The preview of ESL One New York 2018

The annual New York championship in the One series will be hosted on September 26-30. Its prize pool will amount $250,000 and eight teams from various parts of the planet will divide the grabs.

The general information

The organizers have been hosting ESL One New York every year since 2016, the prize pool and the number of participants remains the same. It’s worth to notice that the event is traditionally hosted at Barclays Center the third year in a row.

The format

This time as at the majority of championships, ESL has decided to use the developed system. The tournament will be hosted in two stages: the group stage and the playoffs. In the group stage, teams will be divided into two groups with four participants in each, where they will play by the GSL system. Teams will be seeded, according to the rate ESL CS:GO World Rankings and all matches of the first stage will be carried out in a bo3 format.

The top two teams will be selected from each group, they will continue their struggle for the title of the champion in the playoff stage. The first matches will be played in a bo3 series there and the grand final will be run in a bo5 format.

The analysis of the participants

Group A

Natus Vincere (a place in the rate by HLTV.org — #2)

At the moment, Natus Vincere competes with Astralis for the title of the best CS:GO team in the world. The CIS team managed to advance to the grand final at the recently finished Major tournament but didn’t beat the Danish titan of the CS:GO world. Despite the loss in the final match, Na’Vi enhanced its place in the world rate, which is created by HLTV.org. However, many viewers expected to see something more in the performance of “the yellow-black team”. They didn’t perform in the last match in the way they really could and won only 6 rounds on one of the maps. The representatives of mousesports will have to become the toughest opponent for Natus Vincere because Gambit is very weak and Fnatic plays with a stand-in. We think that Na’Vi will definitely have to advance to the playoffs and manage to get to the final of the championship.

The roster of Natus Vincere and the players’ rate:

Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev — 0.98Egor “flamie” Vasilyev — 1.08Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev — 1.32Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko — 0.94Denis “electronic” Sharipov — 1.26Mykhailo “kane” Blagin — a coach

mousesports (a place in the rate by HLTV.org — #7)

mousesports can’t be called an underdog or a favorite of the tournament for sure at the moment. At FACEIT Major: London 2018, they placed 15th-16th and were the first to be eliminated from The New Legends Stage, having the worst statistic among all participants of the stage. The European team still has chances to make it to the playoffs of ESL One New York 2018 as there are weaker opponents in the face of Gambit eSports and Fnatic, who made replacements on their roster a couple of days ago. The team’s things became a bit better after the signing of Snax but the results that the team shows are not what the head of mousesports and fans of the team have expected to see.

The roster of mousesports and the players’ rate:

Chris “chrisJ” de Jong — 0.99Tomas “oskar” Stastny — 1.05Robin “ropz” Kool — 1.06Miikka “suNny” Kemppi — 1.10Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski — 0.94Sergey “lmbt” Bezhanov — a coach

Fnatic (a place in the rate by HLTV.org — #14)

Fnatic showed a good result at the recent FACEIT Major: London 2018. There, the Swedes held the 9th-11th place, having lost the match for an advancement to the playoffs. Fnatic had placed 13th-16th at DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018 before that. Replacements have recently happened on the roster, which will decline the results. Robin “flusha” Ronnquist has left the main roster, who has been in the team since February this year. The Belgian esportsman, Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom, will play for the Swedes as a stand-in instead of him, he is famous for his performance in G2 Esports and Team EnVyUs. How can the team play, which roster had been completed for ESL One New York 5 days before the start of the tournament? The answer to the question is unlikely to be positive.

The roster of Fnatic and the players’ rate:

Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson — 1.07Jesper “JW” Wecksell — 1.03Richard “Xizt” Landstrom — 0.85William “draken” Sundin — 0.95Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom — 1.21Jimmy “Jumpy” Berndtsson — a coach

Gambit eSports (a place in the rate by HLTV.org — #20)

This CIS team can be called an obvious underdog of Group A for sure. Such an opinion emerged because there are such strong opponents as Natus Vincere and mousesports in the group. Let’s remind that mou has recently stated that he will leave the team due to the bad performance at the Major tournament, however, there is no official confirmation of the information from the organization. But Gambit eSports announced that ESL One New York 2018 will be the LAN tournament for HObbit, at which he will play under the tag of the esports organization because Abay Khassenov has been put on a transfer. Considering this fact, we can suppose that the moral part of the team leaves much more to be desired.

The roster of Gambit eSports and the players’ rate:

Mikhail “Dosia” StolyarovDauren “AdreN” KystaubayevRustem “mou” TelepovAbay “HObbit” KhassenovNikolay “mir” BityukovAndrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy — a coach

Group B

FaZe Clan (a place in the rate by HLTV.org — #5)

FaZe Clan is one of the favorites of the group. The European team held the 5th-8th place at FACEIT Major: London 2018. Such a result is good, considering all teams that have taken part in this Major tournament. The roster of FaZe Clan looks strong and competitive to participate in the New York championship. FaZe Clan’s performance depends on their preparation for the upcoming tournament and the team’s mood for a victory. FaZe Clan will have to beat G2 eSports and NRG eSports and advance to the semi-final, where they will probably finish their participation in the tournament.

The roster of FaZe Clan and the players’ rate:

Havard “rain” Nygaard — 1.09Finn “karrigan” Andersen — 0.92Nikola “NiKo” Kovac — 1.26Ladislav “GuardiaN Kovacs — 1.09Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer — 1.18Robert “RobbaN” Dahlstrom — a coach

Team Liquid (a place in the rate by HLTV.org — #3)

Team Liquid is the main favorite to advance to the playoffs. The Americans play on different levels with such participants of Group A as NRG eSports and G2 Esports. Liquid will have the biggest number of problems with FaZe Clan but if they try hard, they will manage to prevail over the Europeans. In the playoffs, Liquid will probably face mousesports or Fnatic. Nitr0 and the team will be strong enough to beat the first and the second opponent and as a result, they will make it to the grand final, where they likely will face Natus Vincere. Let’s remind that the Americans placed 3rd-4th at the recently finished FACEIT Major: London 2018, having not beaten its main opponent, the team Astralis. Natus Vincere will be the most dangerous for Liquid at ESL One New York 2018. Concluding all above-mentioned, it’s clear that Liquid is not only a favorite to advance to the playoffs but one of the main contenders to win ESL One New York 2018.

The roster of Team Liquid and the players’ rate:

Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella — 1.05Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski — 1.13Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken — 1.20Keith “NAF” Markovic — 1.19Epitacio “TACO” de Melo — 0.89Wilton “zews” Prado — a coach

NRG eSports (a place in the rate by HLTV.org — #13)

DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018 was the last championship, in which the representatives of NRG eSports took part, where the Americans placed 13th-16th and earned $2,000. NRG definitely can’t be called a favorite of the group. It’s unknown, in which form this team is now and the last results created doubts about NRG’s success at the upcoming championship.

The roster of NRG eSports and the players’ rate:

Jacob “FugLy” Medina — 1.07Damian “daps” Steele — 0.93Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte — 1.10Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov — 1.27Ethan “nahtE” Arnold — 1.20Chet “ImAPet” Singh — a coach

G2 Esports (a place in the rate by HLTV.org — #15)

Like NRG eSports, G2 Esports has the smallest chance to advance to the playoffs, at the first sight. This suggestion is due to the fact that G2 Esports is not in the very good gaming shape and hasn’t been able to improve their results for a very long time. Last time, G2 became the winner of a tournament more than a year ago. G2 placed 9th-11 at FACEIT Major: London 2018 and finished their participation in the tournament and didn’t advance to the final stage. The other two participants of Group B, Team Liquid and FaZe Clan, stood out by getting to the playoffs, so these two opponents are very dangerous for G2 Esports.

The roster of G2 Esports and the players’ rate:

Richard “shox” Papillon — 1.11Alexandre “bodyy” Pianaro — 0.97Kenny “kennyS” Schrub — 1.12Edouard “SmithZz” Dubourdeaux — 0.91Kevin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans (a stand-in) — 0.91Jerome “NiaK” Sudries — a coach