Top five questions going into FACEIT League 2015



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With the rising popularity of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive comes a busier schedule for pro teams, full of relentless back-to-back LAN tournaments and online leagues. FACEIT League 2015 is the latest of the bunch, coming at a time when some teams appear fatigued while others are reaching the pinnacle of their career.

Featuring six of GosuGamer’s current top ten ranking teams, including recent champions Team SoloMid and NA underdog Team Liquid, FaceIT will be a LAN that holds potential for memorable upsets and comeback stories. There are many predictions, hopes and concerns for the eight teams attending FaceIT but these are the five questions that standout the strongest going into the tournament.

5. Is Australia’s CSGO scene stronger than we think?

After an upset against fellow countrymen Vox Eminor, Team Immunity is determined to show there is room for more than one great Australian team in CSGO. While Vox lost the FACEIT slot, it did recently gain Yam -- arguably Australia’s most consistent player and Immunity’s star. This puts Immunity in a precarious position as it goes into its first match, at an offline event no less, with a new player. That player luckily is USTILO, a rising star in the region. Despite the complications a recent roster change can provide, Immunity does have advantages over their NA competitors. In a recent vlog, James 'james' Quinn said that Immunity lined up teams to practice with before the LAN and have time to study demos of their opponents. With the right amount of preparation and determination, FACEIT may be the moment people start thinking of Australia as a hotbed for CSGO talent instead of merely the home of Vox Eminor.

4. How far will Na’Vi’s win streak take them?



Photo by Helena Kristiansson and ESL.

Featuring a mix of Counter-Strike 1.6’s most iconic players and Global Offensive’s best new talent, Na’Vi always seem destined for greatness yet haven’t won a major. With a recent roster change that added 18-year-old Russian powerhouse Flamie in place of Starix, who now coaches the team, Na’Vi looks rejuvenated and confident. Following a win over Titan at the ESL Pro League Winter Finals, Na’Vi look unstoppable. With recent online wins against the majority of teams attending FACEIT, it’s time to see if it can make that success apply in an offline BO3 format. Not one to rest on his laurels, Na’Vi’s in-game-leader (IGL) Zeus recently posted a video highlighting all he’s doing to alter the team’s approach to the meta and preparation for FACEIT.

3. North America’s last hope before a new beginning



Photo from adreN's Facebook.

There has been much talk in the community of the lackluster results coming from the North American pro scene and the upcoming roster shuffle that has already begun with Semphis and ShaZaM's removal from Cloud9. Most of this criticism comes from the four NA teams at ESEA not winning a single map against a European opponent. However, two of NA’s strongest teams weren’t in attendance which gives hope that all is not lost for NA. In fact, Liquid is arguably the most dependable NA team at the moment and, standing at #10, their ranking gives some validity to this claim. Nitr0 and EliGE are two of NA’s most consistent entry-fraggers, letting IGL Adren use their muscle to his advantage in setting up intelligent strats and outreading opponents. eLevate’s potential is a bit less convincing, having lost its strongest player (EliGE) to its NA rivals in Liquid. However, eLevate still has star power to spare: Desi, which some consider NA’s Scream due to his difficulty to stay in a team yet ease getting frags as a stand-in, and Roca are two of NA’s strongest players that have potential to win duels against strong European opponents. No one is expecting to see an NA team at the final, but if eLevate or Liquid can win a series at FaceIT, it will certainly give some fans back home hope that all is not lost.

2. Will Fnatic recover from its recent slump?



Photo by Patrick Strack and ESL.

Along with EnvyUS, Fnatic is considered the best that CSGO has to offer. And yet, both teams have looked incredibly shaky lately with key players losing confidence during series and underperforming at crucial moments. Krimz had one of his worst LAN showings in recent memory at CCS last weekend, while JW would go cold depending on the map. Maybe Fnatic took a little too much time off after their Katowice championship victory or maybe other teams have studied Fnatic to the point that their current play is too predictable (I’m pretty sure Krimz eats and sleeps in Mirage’s connector). Whether its JW still struggling with the recent AWP update or the team fatigued from ESEA and online matches, Fnatic are in need of a reboot if they are going to remain one of the top three teams in CSGO, because there are some determined Danes that will happily take their spot.

1. Will TeamSolomid win another final?

The CSGO community haven’t been the kindest to device and company; forum members count them out in every tournament and create memes around TSM's inability to pull through a series after a dominating start. Last week, this all changed with a convincing championship victory at CCS and the community is hopping aboard the TSM hype train. While Fnatic and EnvyUS aren’t in their best form, it would be ignorant to discount TSM’s immense plays and strategical thinking in those matches. Fans couldn’t imagine TSM (Dignitas at the time) without Fetish and everyone questioned the pick-up of karrigan as IGL, but now no one can think of TSM without karrigan. He has proven to be one of the best T-side strategists, making players reconsider that maps don’t need more balance but more masterful team leaders. At CCS, it seems the team finally got over the self-imposed pressure that causes them to underperform while attempting to close out a series. Will this new victory create a new set of pressure to perform under again or are we looking at a new confident, relaxed Danish team that will be able to frequently upset as the best 1.6 Danish teams once did? FaceIT League 2015 will be one of the defining make-or-break moments in this young team’s career.

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