With Gfinity Summer Masters I kicking off on Friday, we have put together a preview on each participant to get you ready for the $80,000 tournament.

All eight participating teams at the Gfinity Summer Masters I in London, United Kingdom have been directly invited by the organizers, with five teams returning from the Spring Masters II event.

Three of the world's best six teams are on show in the form of EnVyUs, NiP and Virtus.pro, with challengers such as Titan and Cloud9 tagging along, and with the new SK roster debuting offline.

Group A Group B NiP NiP EnVyUs EnVyUs Titan Titan Virtus.pro Virtus.pro dignitas dignitas Cloud9 Cloud9 SK Gaming SK Gaming mousesports mousesports

Exact schedule is still unknown at the moment, but groups are expected to play out in best-of-three GSL format with single elimination playoffs for the top four, and the grand final played in best-of-five.

As mentioned before, the eight teams will be competing for a prize purse of $80,000, which will be divided among all of the participants as follows:

1. $40,000

2. $20,000

3-4. $5,000

5-8. $2,500

The action will be broadcasted by Gfinity, who have secured the services of Scott "SirScoots" Smith, Duncan "Thorin" Shields and the FACEIT duo of James "JZFB" Bardolph and Daniel "ddk" Kapadia.

Below we have previewed all of the eight participants at this event with varying detail depending on how far we believe they are likely to end up going in London.



Some of the world's best teams gather at Gfinity once more





NiP

NiP left London in May with a sour taste in their mouths as they exited Gfinity Spring Masters II in shared last place, or 5-10th, after getting knocked out in the round robin group stage with two draws in four games. This time Gfinity is using a GSL format, which means draws cannot knock NiP out - and they are facing easier competition, at least on paper.

The Swedes have struggled online since around the last Gfinity event and failed to qualify for the $500,000 ESL ESEA Pro League's Finals, and currently boast a 3-4 record after seven games in FACEIT's online season. Their recent online result have been encouraging with Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström back to leading the team, but they are still not a sure thing by any means, as they once were under their golden days.

NiP have recently beaten Titan in their head-to-head match-ups with a 5-0 map record in the past two months, though it doesn't mean they are a free win by any means. dignitas are not a team to be underestimated either, and though SK Gaming are clear underdogs, there's a universe where a best-of-one game can go wrong against them too. It just shouldn't be ours on Friday.

* Rating for the past three months

f0rest's team will clear the group stage, and playoffs will come down to match-ups. You have to consider them favorites against EnVyUs - who they are up 4-1 against in head-to-head match-ups, including a quad-overtime 2-1 win at CCS, since early April. NiP lead Virtus.pro 7-2 in head-to-head match-ups, and should also be slight favorites in that series.

Looking at NiP's chances in London based on their history with their opposition, it's hard to not believe the Ninjas are favored to at least show up in the grand final. However, that overlooks the fact NiP are still yet to win their first big title of 2015 (they did win ASUS ROG Winter) and some of their players have been showing up in weaker and weaker form as time has passed them by. Also, there are at least three teams with a real shot at beating NiP in the playoffs.

If you are a believer, this could be the tournament NiP finally wins to turn their ship around. It could make my recent article moot, at least for the time being. In any case, expect NiP to be motivated, and if all of their players show up when it counts, together with clever calling from Xizt, they could be able to ride those favorable odds to their first notable title of 2015.

Prediction: 1st in group A, 1st overall



Could NiP finally grab their first 2015 title?





Titan

Titan have a few semi-final exits under their belts in recent tournaments - with the exception of DreamHack Open Tours, where they went out in 5-8th place - but have not come very close to making it further in any of those. Furthermore, those semi-final finishes seem to come at times where most of the Counter-Strike scene's top teams aren't present, giving them a chance to make top four with a handful of best-of-one wins.

Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub is no longer the world's best player, but he has lately showcased some of the peak-level play he was championed for before the AWP patch. Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire remains inconsistent on a round-to-round basis, but still is the team's second best player, and more often than not does his job well. Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy should continue improving with time, but is yet to come anywhere near close to what he was capable of before his long break from the world of Counter-Strike. Therein lays the team's skill problem.

* Rating for the past three months

Titan are stuck in no man's land, in the range of the 6-7th best team in the world. It's not rewarding and it doesn't pay well. It's not where they wish to be, yet there seems to be no clear way out. Currently Titan aren't skilled enough to compete with the best, and obviously the strategic aspect isn't enough alone. They are a threat to anyone in a best-of-one, and to many top teams in a best-of-three, but still underdogs incapable of bringing high level of play on a day-to-day basis.

Titan are better than dignitas and SK - but would anyone truly be surprised if Titan went out in groups versus either? They've faced the former twice, and lost, for the record. I have faith that kennyS will drag his team out of the fairly weak group A, and maybe scare NiP in the process, but I don't see them taking down either EnVyUs or Virtus.pro in the playoffs, which is why they're most likely to repeat their semi-finals exit from the previous Gfinity tournament.

Prediction: 2nd in group A, 3-4th overall



Titan are favored to make the playoffs at Gfinity, but not much more





dignitas

The Danes of dignitas have been very active online as of late, and have some promising results, including multiple wins over Virtus.pro, FlipSid3, HellRaisers, and even Titan under their belts. However, that's where it ends. They've been fairly consistent since finalizing their current roster - a clear perk over the previous Danish teams - but have yet to elevate their level of play enough to do real damage offline.

With a best-of-one encounter most likely looming against Titan in London, this could be chance for Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup to carry his team offline to an important victory, which in an ideal world could then snowball into bigger and better things in other tournaments later this summer. Whether that happens or not though, is a whole different story.

* Rating for the past three months

dignitas are clear favorites over their fellow countrymen SK Gaming - though the domestic match-up can sometimes be tricky - while wielding only a minor chance of putting up a meaningful amount of rounds against the group's top dogs NiP. Titan are their mark, the one team they've beaten before and could take down again, while securing a playoff spot and a top four finish.

Realistically dignitas most likely will finish third in the group. They could beat Titan - but would have to do it in the elimination game, not just in the first match, if they meet in the opening round - but won't beat NiP. Furthermore, there is hardly any chance of them winning a series in the playoffs, suggesting they still have some more work to do before becoming a real threat in the grand scheme of things.

Prediction: 3rd in group A



aizy's breakout performances haven't been enough for dignitas so far





SK Gaming

So far the only meaningful result for SK has been a 2-0 victory over HellRaisers in a game where DDoS attacks caused large delays and potentially affected the outcome. Not a very promising start for the organization's re-entry into CS:GO. This week they let go of statistically weakest player Nicolai "⁠HUNDEN⁠" Petersen and added former Anexis in-game leader Danny "⁠BERRY⁠" Krüger, a promising move on paper.

* Rating for the past three months

The problem for SK is that BERRY will need time to get the team playing his way, and that won't happen in time for this weekend. Expect SK to gradually improve over the coming month(s), but don't hold your breath over their chances of scoring any upset victories in London for Gfinity Summer Masters I.

Prediction: 4th in group A



AcilioN's team will benefit from having BERRY, but not in time for Gfinity





EnVyUs

After becoming the world's best team under the LDLC banner with back-to-back victories at DreamHack Winter 2014 and MLG X-Games Aspen, EnVyUs's results have generally waned, though they remain a top three side in the world. Though they won the Gfinity Spring Masters I, they - along with NiP - went out in shared last place at the second event, which is their second most recent offline showing.

Most recently they lost to Na`Vi in the grand final of SLTV StarSeries XIII Finals with a 1-3 scoreline, another blow to a seemingly weaker team whose numbers the Frenchmen certainly should have. With NiP usually blowing by nV in head-to-head match-ups and Titan giving them some trouble, the field at Gfinity is hardly easy for Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon and company, who still have the best track record of all participants going into the $80,000 tournament.

Best-of-one group stages can be scary, but mousesports and Cloud9 hardly are - neither has proven with any consistency that they are a team capable of competing with the world's best. On the other hand, EnVyUs have played Virtus.pro very closely in recent months - apart from this week's 3-0 showmatch victory - and their game to decide the winner of group B should give us some fireworks in an otherwise black and white group.

* Rating for the past three months

While Happy clearly remains statistically the team's most important player, with him reportedly having given up on the in-game leading duties once again, it's hard not to judge him differently for his efforts as well. He plays some of the statistically-easier roles - though excels in all of them, and practically always delivers his share of the numbers. However, perhaps it would be time for him to resume the calling duties to bring nV out of their mini-slump?

The Frenchmen still have plenty of skill to go around in star-leader shox and Swiss armyknife NBK-, but lately their other two teammates haven't exactly shined. For EnVyUs to go back to their winning ways they will need numbers from all five of their players, and with SmithZz having lost the AWPing duty it's unclear where those kills are going to come from, while kioShiMa continues flashing his aim here and there, but with little consistency.

The boys in blue, as they so affectionately call themselves, should be far too consistent to struggle versus Cloud9 or mousesports - clearly inferior teams in their current state - whereas the Virtus.pro game will be a good early test for them. Expect the French to overcome their semi-final opponent, assuming that's Titan - versus NiP their past suggests they may not have the goods, and could face elimination before the grand final.

Prediction: 1st in group B, 2nd overall



Perhaps Happy should resume the in-game leader role in nV?





Virtus.pro

After a very busy spring, the Poles of Virtus.pro have yet to attend a tournament since the previous Gfinity event - where they finished second - but have been very active online. The team qualified for ESL ESEA Pro League Finals a week after Gfinity, and currently hold a 4-3 record in FACEIT's new season. All in all, things look to be going fine overall for the team as a whole, and the slight change of pace could be exactly what they needed to get ready for these summer tournaments.

The multi-major winning teams of Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski and Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas often cited motivational reasons for their strong performances at the majors, and with ESL ESEA Pro League boasting a similar $250,000 prize purse, it's hard to imagine the Poles being equally motivated for Gfinity and the event in Cologne a week later. And in reality, you can hardly blame them for it - it's rational to focus more on the big ones.

On an individual level it's worth noting that Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski has lost the form that led to us calling him a top-five player in the world a year ago, and has regressed to just the fourth best rated player in his team over the course of the past three months. Picking up his slack has been NEO, who has clearly gotten better in recent months, as well as the team's two recruits from late 2013, especially Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski, who remains one of the world's very best.

* Rating for the past three months

Virtus.pro hold a healthy 8-2 record over mousesports in the past few months - though it is cut down to just 3-1 when looking at more recent results in June with mouz's current roster. As far as Cloud9 goes, the last time the team of Snax dropped a map against them was at the end of October 2014, so with Cloud9 seemingly still weaker than at the time, they're hardly a worry for the Polish giant - or should be, anyway.

EnVyUs is a much more interesting match-up, and one that has made for entertaining matches throughout these two teams's recent history. Since early April the Poles trail nV 4-5 in maps, but notably took down Happy's team 2-0 at Gfinity Spring Masters II, leading to the Frenchmen's early elimination while Virtus.pro wound up finishing runner-ups to fnatic. In other words, the match is as close to a toss-up as one can get.

If we look further into the playoffs, Virtus.pro are neck-and-neck with NiP in terms of their record, while barely leading Titan 6-5 in maps since April - with a couple of overtime games included, for a good measure. If Virtus can match-up with Titan in the semi-finals, I believe they will make the grand final. If not, I am afraid they will have to bow to NiP, which in turn will only make it more likely that they surprise us all a week later in Cologne - the tournament they really want to win.

Prediction: 2nd in group B, 3-4th overall



Last three months have not been kind to Mr. Biceps





Cloud9

Cloud9 have slowly started - seemingly - becoming the kind of team they surely wished to become when finally adding the continent's best AWPer Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham to their roster, together with Ryan "⁠freakazoid⁠" Abadir. They're doing well in North America, but that can be misleading. They've lost multiple games against Liquid - including a best-of-three series just days ago - and face very little competition with talent dispersed among a number of teams.

On the other hand, Europe has not been kind to Cloud9 since those group stage exits in late 2014 that at the time we all thought were sheer bad luck that was bound to turn eventually. Last meaningful win Cloud9 has against a European team - and frankly I am not sure if even this one counts - is their 16-14 win versus the old mousesports team, with their old roster, at the ESL One Katowice qualifier back in February.

* Rating for the past three months

Once the pride of North American Counter-Strike, the core of this team is basically now down to seang@res and n0thing, with rental parts added around them. It's unclear whether this team is incentivized to do much else than win in North America and represent the brand overseas, but so far they have failed at doing anything else, and it's hard to see that turning anytime soon - though it'd be good for the continent if it did.

Cloud9 have a number of tournaments coming up, with multiple chances to score some upset wins to bring back their swagger. One of these times either Skadoodle or n0thing will go off to win them a game, or shroud will finally redeem some of the promises he's been implicitly making. Until then, I am afraid the North Americans will face another early elimination in London.

Prediction: 4th in group B



Skadoodle is the one who could give Cloud9 an upset win or two





mousesports (chrisJ, denis, gob b, nex, Spiidi)

mousesports's recent results have been encouraging. They are back to a German speaking lineup that should be able to leverage Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik's calling abilities, and it seems to be paying dividends. Their recent matches include map wins over TSM, FlipSid3 and Titan, as well as series victories over TSM and HellRaisers - a solid resume for a team still looking to build its identity after months of disappointing results and the ensuing roster changes.

The team has finally found the star it needed in the PENTA-robbery - and it is Johannes "⁠nex⁠" Maget, Germany's best player who boasts an impressive 1.19 rating in the past three months, good for second best in the world behind FlipSid3's Aleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev among relevant players in top teams facing top tier competition. Unfortunately the rest of mouz still has not leveled up their play individually.

* Rating for the past three months

chrisJ likely never become much more than he is now - or it would have already happened - but he should aim to become a more consistent factor with his expensive weapon of choice. With gob b now able to work with a consistent roster with some firepower, all he'll need is some good games from the supporting cast and mousesports will be in business - but in this case, that mostly falls on chrisJ.

I don't expect mousesports to beat EnVyUs or Virtus.pro, though a perfect tactical gameplan from gob b could get them a best-of-one win with some individual fireworks, but they should be able to take down Cloud9. A single win wouldn't be worth celebrating, but playing the giants to close games while taking down an inferior team would be a step towards the right direction, and mousesports still have plenty of events to work with this summer.

Prediction: 3rd in group B

nex

Germany's best player has yet to deliver his team any meaningful wins





Gfinity Summer Masters I will begin in London on Friday, and HLTV.org will be there to provide you with full coverage of the $80,000 tournament which rounds up offline play in June.

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