Paul “ReDeYe” Chaloner previews ESL One New York for CSGOBetting.com
ESL One New York is almost upon us and after a summer season of swaps and changes and holidays, it’s time for some teams to start stepping up. Starladder saw the return to form of some, the slump of others and the new faces shown to need a little more time to gel with new team mates. We’ve also had plenty of action in ESL Pro League (all be it, online) and Virtus Pro and Envy have claimed a lan tournament since Starladder.
So what does it all mean and who are the favourites headed in to New York? That’s actually a tough question to answer!
The first issue you need to consider is the format. It’s a bit different to most tournaments, using Swiss groups, which is similar to that used in chess more commonly and means it’s much harder to see who might play who. That already makes things tricky when it comes to finding a winner, but one thing stands out: momentum. If you can get in to the swing of things early, not lose any of your opening matches and stay out front with as many “lives” left as possible, you’re gonna be there or thereabouts come the end of the tournament.
As I write this, we still don’t know the final 8th team either, again something that makes it hard to pick a winner from without this information. But with all that said, there is enough form from the last few weeks to suggest a few stand out names from the crowd.
Firstly, SK Gaming are involved and you can never count out the double winning Major champions, even if their most recent form saw them upset by Optic Gaming a little over a week ago. When the time comes to head on stage, the Brazilians are usually ready, willing and very able. Virtus Pro are another you can never count out when it comes to LAN and with an impressive bounce back championship at DreamHack Bucharest last week under their belt, you’d be a fool to back against them in New York. They travel well too and love playing in front of a big noisy crowd and they will have plenty of support.
Of the rest, Astralis and G2 have shown flashes of great play and are dangerous at any time in the tournament, Na’Vi with Simple can’t be counted out despite the poor showing at StarLadder and Team Liquid on home ground should be a force to be reckoned with. Fnatic head to New York a little harder to estimate with some great and some awful results, perhaps to be expected as the team gels and learns how to play as a team but I can’t see how they can improve their consistency in such a short space of time. Expect them to have some surprise wins and perhaps some surprise losses too.
So overall, pushed to pick out a winner, I’d have to say with all the changes, the interesting format and the inconsistency of some of the top teams I’d have to plump for the most stable line up in the business Virtus Pro to come out on top in New York. But then, I said that in Kiev three weeks ago and they went out in the group stages… Counter Strike: Global Inconsistency.
ReDeYe’s tentative selections: Virtus Pro to win ESL One New York (4/1, 5.00 Betway) & Virtus Pro (7/10, 1.70 Betway) vs Fnatic.
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ReDeYe’s Virtus Pro take on Fnatic in their first game of the tournament on Friday. Make sure to tune in!
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