POKER1ONE - The stage is placed to the playoffs of StarSeries i-League Season 4, so we analyzed the four quarter-finals matchup to discover what it is that we can get to discover tomorrow.
After 79 maps were played inside the Kiev Cybersport Arena, the eight playoff teams were found and also the bracket was decided. The luck from the draw paired SK and Liquid, who recently met at cs_summit, FaZe and Renegades, in which the latter are massive underdogs, G2 and mousesports, who already played inside the group stage, and lastly Astralis and Natus Vincere, both teams attempting to find a deep run and hoping to climb the rankings.
After 79 maps were played inside the Kiev Cybersport Arena, the eight playoff teams were found and also the bracket was decided. The luck from the draw paired SK and Liquid, who recently met at cs_summit, FaZe and Renegades, in which the latter are massive underdogs, G2 and mousesports, who already played inside the group stage, and lastly Astralis and Natus Vincere, both teams attempting to find a deep run and hoping to climb the rankings.
| Friday, 15:00 | ||||
| SK | Rating | Liquid | Rating | |
 coldzera | 1.38 |  NAF | 1.26 | |
| FalleN | 1.24 |  EliGE | 1.14 | |
| fer | 1.24 | vs. | nitr0 | 1.08 |
| TACO | 0.98 | Twistzz | 1.08 | |
| boltz | 0.97 | steel | 0.93 | |
| dead (coach) | zews(coach) zews (coach) | |||
SK and Liquid kick from the day in the Cybersport Arena in Kiev, playing out a rematch from the cs_summit 2 consolidation final. There, Liquid was victorious, inspired by their new signing NAF, and went on to succeed the entire tournament ultimately.
At this event, SK is looking far better compared to California, though, beating MVP PK, Cloud9 and Natus Vincere. Their weakness, a shaky Inferno, was exploited by mousesports who defeated them inside a tightly-contested three map series, however the Brazilians happen to be looking better regarding that map like the tournament moved on.
Liquid took down somewhat easier opposition than SK to arrive at the quarter-finals, beating Virtus. pro, Renegades and mousesports for any place inside the playoffs. The North Americans did not look that convincing, as all their series visited three maps, but distinct is the continuation of NAF's great form. The Canadian is shaping up as being main star of the team, however it appears to be coming at Twistzz's expense, like the youngster hasn't been putting up big numbers at this event.
It is going to be interesting to discover how the teams will match up considering the various approaches towards the AWP role - FalleN is playing great using the thus far, while Liquid has decided to pay attention to a five-rifle setup, only having the AWP when needed. That is likewise reflected inside the stats, as nitr0's 0. 20 AWP KPR is that the lowest from all
The map pool for that series surely won't feature Nuke, as both teams do not act, but due to it won't be priority ban to begin with rotation, allowing both teams to remove their second weakest map during this matchup. During this case, Liquid will almost certainly ban Cache which is their second ban through the entire tournament, while SK's ban is not that clear, it may be Inferno or perhaps Train, which they‘ve been avoiding in recent times, and Liquid look comfortable on.
It is likely that many of us will see a Cobblestone and Mirage inside the mix, maps both teams are strong on, which should create a back-and-forth match. However, SK is looking more impressive than Liquid at this tournament thus far, which ought to be reflected in the last outcome also.
The map pool for that series surely won't feature Nuke, as both teams do not act, but due to it won't be priority ban to begin with rotation, allowing both teams to remove their second weakest map during this matchup. During this case, Liquid will almost certainly ban Cache which is their second ban through the entire tournament, while SK's ban is not that clear, it may be Inferno or perhaps Train, which they‘ve been avoiding in recent times, and Liquid look comfortable on.
It is likely that many of us will see a Cobblestone and Mirage inside the mix, maps both teams are strong on, which should create a back-and-forth match. However, SK is looking more impressive than Liquid at this tournament thus far, which ought to be reflected in the last outcome also.
| Friday, 18:00 | ||||
| FaZe | Rating | Renegades | Rating | |
 NiKo | 1.34 |  jks | 1.16 | |
 olofmeister | 1.33 | USTILO | 1.08 | |
 karrigan | 1.27 | vs. |  jkaem | 1.07 |
| rain | 1.20 | AZR | 0.98 | |
 GuardiaN | 1.15 | Nifty | 0.93 | |
| RobbaN (coach) |  kassad (coach) | |||
The next match from the day will see the bottom ranked team still in competition, Renegades, take on the very best ranked one, FaZe. It is impossible not to see this game like a massive uphill battle to the Australians, that have already exceeded expectations by producing the playoffs shortly after adding jkaem towards the squad.
Renegades started off their run having a tough loss to G2, who ran over them on Cobblestone and Mirage, and went 0-2 by losing to Liquid in three maps. Being 0-11 on Mirage inside the elimination game against fnatic, it seemed all hopes were lost for AZR and co. However, by having an inspired jkaem, Renegades were able to pull back on the very first map and win the series 2-0. After eliminating the Swedes, Renegades beat TyLoo, who they know pretty well from Asia Minors, and HellRaisers, in order to make the playoff.
Albeit jkaem shined bright inside the fnatic game, the 2 best players from the squad during the five series happen to be jks and USTILO, that have stepped as much as fill the fragging void left by NAF's departure to Liquid.
On another side, FaZe happen to be very strong thus far, no signs of rust happen to be visible after a brief break they took following the Major. They secured a dominant win over TyLoo to start out it off, did not look any less convincing against Cloud9, created playoffs if you take down Natus Vincere — who were the only real team to bring a map off the strategies.
That Inferno against Natus Vincere would be a map on which GuardiaN went completely missing, which resulted in his rating being the bottom of the entire team, but very high nonetheless - 1. 15. What defines FaZe even scarier is their in-game leader karrigan is fragging quite well, recording his best map since joining the team. As things stand, Renegades seem like they would like a miracle to obtain the win tomorrow.
Even when jkaem puts on the show against his former team and Nifty starts having better performances than he did thus far, the Australians will still struggle to bring through European mixture like the map pools really do not work with their favor.
Renegades might go having a gamble inside the veto and check out to obtain a win upon the murky waters from the new Nuke, which is not a nasty strategy for the underdog generally. However, their showing against HellRaisers wasn't that impressive, and RobbaN and karrigan can watch the demo to ready for how they are acting different from you. In the event that they go another way and pick towards their strengths, not FaZe's weaknesses, Renegades get into pretty scary territory, as FaZe are dominant on both Mirage and Cache. Even if they should drop the very first map, which is not likely, FaZe should have the ability to eliminate the victory on the map pick and whatever ends up being left like the decider.
| Friday, 21:00 | ||||
| G2 | Rating | mousesports | Rating | |
 apEX | 1.35 |  suNny | 1.19 | |
| kennyS | 1.17 |  oskar | 1.15 | |
| shox | 1.05 | vs. |  ropz | 1.12 |
| NBK- | 1.05 |  chrisJ | 1.06 | |
| bodyy | 0.95 | STYKO | 0.98 | |
| SmithZz (coach) |  lmbt (coach) | |||
We have arrived at expect a robust showing from G2 inside the group stages and it was eventually no different this point, like the Frenchmen passed the Swiss stage having a 3-0 record, although their run became increasingly difficult round to round. Their first series with Renegades went smoothly before Astralis took shox's team to three maps. Which was a when theirs and mousesports' journey collided, using the European mixture inside the driving seat indulging in 16-2 win on Mirage and also a 14-8 lead on Inferno. However, G2 came back coming from the deficit and clinched map two in overtime before closing the series on Cobblestone.
Having defeated Virtus. pro and much more importantly — for the very first time ever — SK beforehand, mousesports's probabilities of making playoffs were still looking good. cs_summit 2 champions Liquid were too a challenge to handle for chrisJ & co., who fell just short inside the three map series, however they managed to bring down Cloud9 during the past round following another close encounter.
Normally, G2's clean group stage runs derive from big performances from the majority of their players. While four from the five players hit a higher peak at one point or another, it was eventually with no doubt apEX's consistency that powered his team towards the playoffs in Kiev. Over the group stage, the 25-year-old recorded the second-highest rating (1. 35 ), fourth-most 0. 84 kills per round, and the foremost assists per round (0. 24 ), leading to a fantastic 98. 7 ADR, the very best at StarSeries by quite some margin.
In mousesports' case it was eventually even more of a team effort. Everyone pulled their very own weight a lot of the time, with suNny and ropz as the foremost consistent. All five players had their big moments and maps, for example chrisJ's amazing play during the final 10 rounds on Train against Cloud9 that carried the European squad to quarter-finals.
Their earlier series inside the group stage could play a factor inside the upcoming veto, but it is most likely the three maps will simply stay a similar. The very first bans won‘t change ; mouz simply do not play Cache, a very good map for G2, and also the same goes for Train another way around. Not just have mousesports already beaten the Frenchmen on Mirage 16-2, it is simply a comfortable map to the confident people, and G2 have two choices between Inferno and Cobblestone. No matter which map shox's team picks, it is doubtful Overpass will have action during this series like a map neither team particularly likes and leaving the new Nuke in will be a big risk, even when the 2 teams designed to be two of the very best teams in the planet upon the older version.
Whether Inferno will certainly be left like the third map or picked by G2, that is in which the series will presumably be decided again, as long as mousesports are heavily favored on Mirage while Cobblestone has always been G2's strength.
| Friday, 00:00 | ||||
| Natus Vincere | Rating | Astralis | Rating | |
| s1mple | 1.28 | dupreeh | 1.28 | |
 flamie | 1.03 | device | 1.20 | |
| electronic | 1.01 | vs. | gla1ve | 1.14 |
| Edward | 0.99 | Magisk | 1.06 | |
| Zeus | 0.92 | Xyp9x | 1.03 | |
| Kane (coach) | zonic (coach) | |||
Astralis' route to quarter-finals with their debut showing with Magisk went more or less smoothly aside from their loss to G2 inside the second round. Apart from that, they picked up three relatively confident wins over Liquid, Gambit, and Heroic, only losing one map across those three series (Inferno towards the Americans ).
However, Natus Vincere went through all five rounds and just barely caused it to be to playoffs, having defeated HellRaisers and Gambit initially before suffering losses towards the world's two best teams, FaZe and SK. In the last round from the Swiss format, they met Heroic who gave Zeus's team a run for their money on the very first two maps, before Na`Vi put their foot recorded on Overpass, the deciding map.
The most important takeaway from Astralis's run thus far is device's go back to form, after he struggled in the Major indulging in lengthy break, although dupreeh outshone the superstar in nearly every regard because of amazing consistency over the four series, particularly the 2 three-mappers. There‘s definitely room for improvement to the newcomer Magisk, however, as he was up-and-down through the entire group stage.
On Na`Vi's side it might impossible to not highlight s1mple as by far the team's best player, who put up exceptional performances across groups with particularly high peaks in many of the close wins, against Gambit on Mirage in round two and Heroic on Train in round five.
It is been nearly 2 yrs since Natus Vincere beat Astralis the final time and it also hasn't even been close for more than a year, with three 2-0s going the Danes' way since IEM Katowice 2017. While nearly a split year has transpired since their last encounter and plenty has changed — one player on each side at least —, the psychological advantage will have Astralis' hands.
On top of them, Astralis will in addition have a significant veto advantage because of their strong Nuke showing against Heroic earlier inside the tournament. The very first bans are certain ; Na`Vi do not play Cache and Astralis always veto Cobblestone. As to the picks, Inferno will be a solid bet for Na`Vi, while Astralis will presumably place their rely upon one among their favorites, Overpass.
Regardless of the order, Natus Vincere should remove Nuke inside the second round of bans because of the reasons mentioned above, leaving Astralis with an option between Mirage and Train. Driven by Danes' previous vetoes at StarSeries, it‘s like they put more work straight into the latter with Magisk, although their dominant win against Liquid on Mirage and Na`Vi's poor Terrorist side against Heroic could sway Astralis in which direction.
However, Natus Vincere went through all five rounds and just barely caused it to be to playoffs, having defeated HellRaisers and Gambit initially before suffering losses towards the world's two best teams, FaZe and SK. In the last round from the Swiss format, they met Heroic who gave Zeus's team a run for their money on the very first two maps, before Na`Vi put their foot recorded on Overpass, the deciding map.
The most important takeaway from Astralis's run thus far is device's go back to form, after he struggled in the Major indulging in lengthy break, although dupreeh outshone the superstar in nearly every regard because of amazing consistency over the four series, particularly the 2 three-mappers. There‘s definitely room for improvement to the newcomer Magisk, however, as he was up-and-down through the entire group stage.
On Na`Vi's side it might impossible to not highlight s1mple as by far the team's best player, who put up exceptional performances across groups with particularly high peaks in many of the close wins, against Gambit on Mirage in round two and Heroic on Train in round five.
It is been nearly 2 yrs since Natus Vincere beat Astralis the final time and it also hasn't even been close for more than a year, with three 2-0s going the Danes' way since IEM Katowice 2017. While nearly a split year has transpired since their last encounter and plenty has changed — one player on each side at least —, the psychological advantage will have Astralis' hands.
On top of them, Astralis will in addition have a significant veto advantage because of their strong Nuke showing against Heroic earlier inside the tournament. The very first bans are certain ; Na`Vi do not play Cache and Astralis always veto Cobblestone. As to the picks, Inferno will be a solid bet for Na`Vi, while Astralis will presumably place their rely upon one among their favorites, Overpass.
Regardless of the order, Natus Vincere should remove Nuke inside the second round of bans because of the reasons mentioned above, leaving Astralis with an option between Mirage and Train. Driven by Danes' previous vetoes at StarSeries, it‘s like they put more work straight into the latter with Magisk, although their dominant win against Liquid on Mirage and Na`Vi's poor Terrorist side against Heroic could sway Astralis in which direction.
No comments:
Post a Comment