​ I've already analysed all the New Legends for Katowice ( which can be found here) , so now it's time to move onto the storylines for the teams entering the Major now in the Returning Legends spots. I've already gone through ​compLexity, Liquid, BIG and mibr here , so we're now onto the last four teams.





FaZe

I'm not convinced by NiKo led FaZe so far. Despite them lifting the trophy at the ELEAGUE Invitational they dropped a lot of maps against BIG and Cloud9 who were both going through transitions of their own and are teams they should be beating handily. AdreN didn't appear to have found his niche in the team, instead looking more like an overqualified warm body.





This version of the team has shown two different sides so far. The first, and the one that we've seen for most of the time, is a team geared around maximising their best player and IGL in NiKo. In those games the Bosnian has put up some astronomical numbers, but it often hasn't been enough as the rest of the team have looked shadows of their normal selves.





The second form of FaZe that we've seen, with the primary example being the ELEAGUE Invitational final, was one where the team looked far more well rounded. Olofmeister was facilitating a lot of the plays, Rain was performing at a good level and Guardian looked the best he had in an age. The downside? NiKo played awfully.





The key for FaZe to be successful is going to be them melding those two forms into one. An all-star lineup like this team can't be a one man team, but simultaneously they can't have their best player become a non-factor.





At the end of the day though, this is FaZe we're talking about. Their raw firepower across all five members of their roster makes them a threat to absolutely any opponent. In any given match they can have two or three of their players show up and it'll be enough to beat a lot of the teams here in Legends. I'll be suprised if they don't make the Champions Stage.





Legends Stage Prediction: 3-1





Natus Vincere



The CIS powerhouse are in a bit of a slump. They recently lost on LAN in a best-of-3 to North, a team who failed to even reach this Major, and prior to that had stopped looking like the title threat that they were in the Summer of 2018.





This dropoff has come as a result of two main factors. The first is that electronic has shown a slight downturn in form. When NaVi were at their best last year he looked like a top five maybe even top three player in his own right, but he's come off the top a bit to only looking like a very good player. Secondly Zeus' individual form, which was never high to begin with, has dropped to an all-time low.





S1mple is still the best player in the world, and to my eyes it isn't even particularly close, but the combination of the job being made even more difficult and him having to do more of the carrying himself looks like it's proving too difficult even for him.





Now really the combination of s1mple and electronic should be too good to not reach the playoffs; even with the Russian's slight downturn I'd still rank them as the best duo currently in Counter Strike. However, NaVi are renowned for their slow starts and opening day defeats, so if they manage to lose their opening match to G2 they could be in real trouble.

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Legends Stage Prediction: 3-1





Hell Raisers

Hell Raisers are a team that I think might be dipping under the radar​ in Poland. At the last Major they managed to make top eight, and since then they've made an upgrade to their roster by swapping Bondik out for Hobbit.





Since joining the team Hobbit has been steadily improving LAN on LAN. He's got to the point where he now seems very well integrated into this lineup, and as a result the entire team now feels dangerous. Whereas before the team relied entirely on woxis or ISSAA going off, now they have a trident of fraggers not dissimilar from the NRG set-up. ANGE1 looks to have stepped things up also.





Even DeadFox, who I would point to as the weak link for the team, brings with him the advantage of seemingly handling high pressure situations very well. He always seems to deliver both in overtimes and in clutch scenarios.





Couple this with a fairly well rounded map pool and I see this as a team well set up to do damage against opponents who might not be taking them as seriously as they should. I'm bullish on this unit, and while I think they're at least one move away from truly competing at the top echelon (I would love to see Styko come in for DeadFox), I'm going to back them to scrape through here.

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Legends Stage Prediction: 3-2





Astralis

​What is there to say that hasn't already been said above Astralis? They're not just a great team, they're forerunners for greatest team of all time at this point. Their stranglehold over the premier championships in 2018 was near absolute, and I don't expect that to change up much just due to the year changing. They're not only huge favourites to make it through this stage, they're odds on to win the entire major.





Add in that they'll have an easier route through the stage due to being seeded first and we get to a point where it'll be a big suprise if they even sustain a loss. If everything goes to seeding they'll meet mibr in the 2-0 best-of-three, which is a very intriguing match and will tell us a great deal about the Brazilians' level should it come to pass.





Legends Stage Prediction: 3-0​