The Zotac Cup Masters is upon us with a $300,000 USD purse and an eight-team single elimination bracket that we almost never see at LAN events. This Counter Strike: Global Offensive event features two rising and two falling teams alongside some cannon fodder.

The Stakes

The stakes for the Zotac Cup aren’t as high as most top-tier tournaments with exception to a few teams. MIBR has to prove that they are a tier 1 team and this will be the first event that features Tarik “tarik” Celik post-bootcamp. It should be the first time to really see this lineup with practice before the major. Anything less than a win for MIBR would be a complete and utter failure and it could send fans and players into panic mode. Especially with reports suggesting Marcelo “coldzera” David could be on his way out of MIBR after the London Major.

Tyloo has been performing awful as of late. Overall positioning was cocky and uncoordinated at times and their T sides are not as convincing as they used to be. Unlike most teams, you can’t pin it on one or two players, but with Tyloo you can pin it on almost everyone but Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand who has been performing at varying levels of exceptional in the past few months. Tyloo recently has come to rely solely on BnTeT for everything and when he does not perform, Tyloo will lose against teams that are on a similar level. Tyloo as a team needs to be better. If they do not show up here, then Dreamhack Masters Stockholm and the Faceit Major will be a bloodbath.

Predictions

Image from Liquipedia.net

Flash Gaming vs. MIBR

At the top of the bracket, we see Flash Gaming vs. MIBR. While MIBR have been performing poor against tier 1 teams, they have been solid against tier 2 teams for the most part. Flash Gaming has just been mediocre at best and have not even cemented themselves as the second-best team in Asia. This should be a stomp. If anything, Flash Gaming can take a map off MIBR but that is highly unlikely.

MIBR 2-0

Tyloo vs. Kinguin

Kinguin has not even qualified for any other event other than the Zotac Cup. Admittedly this team should be Gambit but they were upset by Windigo and Imperial. I cannot even fathom a world where Kinguin win. A lot of these players are well past their prime and are just… bad. This team lacks any potential to upset a team let alone a team like Tyloo.

Tyloo 2-0

MVP.PK vs. Virtus Pro

This will be one of the closer quarterfinals not due to MVP.PK being good, but because Virtus Pro has been this bad. Michał “snatchie” Rudzki has his first event with Virtus Pro and this will go one of two ways: either a complete disaster or a moderate success. The safe pick is obviously Virtus Pro but there is a route where MVP.PK can win. Ideally the break for players can pay dividends for Virtus Pro but I am skeptical. Besides, MVP.PK has been improving slowly for a long time and can easily upset a team like VP. Don’t sleep on MVP. But Virtus Pro still should win.

Virtus Pro 2-1

Ghost Gaming vs. OpTic Gaming

As much as I want to continuously praise Joshua “steel” Nissan, player for player OpTic is better. Not to mention Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer has had a solid role within OpTic and I cannot imagine a world where it does not come down to the better team. Both Ghost and OpTic run tactical styles and OpTic simply has better players that can outfrag anyone from Ghost. It shouldn’t be a contest but Ghost Gaming can sneak out a map if something isn’t feeling right for the Danes. Expecting or predicting Ghost Gaming to win two maps is bananas. Granted, Ghost can produce respectable numbers, but a win seems a bit out of reach.

OpTic Gaming a close 2-0

Pancake’s picks:

5th to 8th:

Flash Gaming

Kinguin

MVP.PK

Ghost Gaming

3rd to 4th:

Tyloo

Virtus Pro

2nd:

OpTic Gaming

1st:

MIBR

This is MIBR’s event to lose. They have had practice and all their players have been at a tier 1 level for a fairly long time. I cannot say that about any of the other teams at this event with exception of Virtus Pro who seem destined to drop out of the Semi-Finals. Zotac Cup Masters is one of the more predicable events I have seen in a long time. Although it is a single elimination bracket, and anything can happen.