 |
||
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
||
 |
Pew Pew Pew!! Hello, there Counter Strike fans!! I have some awesome Thanksgiving news for all of you. CS:GO is coming back to its home country for the next FaceIT tournament. What I am talking about is the ECS Season 8 Finals that is going to be played in Arlington, Texas! The tournament will start on the 28th of November and will end on the 1st of December.
Just like I said, it is a great Thanksgiving event! The venue for the tournament will be none other than the Esports Stadium in downtown Arlington. This is a brand new facility and was actually built to become a home for major eSports tournaments. The ECS Finals will also feature half of a million dollars in prizes.
Today we shall check the teams that are participating, choose two best squads from each group who will advance to the playoffs and give our betting predictions for the first matches of ECS Season 8 Finals!
Teams
A total of 8 professional teams will be competing in the 2019 ECS Finals. Each of these teams earned their spots during the qualifiers held within the year. On the EU side, there will be Avangar, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Astralis, and Fnatic. Representing America’s side, the teams that qualified are Sharks Esports, Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid and MiBR.
ECS Season 8 Finals Betting Predictions
These teams will be evenly split into two separate groups. Teams from each group would then be pitted against each other in a double-elimination format. Only 2 teams from each group would advance to the playoffs, while the other two will be eliminated either on the Elimination or the Decider matches of each group.
So without further ado, let me introduce the teams and make my predictions on which teams will most likely advance to the playoffs and even some speculation on the opening matches of the tournament.
Group A
If you look at the rosters or the team lineups, you might say that this group is pretty stacked, or should be called as a Group of Death. In some cases, I would most likely agree with you. However, this is not the case though. If this was a few months ago, I would be the first one to say that this is a stacked lineup. But nowadays, I do not believe that is the case.
The only squad here that I think will blitz their way up to a spot in the playoffs is the ex NRG lineup, which is the new and current Evil Geniuses. They have recently shown everyone why they are a team to be reckoned with, by winning ESL One New York and even the Star Series Season 8 a month ago. As of right now, EG is on a bit of a winning streak and I think that they will keep going for a bit with this streak.
The next squad that will most likely join EG on the playoffs from Group A would be Ninjas in Pyjamas. NiP has somewhat been doing good recently. If their performance during the Blast Pro Copenhagen is an indication, then they are somewhat getting back to the form of the old NiP of the past that we all know about. It has been a slow and tedious process though as they just lost Get Right from the lineup and are still starting to adjust to a newer roster. This Major here in Texas will be a great test for NiP to see if they are ready to hang with the big boys.
Group B
I only need one look at this group and I already know the two teams from here that would advance to the playoffs. The first one to advance to the playoffs would be most likely Fnatic. The Swedish roster has been doing really well during some of the tournaments during the last few months, with them actually winning Dreamhack Malmo and even went on a heated battle against EG during the finals of the Star Series in Turkey just a month ago, however it was the EG who proved to be better than them during that scuffle. I think this will be a tournament where we will most likely see Fnatic and EG at each other’s throats again come playoff time.
The next squad that will most likely make it on the playoffs from Group B would be none other than Astralis. Sure, they are not the Astralis that we know of a year ago, but they can still pull up insane performances or clutch performances when needed. I mean I am not downplaying the skills of the players in MiBR or Shark Esports, but we all know that they would get demolished by either Astralis or Fnatic. MiBR has not been doing very well since the opening of this year and Shark Esports does not really have that much experience in big tournaments like these. I think that would make the difference between teams that are consistently playing in bigger tournaments.
ECS Finals 2019 Opening Match Predictions Group A
Evil Geniuses will be playing against Avangar on the tournament opening match. It would then be followed by Liquid against NiP. I think EG will take the match from the get-go and get their playoff run started as early as possible.
The NiP – Liquid matchup would be somewhat a much more exciting thing to watch. However, with the recent performances of Liquid, I would give the win to NiP for now. I think Liquid is on a rut somehow and NiP just has better performances during the last month for me to give them the win.
ECS Season 8 Finals Opening Match Predictions Group B
The Astralis – Sharks match would be most likely Astralis running over the South Americans. Not to throw shade against Sharks, but they just do not have the experience that Astralis has in playing these big LAN tournaments. Maybe in a few tournaments, Sharks would be able to catch up if they keep up showing in big LAN events, but as of right now, I do not see them overcoming Astralis.
Out of everyone from Group B, Fnatic has had most of the Grand Finals appearances during the past few months. I think that will make Fnatic hungry for a win due to them coming so close against EG in Turkey and losing to them. MiBR has been doing pretty bad during the past year and I do not think they have what it takes to beat Fnatic in their current form right now.
I hope to see the fantastic action during this tournament! If you have your own betting predictions for the ECS Season 8 CS:GO Finals, then share them in the comments below!
Good luck!
