Group Stage Picks

After quite an interesting Prelim stage, we ended up going 5/9. This is obviously not the worst case scenario but it is far from the best we could have done. In the end, we did rather average as I believe many others have as well. But enough with prelims, let's talk about this rather stacked group stage that will be starting this Friday.For this part, I am going to go through my picks one by one and explain why I choose them, for anyone that isn't big on reading feel free to skip to the bottom to see all the picks.My 3-0 and 0-3 Picks:VP (3-0):This may be one of my most risky picks. The reason I am putting VP as my 3-0 team and not Faze/Astralis/SK, is because I do not want to risk not getting points off the teams that I am confident will go through. For example I don't want to put SK to go 3-0 and then get no points from them if they lose one map and go 3-1. The other main reason I am putting VP is because as many of you know, there are two forms of VP that we will see at majors. There is either the plow or the throw. I am not certain how VP is going to perform in this major, but they have a great chance at plowing through teams and grabbing a 3-0 and if they don't then I am willing to accept a loss on one pick for the risk, I would much rather have the other teams that MIGHT go 3-0 get me points in the regular picks.Quantum Bellator Fire (0-3):Now I know what you are all thinking, and yes, I might be a bit crazy to doubt them a second time. However, there is not a single doubt in my mind that these guys will not make it out of the groups. QBF got, in my opinion, extremely lucky with the teams they were matched against. They got to play Avangar, an Envy without Rpk, and Flash. These where some of the worst teams in the group (only saying this about Envy because the game that QBF played against them they had to use their coach). We are now at a time in the tournament where there are no longer "bad teams" to play against, the only way I see them wining a single game is by a HUGE upset.My 7 Teams That Will Advance:SK Gaming:This pick didn't really require much thought, even without being able to play with boltz, these guys are up there for being one the most dangerous teams in the major. The pure amount of skill and fire power on that team is insane and will easily get them through the group stage.Faze:Faze had a pretty upsetting loss against Vega in the prelims but then continued to show dominance over their other opponents, especially against NAVI in their last match. Like SK, it's hard not seeing these guys get through the group stage especially with a match against Fnatic on day one, a game that I believe will be rather easy for the Faze clan to win.G2 and Cloud 9:G2 and C9 had a dominate showing in the prelims and I have to say looked like they were all on peak performance. They have it a bit rough seeing as they are facing each other in the day one match but regardless, I have to put them going through based on their current form.Space Soldiers:SS are another team that looked great during the prelims. They had a rocky start against Sprout on Cobblestone in their first match but then looked progressively better and better after that first loss. They have great spirit and some very high performing players. The only thing for me that could hold them back is their lack of experience when it comes to playing on LAN and being in such a high stakes event. The players said it themselves that they were very nervous coming into all this but they seemed to have shaken most of that off and began to play their own game, I think they have some serious dark horse potential.Astralis:Astralis has the potential to turn some heads in this major. As most of you already know, Device will be returning in time to play with his team and they will have the full lineup. However, Device will not be the main awper for the team, instead Dupreeh has taken the role and will continue into the major as so. This can either work out very well or very bad in my opinion. Device is the poster boy for Astralis and to me, a very good Awp player. But the more I think about it, this could play heavily in their favor. So many teams are used to Device awping and his play style but now that's all out the window, and Astralis can come into this major with a whole new strat book / game plan. I am very curious to see how this all plays out for them.NAVI or Mouse (Leaning towards mouse but I will confirm before the picks lock):To be honest, I haven't made up my mind on this one yet. I think mouse is in great form and I called them to possibly go all the way when I saw them playing in the Prelims, but I don't know if they will hold up against some of the bigger named teams. On the other hand there is NAVI. NAVI looked terrible starting off in the Prelims and then began to show some improvements. However these improvements seem to rely on Simple and electronic alone (mainly simple, he is having a fantastic run so far). I don't really feel confident in him being able to carry NAVI all the way to the quarter finals and for that reason I am leaning towards a mouse pick.Important : The only pick that I am not 100% on at the moment is Mouse and I may change it before the picks lock, please check back here before they do. I will always update the guide if I make any changes.