniuses also got to their group as well as Ninjas in Pyjamas that can make a huge surprise. We would like to see how Jame and his teammates will be playing at the playoff. If it happens, AVANGAR is likely to take second place in their group, if not, so the third one. If the Kazakh pull themselves together, they will make it to the playoff. There are no invincible teams.
AVANGAR roster and rating of the players:
Timur ‘buster’ Tulepov — 1.13
ALexey ‘qikert’ Golubev — 1.10
Dzhami ‘Jame’ Ali — 1.24
Sanjar ‘SANJI’ Kuliev — 0.98
Dauren ‘AdreN’ Kystaubayev — 0.96
Dastan ‘dastan’ Akbayev — coach
Outsiders
Sharks Esports (place in the HLTV rating — #38)
Win odds: 201.0
The main outsider of the competition is Sharks Esports. Even if the team makes it out of Group B miraculously where they are to meet with such opponents as Astralis, MIBR, and Fnatic, the players will not be able to make it to the grand final. The outright odds for the teams are 201 for a reason. The Brazilians surprised everybody and managed to make it to the LAN final of ECS, which can be praised, but everybody knows that Sharks is going to the championship to get some experience. They have never been able to show great results at tournaments and to make it to the top of the tournament bracket of main championships and it is unlikely to happen. Sharks is the only team that is not present in Top 30, unlike all the other participants. The Brazilian roster holds the 38 place in the list of the best CS:GO teams according to HLTV. Should we say that there are enough reasons not to believe in Sharks’ win?
Sharks Esports roster and rating of the players:
Raphael ‘exit’ Lacerda — 1.11
Leonardo ‘leo_drunky’ Oliveira — 1.06
Jhonatan ‘jnt’ Silva — 1.07
Ignacio ‘meyern’ Meyer — 1.27
Luca ‘Luken’ Nadotti — 1.13
Hélder ‘coachi’ Sancho — coach