🕹️ Esports 🎮 Prediction & Discussion Thread

[jakelyson]

Heroic are currently at the top of world ranking by leaving Outsiders behind now. This is really interesting I think. Because I don't see any reason for them to get ahead of Outsiders now. Outsiders are still the last Major champions and Heroic didn't do anything extraordinary after that success. Even in the Blast Premier World Final, Heroic and Outsiders both were bad.

Heroic are even ahead by around 100 points. This is according to hltv ranking of course. However Heroic are in the first position in the ESL ranking as well. Liquid come right after them and we see Outsiders later. ESL take their own tournaments into consideration of course while determining the positions.

Outsiders won RIO Major in which Heroic comes in second. Heroic won Blast Premier Fall Finals. They placed first in those events. I think Heroic has the right to be named the top CS GO team this year. I think Heroic has been consistent this year. If they have won the Blast Premier World Finals, we should not be having this discussion. It could have cemented them becoming the top team. But, most of the top teams were eliminated early in the tournament. Maybe that is why Heroic stayed at the top of the rankings.

[CLS63]

Heroic are currently at the top of world ranking by leaving Outsiders behind now. This is really interesting I think. Because I don't see any reason for them to get ahead of Outsiders now. Outsiders are still the last Major champions and Heroic didn't do anything extraordinary after that success. Even in the Blast Premier World Final, Heroic and Outsiders both were bad.

Heroic are even ahead by around 100 points. This is according to hltv ranking of course. However Heroic are in the first position in the ESL ranking as well. Liquid come right after them and we see Outsiders later. ESL take their own tournaments into consideration of course while determining the positions.

Outsiders won RIO Major in which Heroic comes in second. Heroic won Blast Premier Fall Finals. They placed first in those events. I think Heroic has the right to be named the top CS GO team this year. I think Heroic has been consistent this year. If they have won the Blast Premier World Finals, we should not be having this discussion. It could have cemented them becoming the top team. But, most of the top teams were eliminated early in the tournament. Maybe that is why Heroic stayed at the top of the rankings.

Yeah maybe you are right.

Because Outsiders' surge in performance was so sudden that I bet most people weren't expecting that kind of a success in the Major from them. But their fall after that was at the same speed as well. They couldn't do much in the Blast Premier World Final. If they qualified for the finale in that tournament at least then I would have absolutely expected them to regain their lead in ranking. Heroic are really consistent for now but let's see how far they will be able to go like this.

[arallmuus]

Dang I could have sworn that this game was supposed to be played today but then they seems to postpone it to 27th probably due to christmas I'd assume. I was an idiot for not checking it earlier lol and I thought to myself that oh well I dont really need to watch it and as long as Nigma wins the game then Im good because I cant seems to find it on twitch .

[dothebeats]

I made a bet on this tomorrow. This is going to be the first game for Nigma with their new roster tomorrow so its kinda bold to be getting -1.5 on them but yeah I really want them to win this tomorrow. ATF is going to be debuting as a carry player tomorrow, imagine leaving Miracle aside for ATF to play with the team though

I think they wouldn't let go of Miracle for Ammar if the former hasn't decided to step off the active roster for a bit. They'd value Miracle more than ATF at this point and if NGX had a choice, they'd surely keep Miracle in the roster. What I'm worrying about is Kuro. The man has very little hero pool, very predictable hero drafts, and an overall lost sense of the previous metas as shown in the previous tournaments/matches. He's no longer on par with Puppey when it comes to drafting and being a pos 5 strategist actively playing for a team. His passion is there but his game sense isn't. which is just sad but understandable since he's getting really old.

Dang I could have sworn that this game was supposed to be played today but then they seems to postpone it to 27th probably due to christmas I'd assume. I was an idiot for not checking it earlier lol and I thought to myself that oh well I dont really need to watch it and as long as Nigma wins the game then Im good because I cant seems to find it on twitch .

Yup this was moved for tomorrow. Match ticker on gosugamers moved this for 1 day, 12 hours from now.

EDIT: I thought it's already the 26th in forum time. This should be on the 27th lol

[CLS63]

https://www.hltv.org/news/35289/astralis-sign-buzz

I've heard about this news recently.

MistR was playing as a stand-in for k0nfig before as you know but his time has ended. He has returned to the development squad. After that Astralis have signed a deal with MASONIC's 19-year-old player Buzz. He can be called as an okay player for now considering his performance in 2022. According to the news, Staehr and sjuush were also stronger options but they couldn't manage to sign any of them I'm afraid. Both of them are better players than Buzz on paper. But we don't know how big Buzz's potential is for now as well.

[arallmuus]

I made a bet on this tomorrow.

-snip

Well Nigma ended up losing two maps horribly against HellRaisers, I shouldnt have done this silly bet. Anyway, the schedule for this tournament is a bit messed up as it kept on getting changed but Nigma will be playing their next game against Entity in two more hours so good chance to make some money by betting against Nigma I guess

[boyptc]

I think they wouldn't let go of Miracle for Ammar if the former hasn't decided to step off the active roster for a bit. They'd value Miracle more than ATF at this point and if NGX had a choice, they'd surely keep Miracle in the roster. What I'm worrying about is Kuro. The man has very little hero pool, very predictable hero drafts, and an overall lost sense of the previous metas as shown in the previous tournaments/matches. He's no longer on par with Puppey when it comes to drafting and being a pos 5 strategist actively playing for a team. His passion is there but his game sense isn't. which is just sad but understandable since he's getting really old.

I bet to differ about kuro having low hero pool, in fact, for the past TIs he's got the record of having the most played for different heroes.

But I do get that he's on a different level now, not that positive level and I agree to you that he shouldn't be playing anymore. He's better to switch into coaching rather than playing.

There are other talented players that can play for him as a pos 5 but can't deny and argue about his experience. However, a change and push for him is a must if they want to see the team thrive.

[jakelyson]

I think they wouldn't let go of Miracle for Ammar if the former hasn't decided to step off the active roster for a bit. They'd value Miracle more than ATF at this point and if NGX had a choice, they'd surely keep Miracle in the roster. What I'm worrying about is Kuro. The man has very little hero pool, very predictable hero drafts, and an overall lost sense of the previous metas as shown in the previous tournaments/matches. He's no longer on par with Puppey when it comes to drafting and being a pos 5 strategist actively playing for a team. His passion is there but his game sense isn't. which is just sad but understandable since he's getting really old.

I bet to differ about kuro having low hero pool, in fact, for the past TIs he's got the record of having the most played for different heroes.

But I do get that he's on a different level now, not that positive level and I agree to you that he shouldn't be playing anymore. He's better to switch into coaching rather than playing.

There are other talented players that can play for him as a pos 5 but can't deny and argue about his experience. However, a change and push for him is a must if they want to see the team thrive.

I also believe Kuro has to switch his role at this point of his career. He should either manage his own team or become a coach. He is already 30 years old, and his mechanical skill will get slower and will not be able to compete against young players. Those young players will outplay him at this point in his career. His experience and knowledge of the game will best serve him if he uses it as a coach or team manager or owner. He should let the young ones play for his position and just train them.

[Peanutswar]

Recently I've watched the game between the Nigma Galaxy vs Entity well in the first game it's all smoothly with the nigma because of the dominating with the lesh and having a good backup with GH as always but in the second run they kept using the same hero as is of course and mostly it happens if you win the first draft you will keep stick with it, but of course having a proper execution and greediness makes a comeback to the game as usual they keep greedy with sumail and that's the reason they lose the game too much confident with the blood stone and late realization of BKB makes them lose this series.

[dothebeats]

I think they wouldn't let go of Miracle for Ammar if the former hasn't decided to step off the active roster for a bit. They'd value Miracle more than ATF at this point and if NGX had a choice, they'd surely keep Miracle in the roster. What I'm worrying about is Kuro. The man has very little hero pool, very predictable hero drafts, and an overall lost sense of the previous metas as shown in the previous tournaments/matches. He's no longer on par with Puppey when it comes to drafting and being a pos 5 strategist actively playing for a team. His passion is there but his game sense isn't. which is just sad but understandable since he's getting really old.

I bet to differ about kuro having low hero pool, in fact, for the past TIs he's got the record of having the most played for different heroes.

Most heroes played, on what efficacy anyway? Most of the heroes that he's played on a high level, he hasn't been very effective with save for the Enchantress that everyone and their mother knows how to use and knows how to dominate lanes with. Also, even when he's not using Enchantress, a support known to transition to a core somewhat in mid - late game, he's hogging the relatively safer farms on the map when it's supposed to be taken over by their 4 or their offlane. Game-sense wise and draft-wise, the dude's already falling off. It's not enough that you play many heroes in the big stage, the question is how well and effective you play those for them to be considered a hero in your hero pool.

But I do get that he's on a different level now, not that positive level and I agree to you that he shouldn't be playing anymore. He's better to switch into coaching rather than playing.

There are other talented players that can play for him as a pos 5 but can't deny and argue about his experience. However, a change and push for him is a must if they want to see the team thrive.

I also believe Kuro has to switch his role at this point of his career. He should either manage his own team or become a coach. He is already 30 years old, and his mechanical skill will get slower and will not be able to compete against young players. Those young players will outplay him at this point in his career. His experience and knowledge of the game will best serve him if he uses it as a coach or team manager or owner. He should let the young ones play for his position and just train them.

Exactly. Even Fear, one of the most mechanically gifted carry to ever play the game recognized that he's getting old, and after their win in 2015, he knew that his time playing this game professionally in a serious level is over, and he stepped down and began exploring coaching options for EG and some other teams. There are some stints of him still playing professionally but without success, and once he recognized that he stepped down and began being an analyst/coach for some teams and that's where he shines right now. Hopefully Kuro recognizes this and starts leaning towards just coaching the team and letting other young talent play and hopefully hone their skills and talents.

[CLS63]

https://www.hltv.org/news/35306/top-20-players-of-2022-introduction

There is a top 20 players list to be announced soon in CS:GO.

I'm putting XANTARES and s1mple to the top already.    As for a comparison between them I think XANTARES is one step ahead. He is like a beast really. Years are coming and going but XANTARES is still able to maintain his quality. Everyone knows "XANTARES peek" very well, right? So I think he is the best rifler as well currently. s1mple seems like he has lost a little from his skills recently but he is still such an amazing player of course. But in time, I think m0nesy has the potential to leave s1mple behind as an AWPer in the future. m0nesy has been under the spotlight for some time too as you know.

[boyptc]

I also believe Kuro has to switch his role at this point of his career. He should either manage his own team or become a coach. He is already 30 years old, and his mechanical skill will get slower and will not be able to compete against young players. Those young players will outplay him at this point in his career. His experience and knowledge of the game will best serve him if he uses it as a coach or team manager or owner. He should let the young ones play for his position and just train them.

Being the coach of Nigma.Galaxy is the best thing that he can ever do for the team. He should let someone who's younger but has got tremendous experience. No doubt and argument about his experience but he has achieved a lot already.

He's just going to be look like Dendi who's also trying hard but they've got reasons for it and it might be all about having fun. Dendi's definition of fun is like that and to keep competing.

But if Kuro's reason is to be competitive, he has to consider himself out of the roster.

Most heroes played, on what efficacy anyway? Most of the heroes that he's played on a high level, he hasn't been very effective with save for the Enchantress that everyone and their mother knows how to use and knows how to dominate lanes with. Also, even when he's not using Enchantress, a support known to transition to a core somewhat in mid - late game, he's hogging the relatively safer farms on the map when it's supposed to be taken over by their 4 or their offlane. Game-sense wise and draft-wise, the dude's already falling off. It's not enough that you play many heroes in the big stage, the question is how well and effective you play those for them to be considered a hero in your hero pool.

I have remembered Puppey's enchantress, Pup is also quite old but still doing it very well as we've seen for the past TI. But Kuro is just on another level and not as high as before.

You're right about acknowledging him as he's already falling off and about his performance dropping a lot.

Exactly. Even Fear, one of the most mechanically gifted carry to ever play the game recognized that he's getting old, and after their win in 2015, he knew that his time playing this game professionally in a serious level is over, and he stepped down and began exploring coaching options for EG and some other teams. There are some stints of him still playing professionally but without success, and once he recognized that he stepped down and began being an analyst/coach for some teams and that's where he shines right now. Hopefully Kuro recognizes this and starts leaning towards just coaching the team and letting other young talent play and hopefully hone their skills and talents.

Yeah, let's hope that he'll recognize it and considers it because he should notice that the fall of the team is because of him not giving way.

[Mauser]

There are no big tournaments happening right now, it's been a bit quite with good esports games happening over Christmas and between the year. Probably most gamblers where focusing on the worldcup and not on other sports. At least in China are some Dota matches being played in January with the DPC CN 2023 Tour 1 coming up. It's all of the big chinese teams competing for a 200,000 USD prize pool. On January 5th we have the first round starting with PSG LGD playing against Dawn Gaming which is going to be a pretty one sided match and should be a good win for PSG LGD. EHOME is playing against Invictus Gaming which is going to be a very close match in my opinion, I will go with Invictus Gaming for that one. On the 6th  Team Aster is going to play against Knights which is another save bet and Team Aster should be winning this one.

[dothebeats]

https://www.hltv.org/news/35306/top-20-players-of-2022-introduction

There is a top 20 players list to be announced soon in CS:GO.

I'm putting XANTARES and s1mple to the top already.    As for a comparison between them I think XANTARES is one step ahead. He is like a beast really. Years are coming and going but XANTARES is still able to maintain his quality. Everyone knows "XANTARES peek" very well, right? So I think he is the best rifler as well currently. s1mple seems like he has lost a little from his skills recently but he is still such an amazing player of course. But in time, I think m0nesy has the potential to leave s1mple behind as an AWPer in the future. m0nesy has been under the spotlight for some time too as you know.

S1mple remains as the top AWPer that's for sure, though you are right with m0nesy coming close to him as the kid proves that he's an extremely gifted player that can play under pressure at top tier games. For the best rifler/entry fragger, I do have a lot in mind. Xantares sure is one on the top, but NiKo is still there among the best riflers that 2022 had. Lots of finals wherein NiKo proved that he's still a force to be reckoned with handling the AKs or the M4s against solid teams. Jks can be in the top 20 list for sure, but he's not that consistently good so there's that.

There are no big tournaments happening right now, it's been a bit quite with good esports games happening over Christmas and between the year. Probably most gamblers where focusing on the worldcup and not on other sports. At least in China are some Dota matches being played in January with the DPC CN 2023 Tour 1 coming up. It's all of the big chinese teams competing for a 200,000 USD prize pool. On January 5th we have the first round starting with PSG LGD playing against Dawn Gaming which is going to be a pretty one sided match and should be a good win for PSG LGD. EHOME is playing against Invictus Gaming which is going to be a very close match in my opinion, I will go with Invictus Gaming for that one. On the 6th  Team Aster is going to play against Knights which is another save bet and Team Aster should be winning this one.

Ahh, Chinese dota scene. They are the ones kicking off the DPC tour in 2023 and I don't think I have the guts nor the interest to watch these games. So many times I've been burned by PSG.LGD and Team Aster on Tier 2 DPC runs on what seems to be a walk in the park for them. Lots of times when they could just have ended the game but no, they still have the prove something on that game that costs them the whole series or costs them the map. If you aren't that much familiar with the Chinese dota scene, I will suggest you to skip all of their events as much as you can. It's a whole different region out there and PSG.LGD's ranking in dota seems to be thrown off the bus when they're matched against another Chinese team.

[boyptc]

There are no big tournaments happening right now, it's been a bit quite with good esports games happening over Christmas and between the year. Probably most gamblers where focusing on the worldcup and not on other sports. At least in China are some Dota matches being played in January with the DPC CN 2023 Tour 1 coming up. It's all of the big chinese teams competing for a 200,000 USD prize pool. On January 5th we have the first round starting with PSG LGD playing against Dawn Gaming which is going to be a pretty one sided match and should be a good win for PSG LGD. EHOME is playing against Invictus Gaming which is going to be a very close match in my opinion, I will go with Invictus Gaming for that one. On the 6th  Team Aster is going to play against Knights which is another save bet and Team Aster should be winning this one.

Just a few more days to go and we're in 2023 where full of actions and DPC season is back by that time.

The change of roster for most teams especially in the SEA region, we'll see those new rosters and teams that we're hyped when they've announced their roster changes.

China region is one of the toughest region and looking at the teams for the upcoming DPC season, I'm not convinced since many teams don't have that known players. But I know all of them won't be there if they're not good as the others.

It's just all about my familiarity to them but I'll definitely watch most of their games.

Anyway, Christmas has passed, still Merry Christmas and Happy New year everyone.

[CLS63]

https://www.hltv.org/news/35306/top-20-players-of-2022-introduction

There is a top 20 players list to be announced soon in CS:GO.

I'm putting XANTARES and s1mple to the top already.    As for a comparison between them I think XANTARES is one step ahead. He is like a beast really. Years are coming and going but XANTARES is still able to maintain his quality. Everyone knows "XANTARES peek" very well, right? So I think he is the best rifler as well currently. s1mple seems like he has lost a little from his skills recently but he is still such an amazing player of course. But in time, I think m0nesy has the potential to leave s1mple behind as an AWPer in the future. m0nesy has been under the spotlight for some time too as you know.

S1mple remains as the top AWPer that's for sure, though you are right with m0nesy coming close to him as the kid proves that he's an extremely gifted player that can play under pressure at top tier games. For the best rifler/entry fragger, I do have a lot in mind. Xantares sure is one on the top, but NiKo is still there among the best riflers that 2022 had. Lots of finals wherein NiKo proved that he's still a force to be reckoned with handling the AKs or the M4s against solid teams. Jks can be in the top 20 list for sure, but he's not that consistently good so there's that.

NiKo is still a solid rifler yeah. But it is like there has been some drop in his performance level in the last month of the year especially. I don't know if this can push him a little down in the list.

I have seen a clip of m0nesy while he was teaching NiKo some trick he found on a map.    It feels different to see m0nesy teaching some good things to his bigger friends than himself. I mean NiKo is normally much more experienced than m0nesy when it comes to professional tournaments. But CS:GO is of course not like a game that you need to be very experienced by playing for professional teams to learn new things. It is all about practice and trying to discover something new after new updates especially.

[Balmain]

https://www.hltv.org/news/35306/top-20-players-of-2022-introduction

There is a top 20 players list to be announced soon in CS:GO.

I'm putting XANTARES and s1mple to the top already.    As for a comparison between them I think XANTARES is one step ahead. He is like a beast really. Years are coming and going but XANTARES is still able to maintain his quality. Everyone knows "XANTARES peek" very well, right? So I think he is the best rifler as well currently. s1mple seems like he has lost a little from his skills recently but he is still such an amazing player of course. But in time, I think m0nesy has the potential to leave s1mple behind as an AWPer in the future. m0nesy has been under the spotlight for some time too as you know.

Xantares is a good rifle player but I don't think we will see him top10. He has no success this year because as a team, we may not even see him in the top 20. Gradually, the top20 began to be announced, they are announcing the names one by one. I can say for sure that s1mple is in the top three. Twistzz, Ropz I expect either one to be in the top three. M0nesy should be in the top ten. I can say that Xantares is a player in decline due to his recent decisions. It's hard to understand why tier-A doesn't prefer a team anyway.

[CLS63]

https://www.hltv.org/news/35306/top-20-players-of-2022-introduction

There is a top 20 players list to be announced soon in CS:GO.

I'm putting XANTARES and s1mple to the top already.    As for a comparison between them I think XANTARES is one step ahead. He is like a beast really. Years are coming and going but XANTARES is still able to maintain his quality. Everyone knows "XANTARES peek" very well, right? So I think he is the best rifler as well currently. s1mple seems like he has lost a little from his skills recently but he is still such an amazing player of course. But in time, I think m0nesy has the potential to leave s1mple behind as an AWPer in the future. m0nesy has been under the spotlight for some time too as you know.

Xantares is a good rifle player but I don't think we will see him top10. He has no success this year because as a team, we may not even see him in the top 20. Gradually, the top20 began to be announced, they are announcing the names one by one. I can say for sure that s1mple is in the top three. Twistzz, Ropz I expect either one to be in the top three. M0nesy should be in the top ten. I can say that Xantares is a player in decline due to his recent decisions. It's hard to understand why tier-A doesn't prefer a team anyway.

I thought like that considering only the individual performances.

Otherwise of course XANTARES wouldn't be at the first position that easy. Eternal Fire have been a really big mess for a long time and there is no Space Soldiers spirit at all. I really miss those days.    This team have a potential though but they have been just bad with strategies. Anyway, the 19th and 20th players have already been announced. They are yuurih and Jame respectively. This might be a hint for us. Because Outsiders won the Major and Jame played great there. However he is still at the last position in this ranking.

[Balmain]

Top 20 players continue to be announced in order. 18th place is Spinx, 17th is frozen. When he was transferred to the Spinx Vitality team, I expected a higher performance from him, actually he is a player who gives what is expected, but he has more potential.

Will Boombl4 free offer him a team transfer, I think he deserves another chance to play at tier-1.

[arallmuus]

Decided to take this bet after I browsed them, odds are just too good to ignore I guess. PSG.LGD totally consist of almost entire different roster and this is their first game ever in an official tournament so they could be sloppy and somehow lose a map to Dawn Gaming. Well its still pretty early but hey its a start as Im pretty bored right now waiting for tournaments to start