Some of the top CSGO teams in the world have arrived in London to fight for their very own portion of a $660,000 prize pool during the ECS Season 5 Finals.
Some of the best players across Europe and North America will be playing over this weekend. There are only eight teams at the event, but there have been months of qualifying games leading up to this moment.
Here’s a look at the schedule for this weekend and how we think things may roll out.
For the ECS Season 5 Finals, we have a total of eight attending teams. The event will start with a group stage today, and after that, we’ll be taken to the semifinals and grand finals.
Here is a look at the participating teams and the groups they have fallen into.
Group A
Group B
Where/when to watch Group Stage: Faceit YouTube channel, June 8th – 9th, 2018.
It’s safe to say that both groups will keep us on our toes. The first game for each team will be best of one, but the elimination and decider matches will be best of three.
We are expecting big things from Astralis of course. Cloud9, Fnatic, and Team Liquid will have to fight hard for that final spot. Our eyes are on Fnatic – we are hoping for good things for them, although the safe bet would probably be Team Liquid.
For Group B, we have a mixed bag. All teams have had moments of excellence and moments of shakiness recently. FaZe is missing Olof still, NRG and Luminosity are still finding their footing, and G2 has picked up Shox, so they might not be quite ready to compete yet, despite this past roster playing well together.
Where/when to watch Playoffs: Faceit YouTube channel, June 10th, 2018.
We’ve reached a transition phase for many teams in this event, so it’s hard to predict how everything will pan out. We do think, however, that Astralis is the most likely of all teams to hit the finals – they have been performing very well recently.
After that, we still think Fnatic has a good chance to hit the finals, especially now that Xizt is back on the team. But have they had enough time to practice?
Siding with FaZe is a dangerous game – they still have the star power, but stand-in Cromen has a lot to prove and we’re doubtful that they would have had much time as a team to work together, especially considering Olof backed out last minute.
G2 is doing well, but with Shox joining the team after letting his hand heal, they have a lot to prove. I think they’ll fall victim to one of the North American teams. The most likely to hit the final would be Team Liquid, closely followed by Cloud9.
If you’re planning to bet on the event, I’d say put all your chips on Astralis. There’s a lot of potential for the NA side, but there’s not enough evidence they definitely have what it takes to fight past G2, Fnatic, or even FaZe, despite their roster shifts.
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