🕹️ Esports 🎮 Prediction & Discussion Thread

[Distraction]

Before the last group matches today the current condition of Group C is like in the picture above.

ENCE and HEET are both out before the last matches. Complexity still have a chance mathematically for the third place now. Astralis need to be very careful about this situation. They are playing against Heroic and it is another match they can win actually. They have been successful against MOUZ and ENCE so far. Heroic are a tough team just as MOUZ. Heroic defeated Astralis in their last 4 head-to-heads. I don't know if this would help Heroic have a psychological advantage. But I expect Astralis to find a way to defeat them.

I think that I'll give Astralis @1.98 and Complexity @2.50 a try in my parlay. Both need to win today so I find these choices meaningful.  

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[blue_hurricanger]

snip

^ Damn, Astralis beat Heroic on the Heroic map pick, Overpass. Tho they have to drag it to the OT rounds, Astralis still come out better and ended it with 19-17, securing the first 1-0 win on the Bo3. Next is inferno, I think Astralis can take this map easily because as everyone has know, Astralis is the king of the banana for ct sider in inferno map.

This is like the core of Astralis back in the Astralis era. If inferno is selected after the map ban/pick, a free win for Astralis there. Heroic aint doing great at inferno too. Maybe 2-0 and Astralis take the 2nd spot for the playoff after MOUZ 1st spot. Cant say anything about 3rd spot for this group stage, Complexity might have a chance here if they beat ENCE at a wide gap and Heroic loses but the rounds difference between Heroic and Complexity is still safe.

[Pulsar77]

Complexity are 1-0 ahead now and close to making it 2-0 against ENCE also. But this win won't change anything for them as long as Astralis defeat Heroic on the second map also. Overpass was also a map Astralis were successful on. Heroic had really no chance other than banning Dust2 and Mirage because they had zero win on those maps. They didn't even play properly on them. If I were in their place I'd have picked Nuke and left Overpass to decider. Because Heroic are playing much better on Nuke.

As you @blue_hurricanger said, Astralis are really amazing on Inferno so Heroic's job to make a comeback is very difficult. Even if they win this somehow I still don't think Astralis will lose the series. They also have impressive stats on Nuke. In addition they are under the danger of being eliminated by Complexity now. I believe Astralis would deal with this pressure well anyway.

[arallmuus]

-snip

Entity bringing us a smooth win I also manage to get in before the start of the match but I only took the -1.5 handicap after watching Talon vs Polaris go through all five maps.

Guess I was the only one that was so optimistic with Entity winning it straight 3 games huh but glad that you guys get a piece of this profit. Its clear that Entity would won though and its a no brainer that bookies are still giving away decent odds especially after Team Secret had to go through hours of playing before the final game

With the qualifiers finished, I guess we're back to some CSGO while waiting for the LCQ and Worlds which is a week or two from now.  

I guess I will, there isnt any DOTA left to bet until TI so yeah

[blue_hurricanger]

^^ Hah, I was wrong again.
Heroic strike back 1-1 with their win at inferno map, beat Astralis 16-12. This is the moment of truth for Astralis. As you said, Complexity did its part. 2-0 over ENCE, they're now maybe in the 3rd spot if Heroic wins the Bo3 over Astralis.

Astralis have to decide its fate and spot for the playoff rounds in the map3, Nuke. Seems like there was a huge pressure at Astralis right now. While for Heroic, even if they lose to Astralis, as long as their round difference isn't behind Complexity, they still have a spot. All Astralis, Heroic and Complexity will have 3 wins and 2 losses but the round difference, Complexity has at the lowest so the other two take 2nd and 3rd spots, Complexity got bumped out.

Ah btw, Eternal Fire won 1-0 against Entropiq in Bo3 Final of ESL Challenger. Eternal Fire is right now completely destroying Entropiq 13-2 in the first half on Entropiq map pick, Overpass. No one can foresee that. The odd is 12 to 14 for Entropiq right now. Does anyone remember the odd for this map at the start?

[jakelyson]

-snip

Entity bringing us a smooth win I also manage to get in before the start of the match but I only took the -1.5 handicap after watching Talon vs Polaris go through all five maps.

Guess I was the only one that was so optimistic with Entity winning it straight 3 games huh but glad that you guys get a piece of this profit. Its clear that Entity would won though and its a no brainer that bookies are still giving away decent odds especially after Team Secret had to go through hours of playing before the final game

These players are normally used to playing long hours, so it is normal that the bookies give decent odds even if they played long game against Team Liquid in the Lower Bracket Finals. So many teams have overcome that adversity. I do not know that Team Secret will be affected so much with that. It is either they are tired, or Entity is just too good for them. I am guessing that latter.

With the qualifiers finished, I guess we're back to some CSGO while waiting for the LCQ and Worlds which is a week or two from now.  

I guess I will, there isnt any DOTA left to bet until TI so yeah

About a month without DOTA, that is a long wait before we see good DOTA again. I think I will also be watching CS for a while. Not really a fun of this game but I enjoy some games sometimes.

[STT]

This is a classic, each team winning each others picked map.  Astralis will surely win Nuke over Heroic unless they have completely lost all their previous strength.  The live match says they might which is unfortunate they have lost one of their best maps, depends on the live odds (was over 2x for Heroic win).  
  I had the sides mixed up, Astralis did well on T side and somehow are looking awful on CT side; defense like warm butter.  Astralis are actually kniving each other in spawn, tragic    however they did break the heroic momentum bringing the chances back to even and live odds for heroic go to 3x almost (eco rounds, lots of death crowd overreacts noobs )


The best games are always close, I recommend watching this one as the conclusion is quite extreme; shows why CS wont be ending any time soon.

[passwordnow]

It's normal these days to have a pudge in a game and being played as a pos 1. They have a strategy and that's what I also think whenever somebody picks pudge if they can secure the game more with a better carry.

It is not very successful though. I do not have the numbers for the win rate of Pudge but most of the matches I have seen in tournaments that played carry Pudge ended in a loss. I agree it was not the best pick at the time. A lot of missed hooks as well. It would have been a big upset if Polaris won that match up.

Yeah, I've seen many that aren't successful but it's like a trend and having the mid-lane as the supposed carry while pudge at the late game is like the utility/tank of the team.
Well, we have to move on but they're now part of the last chance qualifiers together with T1. While Talon has just proven that they're one of the strongest in the SEA based on this qualifier but Polaris was really close on that bo5 series.

[Oilacris]

It's normal these days to have a pudge in a game and being played as a pos 1. They have a strategy and that's what I also think whenever somebody picks pudge if they can secure the game more with a better carry.

It is not very successful though. I do not have the numbers for the win rate of Pudge but most of the matches I have seen in tournaments that played carry Pudge ended in a loss. I agree it was not the best pick at the time. A lot of missed hooks as well. It would have been a big upset if Polaris won that match up.

Yeah, I've seen many that aren't successful but it's like a trend and having the mid-lane as the supposed carry while pudge at the late game is like the utility/tank of the team.
Well, we have to move on but they're now part of the last chance qualifiers together with T1. While Talon has just proven that they're one of the strongest in the SEA based on this qualifier but Polaris was really close on that bo5 series.

Making pudge as a mid laner then it would be considerable but making it as a carry pos then i dont really see for it to be much effective unless if your offlaner did really build semi-carry items plus having that
farmed mid laner which might that able to carry you out because everything would really be depending on how your team mates would really help out their carry as much as possible.
Adjustments would be made but its true that Pudge will act out as a tank specially on mid-late game scenario and if opponents carries are fully farmed then Pudge would easily be fucked up.

Im rooting on T1 to get the spot on TI11 but unexpectedly Talon is really strong and same goes with Polaris.

[jakelyson]

This is a classic, each team winning each others picked map.  Astralis will surely win Nuke over Heroic unless they have completely lost all their previous strength.  The live match says they might which is unfortunate they have lost one of their best maps, depends on the live odds (was over 2x for Heroic win).  
  I had the sides mixed up, Astralis did well on T side and somehow are looking awful on CT side; defense like warm butter.  Astralis are actually kniving each other in spawn, tragic    however they did break the heroic momentum bringing the chances back to even and live odds for heroic go to 3x almost (eco rounds, lots of death crowd overreacts noobs )

Heroic won the last map with an impressive round 28. Their resources were sabotaged by Astralis, Cadian with no armor and only with a pistol juke around astralis and made an awesome play. Then Jabbi denied 2 CT from disarming the bomb with just a tec-9, that was awesome gameplay. That should go to the highlights. What a way to end the series.

And with that, Group C has ended. Mouz at the top while Heroic and Complexity ended 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Im rooting on T1 to get the spot on TI11 but unexpectedly Talon is really strong and same goes with Polaris.

well, I think everyone was rooting for t1 to get the ticket to TI because of Ana and Topson but they were not able to carry the team. There is just too much to work on in T1. Draft picks, communications and everything. They look good when playing with the less competitive team but when faced with some teams that know how to counter them, they failed to adjust in-game. They still have a few days to work their kinks out and hopefully come to Last Chance qualifier stronger.

[emrecemsan]

It was a really dramatic ending for Astralis indeed. Losing on Inferno and Nuke both was really unexpected for us. Because both of them were one of the maps they were the best on. Even though they were likely to be eliminated they still couldn't react to it well and lost by 2-1. Complexity were playing against ENCE which had no goal left in the group. They took advantage of it very nicely and got a 2-0 win. Even though their round difference in total was lower than Astralis they advanced to next round thanks to Astralis' losing in a critical match.

I don't know what is going on with Astralis these days. They aren't playing like they deserve their place in top 10. I think this failure will cost them a few places in the ranking. Because they have been eliminated in the groups of one of the most important tournaments in this game. They will need to perform much better than this in RMR.

[dothebeats]

I don't know what is going on with Astralis these days. They aren't playing like they deserve their place in top 10. I think this failure will cost them a few places in the ranking. Because they have been eliminated in the groups of one of the most important tournaments in this game. They will need to perform much better than this in RMR.

Tough to watch Astralis getting beat this way, although you can't deny that Heroic's rotation and aim is all on point. Good to see that cadian is now being recognized by a lot of people from his playmaking and IGL abilities too. Lots of good clutches on that match against Astralis that deserves the highlight reel. IMO Astralis just needs to recollect and review where they went wrong. They are still a top 10 team deserving of that ranking, though there are some tournaments that really isn't just for you as other teams prepared more and grinded more to get to the level where they're at just for the tournament.

[jakdanyel]

Eternal Fire are unstoppable now. First they started with a loss to the ESL Challenger Rotterdam qualifiers. But after that they started a really great series and it ended up with a big victory in the tournament. They played against Entropiq in the finale. Entropiq are one of the most challenging opponents for them considering their head-to-head matches so far. But the brand new roster of Eternal Fire were much more promising to win this matchup. They really did it playing solid on Dust2 and Overpass both. They dominated the match on especially Overpass as the first half score was 13-2.

Eternal Fire started to play more systematic which makes watching them more fun. Because imoRR's individual mistakes being in the first place, they had serious issues to deal with before. But now they have developed good strategies and finally we are watching them playing as a real team. XANTARES and woxic were the most impressive players of this matchup and woxic was chosen as MVP.

[edgycorner]

I don't know what is going on with Astralis these days. They aren't playing like they deserve their place in top 10. I think this failure will cost them a few places in the ranking. Because they have been eliminated in the groups of one of the most important tournaments in this game. They will need to perform much better than this in RMR.

Tough to watch Astralis getting beat this way, although you can't deny that Heroic's rotation and aim is all on point. Good to see that cadian is now being recognized by a lot of people from his playmaking and IGL abilities too. Lots of good clutches on that match against Astralis that deserves the highlight reel. IMO Astralis just needs to recollect and review where they went wrong. They are still a top 10 team deserving of that ranking, though there are some tournaments that really isn't just for you as other teams prepared more and grinded more to get to the level where they're at just for the tournament.

I would say, Astralis made Heroic look good.
Astralis is no longer the same juggernaut that they uses to be in their prime. Baitf is destroying the current roster with all his baiting and farlig with all his awp shot miss.
-blamef and -farlig is the only solution here.

I am really disappointed with the new ence. They are back to being Tier 2. Seems like spinx and hades were a crucial part of their success. Without them Ence is miserable.

Anyways, hopefully group D won't be a clusterfck like Group C

[batang_bitcoin]

well, I think everyone was rooting for t1 to get the ticket to TI because of Ana and Topson but they were not able to carry the team. There is just too much to work on in T1. Draft picks, communications and everything.

We all were rooting for T1 to get that secured slot for TI and that's because ana and topson were there. But their force weren't just enough to beat Polaris, also a strong contender.

They look good when playing with the less competitive team but when faced with some teams that know how to counter them, they failed to adjust in-game. They still have a few days to work their kinks out and hopefully come to Last Chance qualifier stronger.

There's still a lot of adjustments to come for them and we'll see the best of them on the lcq. Because all of the teams there seems stronger than this qualifier that they've been through, still GGs to all of the qualified teams to TI and to the lcq teams.

[passwordnow]

Yeah, I've seen many that aren't successful but it's like a trend and having the mid-lane as the supposed carry while pudge at the late game is like the utility/tank of the team.
Well, we have to move on but they're now part of the last chance qualifiers together with T1. While Talon has just proven that they're one of the strongest in the SEA based on this qualifier but Polaris was really close on that bo5 series.

Making pudge as a mid laner then it would be considerable but making it as a carry pos then i dont really see for it to be much effective unless if your offlaner did really build semi-carry items plus having that
farmed mid laner which might that able to carry you out because everything would really be depending on how your team mates would really help out their carry as much as possible.
Adjustments would be made but its true that Pudge will act out as a tank specially on mid-late game scenario and if opponents carries are fully farmed then Pudge would easily be fucked up.

Im rooting on T1 to get the spot on TI11 but unexpectedly Talon is really strong and same goes with Polaris.

IMO, there's no difference whether it's on mid or placed as a pos 1. What they've been doing is that they'll pick pudge on the pos 1 and then will have the mid as their main carry. It's been like in Dota 1 days that the tri-lane or safe lane works like that as what they intend to do in pudge.
Dota 2 is a game of strategy and defense so as long as what they're up to works, they'll do it again and that's why they've been using it because somehow it has worked before.

[Pulsar77]

We have left Group C also behind in ESL Pro League. It was a really unexpected ending for me too. While I was expecting to see Astralis as the leader of the group they couldn't even qualify for next round. Even though Heroic were in a safe condition in the group Astralis still couldn't beat them. Above all else, Astralis should have been able to beat one of Complexity - HEET duo at least. I understand that Complexity were stronger than the expected. Then HEET would have still been an easy target for Astralis normally. They need to fix their issues immediately while there is a short time period left for Minor.

In two days, Group D matches are starting. Eternal Fire are coming here by a very improved morale after finishing ESL Challenger Qualifier as the first. There are some teams in the group that haven't played any official match for a long time. Eternal Fire can take advantage of their condition also. I see a more determined team from now on as there is a big development in their game recently. Hopefully they will continue to be part of this tournament after the group stage.

[blue_hurricanger]

you have my interest in the Eternal Fire team in the upcoming stage round for group D.

A big talent in a team is always an unstable force because CSGO as a whole is teamwork.  Even s1mple couldnt fix Liquid's problems when he joined them and he didnt integrate nearly well enough, no surprise he was a long way from home and so on for any giant talent I always forsee possible friction occurring within a team beneath the surface.   The astralis era seems to be over, I dont mind as we like less predictable results in betting surely.

9z should beat Furious right now.  Main reason I dont mind the Xantares move is that new team logo is awesome I need more of those, glitter and whatever other types they come up with to eclipse the long standing Katowice  holos of 2014

Theres alot more games tomorrow then today I think, need to decide on those havent quite yet.

Yeah, I agree with you about no matter how good a CS pro player is, he can't carry his whole team all time. This is also what I loved about CS. It was more about the team vs team, especially in the top-tier team. Shame that xantares back when he was at his peak, no Türkiye organization can form and keep a team around him to kick start the Türkiye CS scene. Have to let him go with BIG.

Past is the past. Glad to see both xantares and woxic in the same team now. Someone mentioned woxic makes me remember I dig woxic too back then for his very unique high sens setting even though he was an awper. Thanks to that high sens, he got some really insane highlights with 'no way you can pull that flick' by typical low sens setting from the other tier 1 awper. paz and major are ex-space soldier too.

@Pulsar77
Have a great hope on Eternal Fire here, guys. I want to ask, what's the average reception for the Eternal Fire team on the Türkiye side?

[execijutiere]

Eternal fire qualified for the Rotterdam qualifiers yesterday, beating both iron branch and entropiq. Especially eternal fire has shown a good improvement. These successes are important, even if they seem like small qualifiers. They played Ancient map for the first time in an official match. They didn't show much presence in the terror part, but in the ct part they showed a game that showed that they worked really well. The fact that they lost the pistol round, took the force round and then didn't play a dominant game after that shows this.

[dothebeats]

Tough to watch Astralis getting beat this way, although you can't deny that Heroic's rotation and aim is all on point. Good to see that cadian is now being recognized by a lot of people from his playmaking and IGL abilities too. Lots of good clutches on that match against Astralis that deserves the highlight reel. IMO Astralis just needs to recollect and review where they went wrong. They are still a top 10 team deserving of that ranking, though there are some tournaments that really isn't just for you as other teams prepared more and grinded more to get to the level where they're at just for the tournament.

I would say, Astralis made Heroic look good.
Astralis is no longer the same juggernaut that they uses to be in their prime. Baitf is destroying the current roster with all his baiting and farlig with all his awp shot miss.
-blamef and -farlig is the only solution here.

I am really disappointed with the new ence. They are back to being Tier 2. Seems like spinx and hades were a crucial part of their success. Without them Ence is miserable.

Anyways, hopefully group D won't be a clusterfck like Group C

Watching blameF and Farlig is like watching a clown fiesta honestly. Lots of missed shots when the enemy is barely moving. Well, cadian, a known awper, is missing shots too, but not in the way farlig is doing. Imagine losing to a 1 ak 2 tec 9s and some flashes against an armed to the teeth CT on Nuke? Only Astralis can pull that off Lots of eco buys from Heroic looked and seemed good because Astralis cannot hold site properly.

Making pudge as a mid laner then it would be considerable but making it as a carry pos then i dont really see for it to be much effective unless if your offlaner did really build semi-carry items plus having that
farmed mid laner which might that able to carry you out because everything would really be depending on how your team mates would really help out their carry as much as possible.
Adjustments would be made but its true that Pudge will act out as a tank specially on mid-late game scenario and if opponents carries are fully farmed then Pudge would easily be fucked up.

Im rooting on T1 to get the spot on TI11 but unexpectedly Talon is really strong and same goes with Polaris.

IMO, there's no difference whether it's on mid or placed as a pos 1. What they've been doing is that they'll pick pudge on the pos 1 and then will have the mid as their main carry. It's been like in Dota 1 days that the tri-lane or safe lane works like that as what they intend to do in pudge.
Dota 2 is a game of strategy and defense so as long as what they're up to works, they'll do it again and that's why they've been using it because somehow it has worked before.

Pudge is only placed on the top lane on this meta because of his flesh heap and rot buff. He's still essentially the "offlaner" because his item builds will always lead to a more utility role later down the line. They just pick a farming mid like Ember or a farming offlane like Razor/DK and that will slowly transition to carry. They placed Pudge on the safelane because of how insanely strong 4 supports and offlaners are on the new patch, and Pudge can tank those in the early game due to his 3rd and still get some farm due to his high base damage and hook which he can use to 1 shot ranged creeps or large neutral camps.