‘Chiu on This’ is a short and regular opinion blast

ESL One Birmingham 2018 is one of the last two majors of the year before The International 8 starts. So there are multiple teams here that are desperate to get into and avoid the qualifiers. Among those the two most interesting are OpTic and Fnatic. Both of them need to have huge victories here. OpTic needs to straight out win and Fnatic need to at least get second.

What is interesting is what else is on the line. Beyond the TI invite spot, there is the fact that both teams are in fairly competitive regions where both could get upset (whereas OG is almost ensured to get through EU). So it is far better for both to get through now. At the same time, both teams could potentially be looking to make a roster swap if they don’t make it. We already know that Fnatic has tried experimenting by pulling pieliedie out of the roster. As for OpTic, I think the obvious weak link is CC&C. So not only is this a tournament with huge implications for both, but also for their rosters.

Related Articles: