Day one was a day full of surprises, almost every team surprised us with either a very strong high level of play or an extremely low level of play. Hopefully, these teams are ready to play now, as we now turn our sights to day two of the Major Group stage. As we get deeper, wins become ever more important, so everyone is going to start closing in on their peaks. Let’s take a look at today’s matchups and hope for even better matches than yesterday.

1 – 0 Pool Matches

BIG vs Tyloo

Tyloo surprised us on day one beating MIBR on Inferno. A map that Tyloo struggled on during the challenger stage due to there CT side lacking. Yet, it seems like Tyloo has managed to band-aid it, managing a 12 – 3 CT half. However this match they struggled on T side, Only managing 3 rounds. They just edged out MIBR 16 – 13.

Now they face BIG in the 1-0 pool, BIG is another team who surprised today. They matched up against Faze on Dust 2. Now I figured Dust 2 would be a solid lock for Faze, a team who can unleash their star players. Although, that was not the case. BIG quickly took control of that game like they did in the challenger stage vs Optic. Faze never got into the match as BIG stunned them with a quick 16 – 5 victory.

We have two teams here who have stunned their opposition on the first day. Both of these teams are going to be riding that high. Looking at how these teams match up I have to say BIG looks stronger. BIG is a structured team who I could see lockdown and contain a team like Tyloo. There play styles match up well and I think this is going to be a great day two match.

Pick – BIG

Astralis vs Vega Squadron

Astralis got a hard start to the tournament they drew Navi right out the gate. I predicted Navi to win yesterday’s matchup. Yet Astralis just barely edged them out in an amazing match that ended 16 – 14. Astralis just can’t catch a break here, they now have drawn a team famous for upsets. Who breezed right past Cloud 9 yesterday but that’s not saying much. With that said this should still be a win for Astralis. If you can contain Vega, you can shut them down. Vega needs momentum out the gate to have a shot. Although Astralis is a favorite to win this major overall, a much higher caliber team, they should be able to handle a team like Vega.

Pick – Astralis

Complexity vs G2

The French side caught a break yesterday, they showed up and played much better than most expected. Hellraisers gave them everything they had in the tank, ISSAA went toe to toe with Shox and kept his team in the match. Unfortunately, it was not enough as Hellraisers fell in a double overtime match 22 – 20 on Dust 2.

Moving on Complexity, surprised as Fnatic allowed them to play on their best map, Inferno. A costly mistake by Fnatic to say the least. Regardless, I’m not surprised by the idiotic approach to the veto, especially with Xizt at the helm. He’s got a bad track record for that historically.

Moving on from yesterday we turn our eyes to this upcoming game. This will be a proving ground for Complexity, G2 will almost certainly take away Inferno. Thus we will finally see what Complexity can do on literally any other map. Although with what we know G2 is the favorite, they have a decent map pool. Along with the fact that Shox and KennyS have showed up and alone should be enough to topple the dreams of Complexity in this matchup.

Pick – G2

NIP vs Liquid

Another team who surprised us was NIP as they managed to fight off a top 5 team in the world, in the likes of Mousesports. This one was probably one of the bigger upsets of yesterday. It was hard to see the angle for NIP to beat Mousesports. Although NIP repeating what they did yesterday is unlikely, as the mountain is much higher. They play Liquid, a team who spent yesterday warming up there aim vs Winstrike in an extremely one-sided affair. Liquid will get there first real challenge. Regardless for a team like Liquid, NIP is just a speed bump on there way to more than likely the final of the major.

Pick – Liquid

0 – 1 Matches



Fnatic vs Winstrike

Fnatic was absolutely stunned yesterday by Complexity, Fnatic made a key error in playing Inferno. When I made my prediction yesterday I never thought Fnatic would allow Complexity to have their best map of Inferno. Fnatic has now let everyone know that Complexity is truly a top team on Inferno. Due to that, I doubt Complexity will get it again in the group stage at least. Now let’s turn and look at this matchup. Fnatic has been blessed with Winstrike. A team who showed fundamental errors in how they play Counter-Strike when they faced Liquid yesterday. Fnatic is going to absolutely expose them. Fnatic has a deeper map pool, more individual talent and a much better understanding of the Counter-Strike meta. This won’t even be close, I was genuinely so unimpressed with the performance Winstrike gave us, they don’t even look to have upset potential.

Pick – Fnatic

Cloud 9 vs Hellraisers

I figured Cloud 9 would struggle as I said yesterday, and wow, they blew me away with how terrible they are. It was sad to see just how far the previous major champions have fallen, honestly, Cloud 9 does not deserve to win any matches. There is nothing good I can say about Cloud 9’s recent performance. The less I see of these guys the better. Now for the good half of this matchup, Hellraisers, and ISSAA, honestly I’m buying into the hype around this guy, watching him anchor B on Dust 2 vs G2 yesterday was beautiful. Hellraisers is going to do what Liquid did to Winstrike yesterday. This was the best draw Hellraisers could hope for. No matter what map Cloud 9 gets on, there is almost no hope, their map pool is nonexistent. It’s also very unlikely they have some insane resurgence. This team most definitely needs a massive overhaul after the major but that’s an article for another day.

Pick – Hellraisers

Natus Vincere vs Faze

Faze came into there match vs BIG, favorites to win it. However, in the end, they left the server dazed and confused. They played BIG on Dust 2, a map that in theory could be great for them. It’s a map that fits there loose style of play and should let them truly unlock their star players. Yet instead they didn’t show up, they got themselves back into the game early but after that looked lost, their star players were completely abstaining from the game. Smooya had a massive game-winning multiple clutches to keep Faze out of the match. It was rough and tough to swallow and they will be looking to rebound today. Although it will not be a simple task as they meet up with Navi. A team that looked strong in their close defeat to Astralis, the stars showed up to the game. It was a match that had everything you could want, it was back and forth, it was tight and it had some insane individual moments. If Navi can play like that, not including Simple and Edward arguing, Navi have got this in the bag.

Pick – Natus Vincere

Mousesports vs MIBR

Mousesports and MIBR both lost matches to teams that, most believe they should have beaten. Mousesports faced NIP on Mirage, a map they have not been super strong on in recent times. They lost a couple bad 4v2s and 2v1s on the B bombsite on CT. You can’t lose rounds like that and expect to have a chance real to win. Mousesports played a sloppy brand of Counter-Strike something you don’t see often from them. Now on to MIBR, that match vs Tyloo was tough for them to swallow. It was looking strong at first, it was looking like they were back. Fallen was back to awping like in his classic style, they played as a team and they managed 11 rounds to start the match on CT side. Oh and how it all came crumbling down after MIBR got to T side.

Tyloo turned up and locked MIBR out, xccurate was anchoring A site like a god, he managed 8 rounds were he got more than 2 kills. Tyloo is such a fun team to watch, their style is unlike no other. As we move on from yesterday, in today’s match both of these teams will look the bounce back, they can’t afford to lose. It’s going to be a close one that’s for sure. I’m going to have to make a bold prediction and say MIBR is not going to take this. Mousesports did play sloppy yesterday, but I’d have to say that’s not a going to become a regular thing. Mousesports will bounce back here with there deeper map pool and take this match as long as they stay off Mirage, they are 5 wins to 7 loses on that map recently. They at all costs need to stay away from Mirage.

Pick – Mousesports

Credits:

Written By – @Hunter_cs_

Edited by – @ou1law