The next Counter Strike: Global offensive major kicks off in Atlanta on the 22nd of January. Eight ‘Legend’ teams, those who reached the play-offs of the previous major in Krakow, will play off against Eight ‘Challenger’ teams for glory, prestige, and a share of a one million dollar prize pool.

The eight challenger teams will be decided from a pool of sixteen, ten days before the major begins. Those chathe eight that did not make Krakow’s play-offs, and eight “minor" winning teams from four regional (European, American, Asian and CIS) qualifiers.

The favourites:

FaZe Clan are the favourites to come out on top at the qualifier

FaZe clan shocked everybody as they bombed out in the preliminary stages of the previous major without winning a single match, going into the event being considered an easy contender for play-offs.

In the time since, Faze have made two key roster changes, bringing in Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer and Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács, two legendary players with individual achievements that eclipse most other professional players.

After the changes FaZe have cemented their position as one of the two best teams competing in the game, achieving 2nd place on the HLTV rankings, holding 941 points. In context, this is 361 points ahead of the team in 3rd place.

G2 Esports had a better run in Krakow, narrowly eliminated in the final matches of the preliminary stage with a 2–3 scoreline.

G2 took an alternate path to FaZe and opted to make no roster changes between the two events, and have managed some respectable finishes and premier events, such as a 3rd place finish at Epicenter Moscow, and winning the title at DreamHack Masters Malmo, earning the 7th position on HLTV’s rankings.

While the team has been performing inconsistently as of late, if the French side’s star player Kenny “kennyS” Schrub performs to his full potential in the qualifier, there aren't many teams that can stand in their way.

Notable mentions: All-American Cloud9 (HLTV 5th) and European mousesports (HLTV 8th) are both expected to breeze out of the group stage.

The Hopeful:

Na’Vi are looking to make a comeback to the higher echelons of CS:GO soon.

Na’Vi haven’t been able to find the form they have been searching for, with a solitary title at DreamHack Winter 2017 being a needle of a good result in a haystack of mediocre placements, holding the 16th HLTV ladder spot. This however doesn't discount the CIS side from being a brutally scary force in the Qualifier.

The team have re-introduced the tactical genius of Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko to the starting lineup, welcomed back after lifting the trophy at the Krakow Major. A much needed boost in raw skill has been brought in with the 19 year old talent Denis “electronic” Sharipov.

The new player’s mixture of drilled strategy and brute force compliments the previous teams core well. Na’Vi already field “s1mple”, a player who’s raw aiming ability is considered to be one of the best in active competition.

Misfits are an aptly named team, fielding three American and two French players. Led by the veteran “seang@res”, they have been relentlessly climbing the rankings as of late, rising from 40th in April, to 13th as of today.

Misfits best result has arguably been their semi-final finish in the ESL Pro League finals, a tournament fielding some of the best teams the game has to offer. Misfits have shown they are comfortable in their domestic scene, with wins across the board against the best teams in America, but have not yet proven themselves internationally.

Due to their lack of maturity in the scene, they certainly aren't statistical favourites to qualify for the Major, however present themselves and the lovable underdogs and fan favorites in the competition.

Notable mentions: Turkish Space soldiers (HLTV 22nd) look to leave their first international mark on the scene, while the boys at Renegades (HLTV 15th) are in a strong position to represent Australia at the event.

The Hopeless:

QBF are many people’s first choice for all the wrong reasons — as the team to leave the event without a win.

The CIS Minor produced two underwhelming teams for the Qualifier- enough to provoke some people to call for a full restructure in the Minor system.

Quantum Bellator Fire were a generally unknown team before their 2nd place finish at the CIS Minor, ranked all the way down at 76th on HLTV.

The team hasn't had good results leading up to the event, coming 19th–22nd in cs_summit qualifiers, and 17th-20th and WESG regional finals, two bad results at events with very few high tier teams.

We can imagine that Nikita “waterfaLLZ” Matveyev’s side is focusing all of their resources on this event, and only time will tell if they can upset.

Avanagar are amarginally better known team, being in the peripheral vision of the Counterstrike scene for fair a while now- placing 47th on the HLTV rankings as of Christmas.

The Kazakh’s however suffer the same problem as QBF, a lack of results against high tier competition. A look at their results ledger shows a series win against Flipside Tactics as being one of their only showings, back in October this year.

Unfortunate mentions: Team Liquid (HLTV 17th) would be a strong pick for contending, if it was not for an unfortunate roster change. The team signed Lucas “steel” Lopes, who is not eligible to play in the event due to failing to qualify with Immortals. TyLoo (HLTV 39th) are left without their star player as Hansel “BnTet” Ferdinand failed to acquire a visa for the event. This leaves Liquid in the bad position of having to play with their coach, and Tyloo in the awkward position of calling on the services of their ex-coach, who is no longer under contract with the organisation.

The previous major was a memorable event, and Eleague will be looking to put on an incredible show.

As CS:GO players fill out their PickEm challenges, the communities opinions on the favourites and fanless of the sixteen teams will become more apparent, however we wont be able to see what each team can bring to the table until the event begins in a fortnights time.