We saw two tournaments, cs_summit3 and BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen, both who dropped the usual formate to try a new approach in the game. It’s has been sometime now that tournament organizers are looking to add a twist to the CS:GO esport scene. Of course, the standard high-production value tournaments still are going in but it’s not a bad thing to have alternative events.

And there’s no better example of this than what we witnessed last weekend.

So, what happened at those two events, did we see some surprises? Let’s take a look!

Astralis disappoints in home soil

Going to Copenhagen, there wasn’t a better opportunity for Astralis to show their dominance. They had the crowd on their side and were definitely the favorites. However, Astralis were caught by BLAST the format and left home earlier than expected.

To put some perspective around the situation, it’s important to understand the BLAST format. The event ran in a Round-Robin BO1 format where the two best teams would face each other in the BO3 grand-finals. No quarter-finals or semi-finals, just lots of BO1 matches until the finals.

Astralis clearly felt victimised. Losing to NiP in the second round and then to Na’Vi in the third with a 13 – 16 and 9 – 16 score ended their dreams to reach the finals.

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Nonetheless, Astralis disappointed. Last time we saw them playing in the Royal Arena, the Danes at least booked a top 2 spot. Still, Astralis might find redemption later this year at Odense as the EPL S8 Finals.

OpTic Gaming shows signs of improvements

It’s not an exaggerated statement to say that OpTic were one of the most hyped up professional teams of CS:GO.

Snappi and JUGi were finally given the chance to show themselves along k0nfig and Cajun. Then, the idea that we could see another KJaerbye and Device-like duo with k0nfig and JUGi was really well-received.

Since the full Danish roster was built, the team never reached its expectations. At cs_summit3, OpTic showed that while they aren’t still there yet, they are coming for the higher level of competition, slowly but surely.

OpTic managed to reach second place in cs_summit 3, only losing to BIG and NRG. We saw a more confident OpTic. A factor that is much more important to OpTic than other teams given the personality of their players.

Moreover, the Danes were also dominant over Ghost Gaming and compLexity, not letting their advantage as the favorites being their doom. There is a process there, like ruggah said, and we’re seeing it given the first steps.

A Streak of Good Events, NRG

Just like Mouz approached the number 1 spot in the world rankings earlier this year, NRG is approaching a top 5 spot in a really sneaky manner.

Often, NRG receive doesn’t receive enough credit. For example, we saw them booking a top four spot in ESL One New York 2018 and StarSeries Season 6. Now, in cs_summit3, they lifted the trophy.

Of course, NRG hadn’t the same level of opponents than Astralis, for example, but still it’s a commendable performance. It’s known that their players are being reached by multiple organizations and staying together, growing as a team and winning tournaments isn’t an easy task.

Ninjas surprise Copenhagen

If there’s a team struggling to have consistently good results, that is NiP. The team was able to reach the Major, reach a top-four finish in DreamHack Masters Stockholm only to finish second-last in EPICENTER 2018 earlier past month.

In BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen though, NiP started stealing the spotlights after beating Astralis. From there, the Ninjas were also able to dominate MiBR and C9 and reach the grand-finals.

Unfortunately for the Swedish crew, Na’Vi was simply too much in the finals. Overall, NiP had a great tournament and while the format could indeed be the most important factor for their placement, they performed confidently in front of big crowds.

G2 has nowhere to run

To conclude, G2 performances at cs_summit 3 couldn’t be forgotten. The Frenchmen seems to be still going down even when analysts think that they can go deeper. We have discussed G2 problems over here and they seem to be growing every time we see the team.

In Summit, G2 finished last place after getting beaten by BIG and compLexity, in two best of three matches. During the matches, we saw that ‘Smithzz’ clearly hasn’t a place in that team. shox and KennyS won’t be able to perform to a point where Smithzz performance are forgivable.

Basically, G2 has two options now. They can start searching for players to replace Smithzz before the Major and forget this year, or they can keep investing in Shox’ project. Whatever decision they pick, it won’t be an easy one.

IEM Chicago 2018 is the next stop for CS:GO fans

With your usual premier format, our next stop in CS:GO will be Intel Extreme Masters Chicago 2018. There, we will be seeing teams like NRG, BIG and North trying their luck against Na’Vi, Astralis and Liquid.

So, book your calendars to November 6th and be sure to follow us here to get the full coverage of Chicago!