EPICENTER is around the corner, with the wild card qualifier starting tomorrow. Ten teams have gathered to grab their share of the $500,000 prize purse on the line from October 23-29 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Here is our preview of the week-long event.

This year, EPICENTER has moved to Russia's second-largest city, Saint Petersburg, after its premiere in Moscow in October 2016, with some of the best teams in the world in attendance, including the current top five according to our ranking.

The $500,000 event will begin with the wild card qualifier on Monday, October 23, in which two series will determine the last two teams participating in the main tournament. TYLOO are about to take on the current number one team, FaZe, and Vega Squadron will lock horns with Liquid on home turf.

The main tournament will then proceed with the GSL group stage from October 24-26, with the top two teams advancing to the best-of-three semi-finals (after an off-day), before a champion is crowned in the best-of-five grand final.

Below you can find EGB.com's betting odds for the event as of October 22:

Without further ado, let us take an in-depth look at all the participants, their chances at EPICENTER, and the storylines connected to the Saint Petersburg showdown:

* Ratings used are from the past three months on LAN

Group A



Offline placings in the past three months 3rd-4th ESL One New York (4/5 of the lineup) ESL One New York (4/5 of the lineup) 9th-12th ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier (4/5 of the lineup) ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 3rd ESG Tour Mykonos (4/5 of the lineup) ESG Tour Mykonos 5th-8th DreamHack Masters Malmö (4/5 of the lineup) DreamHack Masters Malmö

A year has passed since the last EPICENTER event, and still SK find themselves in a similar position as this time last year, on the verge of changing their roster after a streak of unsatisfying results.

FalleN and his team have been unable to recover for months now, ever since their summer streak came to an end at PGL Major Krakow. Up until October, the Brazilians had at least made it to playoffs each time, but their early exit at ELEAGUE Premier, caused by Heroic in the deciding match of Group D, was likely the last straw - and it cost them the No.1 spot in the ranking.

The felps situation places SK in a tough spot for EPICENTER

After less than a year on the team, João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos now finds himself on his way out. During his first months, he had come under criticism as the team tried to redefine their playstyle as a whole to adapt to the new player.

Things aren't looking great for SK in St. Petersburg. boltz's passive style prevents SK from using him as a plug-and-play device, which will inevitably cause problems in-game, and that's something they can't afford up against FaZe and Gambit. Since they have had very little time to prepare for this tournament with the Immortals talent, you can expect a loose playstyle out of the Brazilians.



Offline placings in the past three months 2nd ROG MASTERS EMEA Finals ROG MASTERS EMEA Finals 5th-6th ESG Tour Mykonos ESG Tour Mykonos 3rd-4th DreamHack Masters Malmö DreamHack Masters Malmö

Gambit have been hovering just below the top five in our rankings for several weeks after a somewhat up and down period after the addition of fitch. In those short two months, AdreN's squad surprised with a semi-final finish at DreamHack Masters Malmö but then went out in groups at ESG Tour Mykonos, losing to SK and mousesports in the process.

Qualifying for ROG MASTERS Finals was largely expected of Gambit, who had to beat Singularity and Seed last week in Germany to make it happen. It doesn't speak much about their form or what we can expect from them up against better opposition at EPICENTER, however.

fitch has been a godsend for Gambit

From the few tournaments we've seen Gambit at so far, not much has changed when it comes to the Kazakh squad since their days with Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko - they remain a threat to the top teams but aren't exactly title contenders.

One thing that has changed is Gambit's form online, which was horrendous before the last Major, but now they've picked it up in ESEA MDL and managed to clinch a spot at WCA Finals after confident wins over Japaleno and BIG. They have also spent a week leading up to EPICENTER bootcamping in Germany, which will help them sand off a few rough edges and arrive in Saint Petersburg in form.

In Group A, where FaZe will almost certainly end up as the clear favorite, SK's difficult situation puts Gambit in a good position to make the semis, but we'd be kidding ourselves if we thought it will be a walk in the park. The Brazilians still have some of the best players in the world, with or without felps, and are historically a hard opponent for AdreN & co. That match-up should end up being the make or break for Gambit at EPICENTER.



Offline placings in the past three months 7th-8th ESL One New York ESL One New York 13th-16th ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 4th ESG Tour Mykonos ESG Tour Mykonos 13th-16th DreamHack Masters Malmö DreamHack Masters Malmö

Virtus.pro's drop has continued after the off-season despite their promising showing at the PGL Major Krakow, as they bombed out in three consecutive big events amidst an okay 4th place at ESG Tour Mykonos.

The team clearly feels the pressure, as we've recently seen in TaZ's post on Facebook. The messages we hear from the Polish camp every now and again are conflicting at best, which is understandable - being optimistic is hard when everything fails.

Will Virtus.pro ever find themselves again?

This week's hiccups against Nexus in the MDL and VenatoreS in WESG Poland (which was overturned after the organizers found a VAC-banned account tied to one of the players) aren't the best sign, but you can hardly expect a famously bad team online to suddenly start winning everything.

Overall, their online form has actually been looking good, at least compared to their atrocious standard - they hold a 7-4 record in ESEA MDL and 2-4 in ECS Season 4 after splitting maps with G2 and Envy, and a loss to Astralis.

How much does that mean in the grand scheme of things? We'll have to see at EPICENTER. After VP's offline debacles in the last two months, even close losses would be a welcome sight in Group A, which holds three tough teams, provided FaZe qualify.



Offline placings in the past three months

Offline placings in the past three months 1st ELEAGUE Premier ELEAGUE Premier 5th-8th WESG China Finals (3/5) WESG China Finals (3/5) 1st ESL One New York ESL One New York 1st ROG Masters China (4/5) ROG Masters China (4/5) 9th-12th DH Masters Malmö DH Masters Malmö



There's no getting away from who the massive favorites are in the match that will determine Group A's fourth team. On Monday, TYLOO will fight an uphill battle against FaZe, who have been looking better than ever since ESL One New York.

After 15 maps and two titles under their belts, karrigan's men have yet to lose a map offline since September 9, when ELEAGUE Premier started with Group A. That makes them the the team to beat and a clear favorite at EPICENTER, especially with SK, who have yet to meet this version of FaZe, looking shaky.

Can FaZe push their track record further?

On the other side we have TYLOO, who have had problems communicating with BnTeT already and now they've also brought on bondik for three tournaments. It's already rough communicating properly in your second language, and the Chinese barely speak any English at all, so you can imagine the chaos within the team.

A bootcamp in Europe must have helped a bit in that aspect, but it's still impossible to imagine a world in which TYLOO beat FaZe to qualify for the main event. If FaZe continue their dominance in Russia and give TYLOO a beating, which is more than a likely scenario, it also won't be much of an experience for bondik and his new teammates just before they go to the Minor.

ICYMI: bondik: "Sometimes it's good for you when life puts you in this kind of a situation"

Group B



Offline placings in the past three months 2nd ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 5th-6th ESL One New York ESL One New York 5th-8th DreamHack Masters Malmö DreamHack Masters Malmö

Astralis started the new season with two rough firsts, their first placing outside of the top four in this lineup at DreamHack Masters Malmö following a loss to the new Gambit, and their first group stage exit at ESL One New York, where Liquid bested them in the group's decider.

They've since regained some of their reputation following a deep run at ELEAGUE Premier. While the Danish heavyweights didn't have to beat any other top-five teams on their way to the grand final, a second place is still a good sign going forward.

Getting out of Group B will be a challenge of its own

FaZe, who have always had the upper hand with their former teammate karrigan at the helm, won't be in their way until the playoffs, but Group B is still a minefield for Astralis and they'll have to tread carefully to make it out alive.

As mentioned above, Liquid, who are favored to round out this group, have been a very recent thorn in Astralis' side. North and G2 are match-ups we've only seen rarely offline, but both have earned their place in the top five with good results as of late. Whoever comes out this group will have to earn it.



Offline placings in the past three months 3rd-4th ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 1st DreamHack Open Montreal DreamHack Open Montreal 2nd DreamHack Masters Malmö DreamHack Masters Malmö

North have been looking like a different team after the addition of valde, who reinvigorated the team with firepower after Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif struggled to shine as the star we used to know him to be.

MSL's team kicked off their new adventure with silver at DreamHack Masters Malmö, where valde played a big part in the semi-finals match versus Gambit, and clinched their first title at DreamHack Open Montreal.

k0nfig and valde need to shine for North to pass their biggest test

North then added a semi-finals run at ELEAGUE Premier, but their biggest test is yet to come. EPICENTER's Group B features their countrymen Astralis, whom North haven't met offline for half a year, and G2, who had the upper hand last time, in Malmö's grand final.

If they first defeat the winner of Vega Squadron and Liquid, North may only have to beat one of two giants to make the playoffs, which would solidify them as a legitimate contender for at least another grand final appearance.



Offline placings in the past three months 5th-8th ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 1st DreamHack Masters Malmö DreamHack Masters Malmö

G2 are one of two teams that clinched a big title after the off-season alongside FaZe, after their foray at DreamHack Masters Malmö, where they beat SK and North on their way to their second big trophy this year. However, despite a big bootcamp leading up to ELEAGUE Premier playoffs, the Frenchmen fell to Cloud9 after a fairly one-sided series.

It seems impossible for G2 to shed their up-and-down nature, which has been an issue for them this entire year at the large events - while they have clinched two titles, they have not made it past the quarter-finals in the other five instances.

G2 can't seem to shed their fluctuant nature

Breaking that at EPICENTER will be a challenge for kennyS & co., who first have to face Astralis. That series will be the first between the two lineups and only their second encounter overall after a best-of-one encounter at PGL Major Krakow, making it a mouth-watering prospect.

In fact, none of these four teams, assuming Liquid qualify as expected, have a particularly rich history between each other, although G2 beat North recently enough (Malmö) for the Danes to remember.



Offline placings in the past three months

Offline placings in the past three months 13th-16th ELEAGUE Premier ELEAGUE Premier 3rd-4th ROG EMEA Finals ROG EMEA Finals 2nd ESL One New York ESL One New York 1st China Top Kunshan China Top Kunshan 2nd ESG Tour Mykonos ESG Tour Mykonos



The second wild card match taking place on Monday will complete Group B, with Vega Squadron set to play Liquid for the fourth spot.

Liquid's recent uprise following the change of in-game leaders from stanislaw to nitr0 makes them a heavy favorite in the match-up, although not as much as FaZe are against TYLOO. The North American squad are miles away from the Russians in terms of experience and have the upper hand in firepower.

Liquid's addition to Group B would make it all the more dangerous

Vega Squadron, on the other hand, will have the element of surprise on their side, which worked out well for them at the latest Main Qualifier ahead of PGL Major Krakow, or the one before the ELEAGUE Major.

However unlikely, an upset would bump Vega Squadron's chances in the main tournament, although not enough for them to beat two of Astralis, North, and G2. Liquid have shown enough to be a threat to the rest; their addition to Group B would make it all the more dangerous.