The third ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier group stage is set to start, so let's take a look at the four attending teams—Cloud9, NiP, Virtus.pro and EnVyUs—and their chances to make it to the playoffs.

The group stage of the event uses a GSL-style format, with the opening matches being played in a BO1 format, together with the winner's matches, while the rest of the group will be played as BO3s. Out of the four teams, only two will move on to the playoffs, where the likes of North, FaZe and G2 await.

The third week of ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier is about to start

ELEAGUE Premier's group C features no team currently in the top 6, with the attendees sitting between #9 and #16 in our ranking. The competing teams can be split into two categories, though, with Cloud9 and NiP on the rise after their recent roster changes, and Virtus.pro and Envy not looking like they can break out of their slumps without changing something.

Ratings used are from the past three months on LAN Ratings used are from the past three months on LAN





Offline placings in the past three months 3rd-4th ESL One New York 2017 ESL One New York 2017 3rd-4th DreamHack Open Montreal DreamHack Open Montreal 9th-12th DreamHack Masters Malmö DreamHack Masters Malmö 9th-11th PGL Major Krakow (3/5) PGL Major Krakow (3/5) 2nd ESL One Cologne (3/5) ESL One Cologne (3/5) 3rd-5th PGL Major Krakow Main Qualifier (3/5) PGL Major Krakow Main Qualifier (3/5) 3rd-4th ECS Season 3 Finals (3/5) ECS Season 3 Finals (3/5)

A lot has changed on Cloud9 since the team added tarik and RUSH from OpTic. Stewie2K stepped down from the in-game leader role and moved to the peripheral parts of the maps, with tarik slotting in towards the middle of the action, together with autimatic and Skadoodle. The change seems to have harmed Stewie2K's output a bit, as he confirmed that he is still adapting to the role. RUSH, formerly an entry fragger, took over the other passive role on the Terrorist sides and blossomed in the new role, playing his best Counter-Strike this year in the blue and white jersey.

autimatic has been the team's consistent backbone during recent events, but, on the other hand, the decline of Skadoodle is a worrying sign for the side. Before the offseason, the AWPer had finally been able to step up, reminding us of his 2015 form, but that seems lost after the break and the roster changes.

RUSH has adapted to the new role well

Cloud9 have managed some decent placings with the new roster, and, after bombing out in the groups of DreamHack Masters Malmö, have finished top four in Montreal and New York. The problem, though, lies in the way they lost the semi-final matches against North and FaZe—without putting up a fight.

Losing big to elite teams might not be a big factor in Atlanta, however, as Cloud9 are the highest ranked team playing the group stage this weekend. The North American side will kick-off with a match against NiP, a team ranked just one spot behind them and the second favorite to make it out of group C. Will Cloud9 go for their comfort picks in the veto or try to force NiP onto a map the Swedes are not so confident on? That's a match that can go either way, with the map veto potentially playing a big part in the final result.



Offline placings in the last three months 3rd-4th DreamHack Masters Malmö 2017 DreamHack Masters Malmö 2017 1st DreamHack Open Valencia DreamHack Open Valencia 5th-8th ESL One Cologne

ESL One Cologne

NiP's results since the addition of REZ have been satisfying, kicking off with a 5-8th place at ESL One Cologne, then winning DreamHack Open Valencia and finally placing 3rd-4th at DreamHack Masters Malmő, where they lost to the eventual champions, G2.

The driving forces of this NiP roster are the AWPer draken and the ever-dangerous f0rest, but the rejuvenation of GeT_RiGhT is what puts the team over the edge—the 27-year-old is out of his massive slump, which had been a big factor in the team's struggles earlier this year. The best player of both 2013 and 2014 is now back on track, performing admirably at the last three LAN events the Ninjas attended.

REZ has been a good addition to the team, despite going missing in certain matches, such as the one against G2 in Malmö or the Cloud9 quarter-final game in Cologne. NiP ended up losing both of those games, so making sure that the 19-year-old becomes a more stable contributor could be the key to the Swedes moving higher in the ranks.

The former Epsilon duo have got Mirage back into NiP's map pool

A novelty for NiP has been adopting Mirage, which is a result of REZ and draken feeling comfortable on the map. So far, the decision has paid off, but the sample size is still too small to draw big conclusions. Alongside Mirage, NiP have proven themselves on Cache and looked good on Nuke, with Cobblestone being the team's new permaban.

However the opening match against Cloud9 goes, NiP should be able to take down both Envy, whom they defeated before the break in Valencia, and the struggling Virtus.pro, making them one of the favorites to make it to the playoffs.



Offline placings in the last three months 7th-8th ESL One New York 2017 ESL One New York 2017 4th ESG Tour Mykonos 2017 ESG Tour Mykonos 2017 13th-16th DreamHack Masters Malmö DreamHack Masters Malmö 3rd-4th PGL Major Krakow PGL Major Krakow 15th-16th ESL One Cologne ESL One Cologne

Virtus.pro seem to throw in a hint of success every month or two, such as the 3rd-4th placing at the Major or a great group stage showing in Mykonos, only to nosedive shortly after and return to bottom place finishes. The Poles' most recent result, a 7-8th place at ESL One New York, was handed to them fairly convincingly by FaZe and Liquid, with the team's specialty on Nuke making the showing look just a bit better.

Snax's recent statement raised a lot of eyebrows, with the 24-year-old firing shots at NEO and TaZ as he announced that he will no longer be the in-game leader of the team. The decision seems to be justified, as Snax's individual level has plummeted in 2017 and Virtus.pro's results have followed suit, showing how reliant the Poles are on Snax and that the in-game leading experiment was not working.

Snax seems unhappy with some of his teammates

If there is something that could work in Virtus.pro favour this weekend, that is the fact that they will be facing off against Envy in the opening match. The Frenchmen have been in woeful LAN form recently and lost to the Poles in Mykonos, meaning that Virtus.pro have a good chance to pick up an early win, leaving them only one victory away from the playoffs.

There is always a chance that with a new, undisclosed in-game leader, Virtus.pro show up reinvigorated, and Snax has a big performance that gets his side into the playoffs. However, both NiP and Cloud9 have been stable enough that they should be able to deal with the Poles in Atlanta.



Offline placings in the last three months 7th-8th ESL One New York 2017 ESL One New York 2017 7th-8th ESG Tour Mykonos 2017 ESG Tour Mykonos 2017 13th-16th DreamHack Masters Malmö DreamHack Masters Malmö 1st DreamHack Open Atlanta DreamHack Open Atlanta 3rd-4th DreamHack Open Valencia DreamHack Open Valencia

What looked like an exciting period for Envy has turned into somewhat of a nightmare. After the break, the French team qualified for four LAN tournaments, but are now going into the last one with a record of three consecutive last-place finishes.

Envy' struggles come down to a couple of things, with one of the problems being the contribution of SIXER, who hasn't been doing enough for the team with the AWP Happy has always been able to get his frags, but the best performing members of the squad are RpK and ScreaM. However, the duo seemingly can't go off at the same time, something that Envy desperately need in order to pick up wins against teams in the top 15. Slotting in alongside the four veterans is xms, the 20-year-old who came into Envy as an exciting prospect but who has struggled to live up to the hype, ending up as a role player for the squad.

ScreaM and RpK are struggling to perform at the same time

With all that taken into account, the team seems to lack something more than firepower. In a recent interview, Happy admitted that the mistakes they make are what ends up costing them matches and that he is working on a system in which those mistakes won't be as detrimental as they are now.

The 25-year-old in-game leader and the team's coach, maLeK, have had limited time to come up with a solution to Envy' issues, but something will have to change if they plan to put a stop to their horrible LAN streak.