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]]>Starseries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 will kick off on Monday, October 21 with the group stage, which will run for four days and conclude on Thursday, October 24. Playoffs will take centre stage from Friday, October 25 and conclude on Sunday, October 27 with the grand finals. Both the group stage and playoffs will use a double-elimination format, with all fixtures played in best-of-three (Bo3) series.
The 16 teams have been divided into two groups of eight based on their HLTV Rating. And while that means there are a handful of mismatches in round one, the double-elimination format gives every team a fair chance to prove themselves and aim for the stars.
With the basics covered and the tournament just around the corner, it’s time for us to look over the teams, favourites, underdogs and ultimately give our predictions on who do we believe is the team which will lift the trophy in Turkey.
Looking at the lineup that will be present at Belek, there are three teams who stand out from the rest. Unfortunately, they stand out because they are heavy underdogs. Those teams are 5Power Invictus Gaming and Imperial, who all share a +19900 quote. While they proved their worth in their respective qualifiers, they will have a hard time stacking up against the remaining teams in a Bo3 contest.
With those three teams out of the picture, we have G2 Esports (+3400), North (+2500), Heroic (+2100), Renegades (+2100), MiBR (+1500), AVANGAR (+1500), FURIA (+1500), mousesports (+1300) and Ninjas in Pyjamas (+1100) as the long shots for the title. Renegades, Heroic, FURIA, North and NiP have failed to impress with their recent performances and will struggle to match up with the top four teams here. While all are more than capable of putting a solid fight against most of the elite CS:GO teams out there, going all the way requires more than just that.
Mousesports, however, should not be ignored. It took them a while to get their wheels spinning, but it looks like they have finally found their rhythm. While they might lack the individual quality the top teams possess, mouz work well as a unit and could go far in Turkey.
G2 recently signed Nemanja “nexa” Isakovi? and Nemanja “huNter-” Kova? from CR4ZY, who are both very talented players. That being said, it looks like they need more time to adapt to their new roster, so don��t expect too much from G2 in Belek.
MiBR have had a rollercoaster of a season, with just as many impressive results as disappointing ones. As a whole, the team looks to be in a bad spot as of now. We expect them to perform well against some weaker teams, but once faced with the favourites, MiBR will fall flat.
That leaves us with Fnatic (+650), Team Vitality (+550), Natus Vincere (+360) and the tournament favourites, Evil Geniuses (+240).
It is easy to see why EG are heavily backed to win it all. The ex-NRG roster is on a rapid rise and looks a class above the rest of the field. Comparing the second and third favourite to triumph at Belek, we must side with NaVi over Vitality. While both teams look very solid with their recent results, it’s NaVi who are in our eyes the stronger side, and the main reason for it is Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kov��cs and his improvement in last couple of months. Vitalityrely too much on Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, who is an exceptional player but cannot do it all on his own.
Last but not least, we have to touch on Fnatic, who have been on the rise since they re-signed Robin “flusha” R?nnquist and Maikil “Golden” Kunda. Their surprising win at DreamHack Malmo put them back on the map and they will look to build on that momentum in Turkey.
Best bets for StarSeries & i-League Season 8
Evil Geniuses – +240 at BetOnline
Fnatic – +650 at BetOnline
Mousesports – +1300 at BetOnline
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]]>The post Starseries I-League Season 8 lineup and group draw revealed appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>The tournament follows on from Starseries I-League Season 7, which took place in Shanghai, China, from late March to early April.
Looking back at the Chinese event, it was Natus Vincere who claimed their second Starseries title with a fantastic performance against Fnatic in the grand finals (3-0).
With two titles and two runner-up finishes to their name, NaVi will enter season 8 as the most successful team in Starseries I-League history and will look to claim their third title to cement themselves as the alpha dogs.
Starseries I-League Season 8 will mark the 10th event in the history of the series and it will, just like season 7 feature 16 teams, who will battle it out for the lion’s share of $500,000 and the title of the champions.
Out of 16 participating teams, 12 received direct invites to the tournament, whereas the remaining four had to fight through their respective regional qualifiers.
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The teams who got invited to the event by the organizers are AVANGAR, Evil Geniuses, Fnatic, FURIA, G2, MIBR, mousesports, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, North, Renegades and Team Vitality.
On the other side, Belek will welcome Heroic, 5PowerGaming, Invictus and Imperial e-Esports as four teams who fought their way into the tournament via qualifiers.
Heroic qualified for Starseries I-League via European qualifiers, 5Power Gaming and Invictus Gaming came through Asian qualifiers, whereas Imperial e-Sports won the CBCS Season one tournament to qualify for the event.
On Thursday, October 17, the organisers announced the final details about the tournament, when they revealed the seeding of the 16 teams into two groups of eight, which was based on their HLTV ratings.
Group A: Fnatic, Imperial e-Sports, Renegades, MIBR, Team Vitality, mousesports, North.
Group B: Evil Geniuses, 5Power Gaming, Ninjas in Pyjamas, FURIA, AVANGAR, Heroic, Natus Vincere, G2 Esports.
The group stage will use a double-elimination format, with all fixtures played in best-of-three (Bo3) series. Top four teams from each group will advance into the playoffs, with the group stage winners receiving a direct invite into the upper bracket, whereas the group stage runners-up advance into the playoffs�� lower bracket.
The playoffs, which will kick off on Friday, October 25, will continue using the same double-elimination format, with all fixtures, including the grand finals, played in best-of-three (Bo3) series.
On top of the seeding and format, StarLadder also revealed the schedule of the day one and day two fixtures in Group A and Group B.
Group A
Monday, October 21
mousesports vs North – 10:00 TRT
Vitality vs Invictus Gaming – 10:00 TRT
Renegades vs MIBR – 13:30 TRT
Fnatic vs Imperial – 13:30 TRT
Upper bracket first semifinals – 17:00 TRT
Upper bracket second semifinals – 20:30 TRT
Group B
Tuesday, October 22
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs FURIA – 10:00 TRT
Evil Geniuses v 5Power – 10:00 TRT
Natus Vincere vs G2 – 13:30 TRT
AVANGAR vs Heroic – 13:30 TRT
Upper bracket first semifinals – 17:00 TRT
Upper bracket second semifinals – 20:30 TRT
Evil Geniuses will enter the tournament as heavy favourites, but they will have a lot to prove against the likes of Fnatic, Vitality and NaVi, who are all serious contenders to take home the largest slice of the $500,000 prize pool and the title of champions.
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]]>The post Shanghai to host $500k StarSeries i-League CS:GO finals appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports tournament now boasts a total prize pool of US $500,000, up from $300,000 in previous seasons.
The competition format has also undergone a makeover, with 12 teams earning direct invites.
Another invitation goes to Team Wild, the South American regional winners at Gamecon Brasilia 2018.
The remaining three places in the 16-team tourney are reserved for regional qualifiers from Asia, Europe and North America.
The finals series, to be staged live in Shanghai from March 30 to April 7, features a Swiss group stage with best-of-three matches.
��The South American region has plenty of players with high potential, but they are almost unable to prove themselves on the international stage and to become a part of some famous organization,�� said Sergey Bidzan, StarSeries i-League product manager.
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��Only a few teams have managed to ��escape�� from the region and, moreover, it became possible only due to great efforts and no smaller portion of luck.
��Starting in 2019, we are planning to open another way to the international stage for these players.
“We are starting to cooperate with local leagues and tournament organizers who can organize regional qualifications and send the best teams to the LAN-finals of StarSeries.��
This is also the first StarSeries i-League season to be held in China.
Minsk, Belarus hosted the first season, with the next five taking place in Kiev, Ukraine.
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