Here is a rundown of my takeaways for the ELEAGUE CS:GO Invitational 2019

Proper Format

The ELEAGUE Invitational had the format that the Minor play-in should have had. All best-of three matchups with upper and lower brackets. One concern mentioned was Cloud9 not gaining some sort of advantage for making it to the final from the upper bracket. Personally, I don’t believe there is enough justification for that in such a small event. I was happy with the way it was structured through and through.

Unfair Comparisons

A few people compared the iBuyPower event to this one, which is ludicrous. It is absolutely unfair to compare most other tournaments with ELEAGUE, outside of tournament format. They have always been in a league of their own and why they will continue to have a place in Counter-Strike for as long as they’d like. For a four team event, it was well put together and entertaining. I do hope however, that the next ELEAGUE event has more than four teams in it.

Analyzing Team Performance

It is unfortunate that every single team at the event had recently made a roster move, considering how close we are to the Major. All of them still have work to do with their new lineups, which is why I’m not putting a ton of stock into the results. The win will be a nice confidence boost for FaZe heading into Katowice and I think that is the most important takeaway. Rain bailed them out on Inferno with his crazy p250 play, which was the turning point for the final series. Before that, it was no guarantee they’d win it.

Individual Bright Spots

GuardiaN was godlike. No surprise here, everyone knows how good is can be at any given time. Nothing more to say.

XANTARES looked promising with BIG as most people expected he would. I believe they have an extra hurdle with ironing out communication as he improves his English and that showed at ELEAGUE. I’m still convinced they will make a roster move after the Major, as the rumor mill about smooya continues to churn.

On an individual level, I was impressed with autimatic on the AWP. This was a transition that I expected would turn into a disaster but he looked great. Let’s see if he can put in more work at the Major.