ESL One Katowice Team Previews

       PENTA Sports will be entering Katowice as one of the eight Legends following their impressive, and somewhat surprising, performance at the last CS:GO Major, DreamHack Winter 2014. Long-standing members Kevin “kRYSTAL” Amend, Denis “denis” Howell and Timo “Spiidi” Richter will be looking to repeat this success and perhaps build upon it while star player Johannes “nex” Maget, who joined the team in late December 2014, and new addition Tobias “Troubley” Tabbert, will be looking for a taste of their teammates’ success. However, with the surprise departure of in-game leader Hendrik “strux1” Goetzendorff on February 24, the German team will have their work cut out for them even more than they did before. Before we can discuss PENTA in more detail, however, it is important to review the team’s DreamHack performance which shocked the world.

      DreamHack Winter 2014 saw the German squad reach the quarter-final stage, secure Legend status along with a free pass for ESL One Katowice 2015 and reap the sticker money rewards that this entails. PENTA’s hopes looked slim coming into the event with a group consisting of themselves, Team Dignitas, iBUYPOWER and Copenhagen Wolves who entered as a late replacement for the disqualified Titan squad. The lineup, which at the time consisted of kRYSTAL, denis, Spiidi, Felix “fel1x” Zech and Robin “r0bs3n” Stephan, certainly went into the groups as the underdog who many saw as being there to merely “make up numbers.” However, after a phenomenal comeback against iBUYPOWER in the deciding match of the group, PENTA advanced to the playoff stage in second place behind Dignitas. The dream would come to an end in the quarter-final match against Virtus.pro, but the German team gave a strong account of themselves and cemented themselves as a team to be reckoned with on the international scene.

      PENTA will be carrying the weight of a nation on their shoulders come March 12th as they are the only German hope after mousesports failed to qualify. This may come as little surprise to some as the team has continued their impressive international run into the New Year with a third place finish at the Acer A-Split Invitational in December and a fourth at ASUS ROG Winter 2015 in January, out-placing their German rivals in both LAN events. This consistency came in spite of the team changes that took place on December 29, 2014, where the somewhat shocking announcement was made that the team would be replacing fel1x and r0bs3n with Planetkey Dynamics members nex, who had already played as a stand-in for denis during PENTA’s successful Acer A-Split Invitational campaign, and veteran player strux1. Spiidi, speaking at the time, cited inconsistency and the lack of a true shot caller as the main reasons for breaking up the most successful German CS:GO team in history.

      The addition of nex to the team should present PENTA with more in terms of raw fragging potential than ever before. In the eyes of many, the all-round rifler is the star of the team and the best player in Germany, and his statistics certainly do a lot to give weight to that argument. The 22-year-old boasts an impressive 1.18 kills-to-death ratio, only outdone domestically by new teammate Troubley at 1.19 and mousesports star Chris “chrisJ” de Jong at 1.22. Certainly, if recent performances are anything to go by, nex will be a man to watch out for at Katowice and his team will be relying on his continued good form if they wish to build on their recent success. Meanwhile, strux1 may have offered slightly less at first glance than the dominant nex, but the in-game leader and secondary AWPer was, in truth, the brains behind the whole operation. If the recent victories over HellRaisers and Virtus.pro in the group stage at ASUS ROG Winter were anything to go by, the two newest additions to PENTA had given the team an edge against the elite teams that was missing previously. However, the team looked weak in the best-of-three stages against similar competition, perhaps suggesting a lack of team cohesion--something that was confirmed when strux1 shocked the community by announcing his departure from the team, stating that there were great differences between the rest of the team and himself. Replacing strux1 will be Troubley. Fresh from a short and relatively unsuccessful stint in mousesports, Troubley will be looking to prove that he is still one of the best players in Germany. The opportunity to compete at a major tournament will surely be all the motivation the 22-year-old rifle specialist will need to bring his best to this PENTA roster. The big question is who will take on the role of in-game leader after the loss of strux1? Troubley has shot-called previously in the Planetkey Dynamics team that included his new PENTA teammate, nex, and statements from the PENTA Sports manager suggest that he could be taking the role within his new team. Whether this could affect Troubley’s in-game performance is difficult to assess but should be answered fairly quickly during the group stages; it is unlikely that he will stray too far from the framework that strux1 set in place with such a short amount of time.

      Of the heroic DreamHack Winter 2014 lineup, three still remain. Spiidi is the captain of the team and a solid rifler who most often takes the role of lurker. The 19-year-old has tasted a huge amount of success at such an early stage in his career and will be looking to build upon that with another strong showing at Katowice. 20-year-old denis plays as an all-rounder within the team; the rifler will often be seen swapping entry fragging duties with nex and he can also be pretty handy with the AWP when he picks it up. kRYSTAL can be the biggest x-factor in the lineup as the 21-year-old is the team’s main AWPer and has the potential to shut down any map when he is at his best. The former Counter-Strike: Source professional has shown signs of brilliance with the sniper rifle in CS:GO, most notably on Mirage, but also comes under regular criticism from the community for not being the most consistent of players and has been known to miss some “easy” shots. However, it is undoubtable that when kRYSTAL is playing at his best, he can compete with the best AWPers in the world, something he will have to do if the team is to find success at the major. Of all the players on PENTA, it could well be kRYSTAL that is the deciding factor between a win and a loss when it comes to crunch time as his picks and entry kills can change the entire outcome of a game. If the team is unable to work together and did not choose the correct individual to lead the team, they could be in serious trouble.

      Analysing PENTA’s ability on individual maps is fairly difficult as they did not play a great deal of matches with their recent lineup. However, Cache, Dust 2 and Mirage were the team’s most played maps and were arguably their best with the previous roster. Statistics suggest that they are also strong on Inferno despite the 0-16 loss that they suffered against Titan at ASUS ROG Winter. PENTA often goes for very standard setups on the Terrorist side, working areas of the map to try to gain a pick and then deciding on their strategy after this. The key for the team will be to lock down their Counter-Terrorist sides as they often perform above expectations on the attacking team, a characteristic that could be pivotal given the current CT meta. On their bread-and-butter map, Mirage, kRYSTAL will often be seen mixing up his positions on the CT side with his AWP which can cause a nuisance for any team when he is performing at his best. PENTA is known for the squad’s innovative boosts and link-ups, especially on the CT side of Cache. Innovation at Katowice will be important if the Germans want to keep the elite teams on their toes. Their 0-3 record on Overpass suggests that this is a map that they should avoid at all costs and highlights how important the veto phase could be; a perceived victory in the map-veto stage can be just the mental edge that a team requires and may allow a relatively new lineup such as PENTA to avoid maps that they have not put the same level of practice into.

      Despite the apparent strengthening of the roster in the fragging department and their recent form at LAN events, the odds will once again be stacked against PENTA when Katowice kicks off in March. If the team wishes to hold on to their Legend status they will have to be on top form at what promises to be the most competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major to date. Losing the tactical mind of strux1 could be a massive blow and the team will have to work together to create new strategies if they are to overcome some of the most talented teams on Earth; all five players will have to perform at the top of their game. PENTA was drawn into Group B for Katowice along with Titan, LGB eSports and DreamHack Winter champions Team EnVyUs; they will have a tough time advancing but could certainly pull an upset win against one of the favoured teams and escape from the group stages once again.

      At the end of December 2014, the previously heralded organization, LGB eSports, made its way back into CS:GO by scooping up what was then London Conspiracy. Fans of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive recalled the pinnacle of the LGB that once triumphed over Fnatic to make it to the semi-finals of EMS One Katowice. For the Norwegian CS:GO scene, this was a big step forward.

      Three of the members on the current LGB squad are no strangers to being on the top team in Norway. Ruben "RUBINO" Villarroel, Håvard "rain" Nygaard and Pål "Polly" Kammen form a trio that has consistently found themselves as the best Norway has to offer, with RUBINO and Polly doing so since the heydays of H2k. Joakim "jkaem" Myrbostad is a relatively new and inexperienced player in professional CS:GO, while the last member of the team and in-game leader, Morten "zEVES" Vollan, had a short tenure with Swedish lineups such as Lemondogs and AliGon before making his way back to Norway.

      The only appearance by a Norwegian team in a major to date was London Conspiracy's during ESL One Cologne, in which they dropped out of the group stage after an abrupt 0-2 outing. In short, Norway has yet to win a single map on the biggest stage CS:GO has had to offer. The current LGB roster will be looking to make history as the first lineup to do so, but the task before them is arduous.

      The team as a whole is, quite frankly, wondrously mediocre. The 20-year-old rain has proven to be one of the best raw talents to represent the Norwegian scene, but he, similarly to the rest of his team, is far from consistent. Statistically speaking, every player on the team, with the exception of in-game leader zEVES, is firmly middle-of-the-pack, and it is difficult to say whether the team could make the strides necessary to consistently battle with tier-1 teams.

      The team prides itself in a very team-oriented playstyle, opting to execute onto sites with at least four members with RUBINO as the main lurker when necessary. Rain and jkaem serve as the team's main riflers as Polly acts as the team's primary AWPer. While the Norwegians have shown the ability to adapt and switch up their tactics against other tier-2 teams, and have occasionally displayed brilliant executions on both their Terrorist and Counter-Terrorist sides, the strings seemingly fall apart when they are faced with a team of a higher caliber. The LGB that faces a team such as Property or FlipSid3 Tactics is almost nowhere to be seen when facing off against a team of Fnatic's or even Titan's caliber. They become slow to adapt, predictable, and all-around sloppy, and one must wonder if they are lacking the correct mentality to take their game to the next level.

      The team seems to favor Inferno and Cache, playing those maps the most and even securing their spot at Katowice's main event with Inferno wins over Copenhagen Wolves and FlipSid3, and even upsetting (an albeit slumping) Virtus.pro on Cache at IOS Pantamera. They also managed to defeat Team SoloMid in overtime on Mirage during a recent FACEIT match and put up a showing on their Terrorist side against Natus Vincere on the same map. Their map pool seems wholly restricted to those three maps, however, as their showings on Dust 2 have been less than stellar.

      With that said, LGB does have an actual shot at making it out of Group B, let alone securing Norway's first map at a major. Grouped with Team EnVyUS, PENTA Sports and Titan, the Norwegians will be battling the Germans in their first match, a team that lost their in-game leader merely weeks before the tournament and a team right around their level. If LGB can channel the usual form that allows them to run over other tier-2 teams, they certainly have a strong possibility of taking down PENTA. Were that to happen, LGB could potentially upset Kévin "Ex6TenZ" Droolans' team either in the winners match or decider match (depending on whether Titan defeats nV/PENTA) if the Belgian leader somehow miraculously, for the third straight time at a major, ends up choking in the group stage (don't bet on it though). LGB has little to no chance in toppling nV, a team that could purely out-skill the Norwegians without breaking a sweat, so their chances will mainly lie in defeating PENTA and Titan.

Whatever the result, we all know who the true winner is: the polar bear.

      With the final list of participants for ESL One being rounded out by the eight teams from the LAN qualifier in February, much of the buzz around Katowice is about the big name teams— Ninjas in Pyjamas, Fnatic, and Team EnVyUs all dominate conversations about the upcoming major. This attention is of course rightfully due as those are, almost inarguably, the top three teams in the world. Perhaps the team most people are forgetting to mention, however, are the Frenchmen in Titan. With a reinvigorated lineup, and with Cédric "RpK" Guipouy settled comfortably into Global Offensive, Titan is looking to be in top form. After facing months of hardship, Kevin "Ex6TenZ" Droolans's Titan is a team fighting tooth and nail for the glory it once knew.

      After the November VAC ban of Hovik “KQLY” Tovmassian, many suspected another French shuffle was imminent. Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom, who was replaced by KQLY in Titan, played his role as a wildcard during the uncertainty, but remained with a now-defunct Epsilon. At the same time, EnVyUs (former LDLC) was looking stable as ever, and had no incentive to participate in a roster change. Amidst the chaos in the French scene, December's ESEA LAN served only to disappoint hopeful Titan fans. Competing with Jeremy “ioRek” Vuillermet, the team's manager, as their temporary fifth man, the team placed below their standards and not once seemed to be comfortable in their play, save for Kenny “KennyS” Schrub. At this point, many were questioning the future of Titan as a world-class team, as well as the future for the French scene as a whole. After an arduous month-long period without a fifth, however, Titan chose to take a chance and resurrect a Counter-Strike: Source legend in RpK.

      Even with their new arrival, Titan was not out of the ditch yet. RpK had never picked up CS:GO as a competitive title and had only a few hundred hours on record at the time he joined the team. His first appearances with the team were shaky at best. Awkward movement and unnatural gun control marred what appeared to be a still-sharp game sense, which shined through his rusty mechanics as a sign of clear potential. Though many saw what they perceived as Titan's downfall in these months, the Frenchmen's results at ASUS ROG Winter began to stifle doubters and raise the hopes of fans who had persevered. RpK's hours in Global Offensive had clearly paid off and he had shed most of the major signs of rust and discomfort in his play. After a successful group stage run pushed them to the brackets, Titan faced the Germans in PENTA Sports for their spot in the grand finals. After a nail-biting victory in the first map, Titan proceeded to deliver a rare 16-0 trouncing on Inferno, taking the series handily at 2-0. The grand finals against NiP played out similarly, but not in favor of the French,. Titan lost the series 0-2 but took the first map to all 30 rounds. Overall, ASUS ROG showed great things for the future of a Titan who had lost their way in the latter half of 2014.

      Only a week later, during another successful run at Inferno Online Pantamera, the French five showed the extent of the potential in their lineup--beautiful, cohesive play throughout, only falling to the Swedish elite in Fnatic during a narrow grand finals series. Pantamera was not only a second solid run for a young lineup, but was also proof that ASUS ROG was no fluke. The new Titan was here to stay. In the month or so since Pantamera, Titan has further pushed itself in competition against tier one teams, solidifying the squad's place as a true contender for the title at ESL One. That said, Titan is not quite as consistent as the world's top three or even top five. They've proven they can beat the likes of EnVyUs and NiP, even in series play, but still struggle against Fnatic and Virtus.pro. Additionally, the new Titan has a tendency to drop a map or series unexpectedly—losses to teams like Gamers2, Property, dAT, etc. It's not only widespread inconsistency, but perhaps a mental facet of their game which could use some tightening up. On the stage at Katowice, however, the stakes are high and every map matters.

      Most of the teams below the top five have a notable x-factor to their game, typically a player who is charged and can make high-impact plays at any moment. In that regard, well, it's no secret that kennyS has been Titan's star player since the initial French shuffle. Perhaps no player across 2014 had bigger and more consistent game impact than kennyS. So far in 2015, his individual game is just as impressive—a daring, aggressive style of play, full of highlight reel flick shots and unbelievable clutches. KennyS is a major threat to any team or player in the world. However, across his career, he's had a certain penchant for playing on teams that clearly don't deserve him. The politics of the French scene, both before and after the shuffle, have kept the world's best AWPer out of a top team for a shockingly long time. With Titan playing the way they have been in 2015, though, kennyS may finally have a team foundation capable of supporting his raw talent.

      Also worthy of note is the performances out of Dan “apEX” Madesclaire in the last few months. He had been a solid, consistent rifler for much of his career in Global Offensive, but now apEX seems to be playing out of skin during key matches in 2015. He shares with many other entry fraggers this volatile energy in his play, allowing him to shut down pushes with perfect, precise headshots or to run into a site and open the round with two savage entry kills. When he's on his game, apEX commands the map in such an untouchable fashion. Paired with kennyS's AWP and commanded by the mind of Ex6TenZ, we may see an extremely deadly force in the form of these two impact fraggers come game day, but nagging inconsistency issues may hinder the powerful rifler once more.

      Conversely, many teams also have a player with a propensity to underperform and break down under pressure. On this end of the spectrum lies Mathieu “Maniac” Quiquerez. A consistent dead weight for the team, Maniac rarely makes important plays for Titan and seems to lose battles wherever he goes. There are certainly games where he holds his own, but anything more than that is almost unheard of from Maniac in 2015. Maniac's role as a support player in Titan doesn't lend itself to multi-frags and intense play—and that's fine, it doesn't have to. But whenever he's put into a scenario where he has to fight or rely on his aim, Maniac crumbles and fails to hold his ground. Consistently bottoming the scoreboard in 2015 matches, Maniac is perhaps the biggest factor that could hold Titan back. If he plays his role and can stay on point, however, Titan will be well-rounded and tough to stop.

      Fans of the French organization will have much to look forward to in Katowice, and that for many is a treat long overdue. The final quarter of 2014 was filled with controversy and uncertainty for Titan, leaving hopes shattered and fans dejected. It took them a considerable amount of time, but we're finally seeing Titan play to their level and prove that picking up RpK was the right choice. In their current form, Titan has a great shot to make it out of groups at ESL One, where they will face their French rivals in nV, PENTA, and LGB eSports, but Ex6TenZ's history at majors proves ominous. Once in the bracket stage, however, the French five will pose a real threat to the Legends on their thrones.

      Formerly Astana Dragons, the reformed HellRaisers boasted an incredible amount of raw firepower and the explosive power of a few key members with the ability to duel top tier riflers. While not the most tactic-heavy team, HellRaisers are well known for their reliance on one-on-one duels to get the opening in the round, often to the last possible moment before they storm a site and attempt a bomb plant, where they will either run head first into an enemy’s arms, or bulldoze through and capture a round. Since their formation, they have undergone a few roster changes, losing Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev for a time before he recently rejoined the team along with his dAT teammate Egor “flamie” Vasilyev, dropping Yegor “markeloff” Markelov and Alexander “s1mple” Kostylev in the process.

      Formidable in its conception, HellRaisers has struggled the past year to find their footing among the top teams. They consistently contested top tier teams online and offline, most notably upsetting Fnatic at Dreamhack Winter in the group stages and more recently Virtus.pro at Assembly Winter. Due to the nature of their team, they flourish in best-of-one scenarios and group stages, where a quick win can catapult them to the top of the rankings. As such, you will usually see them stumble during the quarter and semi-finals as teams are more prepared against a known opponent.

      Coming into Katowice, HellRaisers face a tough challenge, as two major factors can be identified that could possibly hinder their performance greatly and cause them to potentially lose their usual bracket stage placing. First, the loss of their coach, Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy. Towards the end of 2014, we saw the rise of the elusive sixth player--the coach--come into play as top teams began picking up retired professional players to help their team during a heated match. Notably Jonatan “Devilwalk” Lundberg and Faruk “pita” Pita have been attributed to helping both Fnatic and Ninjas in Pyjamas in their recent success. Similarly, captain of the team Kirill “ANGE1” Karasiow has stated that B1ad3 helped their team immensely as it allowed him and the team to focus on simply picking duels and winning them, while simultaneously being able to execute more complex strategies thanks to the watchful eye of B1ad3.

      Their most notable success with B1ad3 was during Dreamhack Winter, when they crushed Cloud9 on Inferno and eked out a win against Fnatic on one of the Swedes’ strongest maps, Mirage. It unfortunately fell to pieces once again in the quarter-finals as they lost to NiP in dizzying fashion. However, HellRaisers were undoubtedly at their peak during that period, being able to take games off Titan, LDLC, Fnatic and NiP at various LANs. This ties in to the second major factor, which is the loss of s1mple, the sniping child prodigy. When they picked him up in September of last year, people were skeptical as this was the first roster change made to the HellRaisers lineup since its inception. With AdreN underperforming both online and offline, s1mple was a fine addition to the team, and soon elevated it to the next level. As the game continued to require a dedicated AWPing role, s1mple filled it perfectly, and it created openings on their Terrorist sides that would never have been possible with a rifle. Unfortunately, as this major is hosted by ESL, s1mple would have to be replaced, be it through a stand-in or being cut as he is currently banned by ESL for cheating.

      HellRaisers decided to drop s1mple early and try and regain some team chemistry by picking up AdreN once again as well as flamie, an explosive rifler. What this means for the team is that they are forced to go back to the drawing board and attempt to restructure the team around their old playstyle, which is inconsistent at best. With s1mple and markeloff gone, they now rely on Emil “kucher” Akhundov, a competent but conservative sniper, who manages to play the role well, but can flounder under pressure. Mihail “Dosia” Stolyarov is the cornerstone of the team, being one of the more consistent players. An incredible rifler, Dosia has the firepower to rival the best players in the top teams, contributing massively to any HellRaiser win. However, when Dosia falters, the rest of the team usually crumbles with him.

      Due to the nature of HellRaiser’s play style, their map selection becomes quite restricted, as strategy-heavy maps become much harder for a team that relies on their aim and execution to carry them forward. As a result, a map like Cache is often vetoed, while Mirage remains one of their strongest maps, with a great win against Fnatic, an amazing team in their own right on Mirage. Inferno is also a strong map for them, boasting a win against LDLC in Starseries, though they just squeaked by beating them 22-19 in a tense overtime.

      While this preview may seem overly negative towards HellRaisers, it is simply because the blueprint of a great team was in place, and with the removal of s1mple and markeloff, the team is markedly in a worse shape than it was in the summer of 2014. While it is possible that HellRaisers can make it to the bracket stage over Counter Logic Gaming and Keyd Stars, there remains the plain fact that HellRaisers has never advanced past the quarter-finals in a major, and with their team in what could arguably be the worst shape since the first departure of AdreN, Hell will freeze over before HR puts up a consistent performance against the top teams.

      A relatively new face in the scene, the former mouseSpaz team represents the new age of North American Counter-Strike. What they lack in a strong and disciplined team, they make up in agility and firepower with a knack for explosive individual plays. Qualifying for the MLG X Games in Aspen under mouseSpaz after defeating Torqued and iBUYPOWER, they then teamed up with the popular North American League of Legends team at the start of the new year, and Counter Logic Gaming has already made splashes in the scene domestically and abroad.

      They showed promise by defeating then- LDLC in an incredibly close game on Dust 2, with Peter “ptr” Gurney proving to be an excellent crackshot with the sniper rifle, rivalling Edouard “SmithZz” Dubourdeaux on what is undoubtedly his strongest map. While they then lost to fellow Americans Team Liquid and Fnatic later on in the tournament, the relatively new side still proved they can go toe to toe with some of the best in the world. They took this a step further by qualifying for the year’s first major, and while the other North American teams, Liquid and Cloud9, got direct invites to the offline qualifier, CLG waded through team after team to earn their spot, besting the likes of Area 51, Mythic and taking revenge on Team eLevate for defeating them at Clutch Con.

      At the offline qualifier, they had a tough road ahead of them, having to first face the former ESC team, Gamers2, and barring a loss, needed to defeat Titan to clinch the qualifying spot. Here we saw CLG continue to struggle with Cache. Having lost to Liquid in a shocking 5-16 defeat at MLG, they started off strong with an 11-4 half against the Poles but conceded round after round on the Terrorist side before barely squeaking out the win 16-14. This is proving to be a pressing problem for CLG, which can be attributed to their indecisive leadership. Originally leading the team was Pujan “FNS” Mehta, who had led the team through their various iterations from NetcodeGuides to mouseSpaz and seemingly became the de facto in-game leader for the team after they picked up Tarik “tarik” Celik and ptr. However, prior to the offline qualifiers, it was stated that ptr would take over calling, in an effort to try something new and see how it impacted the team. With two wins, albeit narrow ones, and the qualification spot secured, one would think that CLG would continue with ptr leading the team, however it was recently revealed that ptr only really in-game led three games in total, the two qualifier games and an ESEA league game. This calls into question FNS’ role as a player and leader, as he stated that ptr was essentially doing the same thing he was, so they decided to switch back to him. Consequentially, however, this gives ptr an opportunity to focus on his AWPing, which proved to be quite inconsistent after his marvelous display at MLG.

      Needless to say, there are similarities to Cloud9’s past history with leadership, and CLG may follow a similar path and find themselves at odds with exactly what each player wants to do. One player that knows exactly what his job is though is tarik, the star player of the team. He is the star fragger of the team, being able to act as a secondary AWP or be part of the main force coming into the site after an entry frag. As a result, he usually finds himself at the top of the scoreboard, and is one of the most impactful players on the team. Against Titan, tarik went 31-15, besting Kenny “kennyS” Schrub’s 26-21 scoreline. Even when he isn’t at the top, he helps the team by winning clutch rounds such as the 10th round against Gamers2 where he stopped Karol “rallen” Rodowicz from grabbing a 4th round on the Terrorist side, breaking their economy and setting them spiralling out of control.

       Stephen “reltuC” Cutler is one of the team’s primary entry fraggers, and alongside James “hazed” Cobb, makes up the stable riflers on the team. While hazed is known for his prowess with the Deagle, opening eco rounds with multiple headshots with the pistol, Cutler is a much more known quantity. He is the consistent pillar of the team, and while he may not explode and top the scoreboard every game, he can be relied on to get key frags and perform his role to a tee.

      Coming into Katowice, CLG is looking strong with a 10 match win-streak in online leagues. However, they have been playing against other North American teams and have to keep tempered expectations going into their group against top European competition. Placed in Group C alongside their close friends Keyd Stars, the Brazilian side who recently left their old organization KaBuM, as well as Ninjas in Pyjamas and :cis: HellRaisers. Up against HellRaisers in their first match, CLG have drawn a tough first opponent as HR has continually proven that they are monstrous in the group stage where best of ones decide the fate of a team and tensions run high. However, with their recent roster change, HellRaisers have looked incredibly rough and CLG do have a chance at an upset. For that, they have to look towards a stellar veto process and hope to draw Dust 2 against the CIS side and capitalize against their biggest weaknesses--a strong AWPer and a rigid CT defense. If ptr can effectively shut down Emil “kucher” Akhundov, and if they allow HellRaisers to run down the clock and force them to run into a site, they stand a strong chance of taking the map. However, if they allow a map like Mirage or Inferno to be selected, the North Americans will face a tough challenge.

      Moving forward, if CLG bests HellRaisers, they have a strong chance of making it out of the group, as while they may lose to NiP, they have the chance to face Keyd Stars or have a rematch against HR in the deciding match. Their chances beyond that are uncertain, however, as it is unknown who they could possibly face. While the North American scene has suffered these past few months, a top eight finish or better will continue to prove that it is a region to be reckoned with.

       Keyd Stars, formerly KaBuM.TD, started life as KaBuM e-Sports and officially merged with ProGaming.TD after ESWC 2014 to form the roster of Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga, Caio "zqk" Fonseca, Ricardo "boltz" Prass and Lucas "steel" Lopes. Under the KaBuM.TD banner, they were able to attend events such as MLG X Games Aspen and Clutch Con due to increased funding. After showing that they could indeed compete outside of their homeland, FalleN and crew were destabilized by organizational failure to support their goals to attend the ESL One Katowice offline qualifiers. Thanks to community support and help from ESEA and Robin “flusha” Rönnquist, they were able to make their way to Poland. Subsequently, after trouncing the new Team Dignitas roster 16-3 in their final match, they were able to qualify for the main event. Soon after qualifying, the managed to find a new organization which was capable of meeting more of their needs in Keyd Stars.

      Keyd Stars has shown in their past performances that they can compete with more established teams, most notably in their handling of some of the world’s best teams on Mirage during MLG and Clutch Con. FalleN, the veteran of the group, has shown that he can help lead this relatively young and talented team in large events despite their problems with organizations. FalleN is an impressive AWPer in his own right, showing great form especially at Clutch Con against Team eLevate as one of the top fraggers in their nail-biting overtime game. fer, one of the riflers of the team, has shown consistency even against teams such as Ninjas in Pyjamas and Team SoloMid (then Dignitas). Steel is classified as an entry fragger and gave some impressive displays at Clutch Con against Cloud9, running them down 16-4 and coming away with a 22-9 scoreline. Despite steel’s raw talent, he was very quiet during their matches against NiP and TSM and simply could not put up the frags. Zqk is Keyd Stars’ primary AWPer and like steel, he seems capable of dominating against lower level teams but so far has been unable to compete with the superior tactics and aim from top teams. Finally, boltz is the least experienced player and often underwhelming, but he has shown some big plays in a few games, having a particularly excellent display against Dignitas at the ESL One Katowice Qualifiers.

      Tactically, the team has shown some surprising ingenuity on Mirage, shocking some big teams to a point where they were asked for their strategies. FalleN has claimed that there is nothing special in what they do on Mirage, but many top teams disagree and their results tell a different story. FalleN needs to create opportunities so that steel can utilize his role with more efficiency. Also, with a few international tournaments under their belts and potential stability with their new organization, they should be better prepared going into Katowice than they were for the previous international tournaments they attended.

      At Katowice, the team’s lack of experience against elite teams may work against them, and many teams will have already started to strategize against their excellent tactics on Mirage. Their group is not easy as they have to face NiP, Counter Logic Gaming, and HellRaisers. HellRaisers will certainly provide a challenge as they have some of the best aimers in the game and are capable of beating the best teams in the world when they are on their A game. However, there is no shortage of information on the team which could be useful for Keyd Stars to start building strategies around their shortcomings and inconsistencies. CLG is another team that will be a difficult roadblock as they recently beat a powerhouse team, Titan, to qualify for ESL One Katowice 2015 and have looked extremely strong in online league matches. Like Keyd Stars, the North American team will have less international experience than NiP and HellRaisers and have been known to show inconsistency in pressure games. On paper, NiP is the strongest team in the group but at times have been known to falter against teams that they should beat. Look for Keyd Stars to try to capitalize on this. The Brazilians will have to work on expanding their map pool as Mirage is likely to be banned by the other teams in their group immediately during the veto stage. It will be extremely difficult for Keyd Stars to win games if they have not developed strategies and tactics on other maps to surprise teams like they did with Mirage.

      As they now have a more stable organization, Keyd is in an interesting position. They are a relatively new team internationally and they could surprise many with new strategies and tactics formed during their bootcamp. Finding the right teams to scrim with and making use of their time to study their opponents along with improving their strategies will be key to their success. ESL One will be the biggest stage this team has ever played on, and it would be huge for both the Brazilian scene and the team itself if they were able to make waves on the CS:GO international stage, but the odds are certainly stacked against them.

      In January 2013, Copenhagen Wolves established a Counter-Strke: Global Offensive team consisting of Danish players Henrik “FeTiSh” Christensen, Rene “cajunb” Borgn, Steffen “3k2” Markussen, Nicolai “device” Reedtz, and Peter “dupreeh” Rothmann. In the following months, especially the latter half of 2013, however, the team experienced several roster changes, shuffling players in and out of the team like a deck of cards. After DreamHack Winter, FeTiSh, device and dupreeh, along with Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth and Nicolaj "Nico" Jensen, left the organization to join uberG33KZ, but due to further internal strife, Nico was soon replaced by former CPH teammate cajunb, and this was the team’s last roster change before their tenure under Team Dignitas began.

      After being signed by Dignitas, the team played in ESL Major One and had a solid performance in which they came out first in their group, only to be defeated by NiP 2-0 and land in the 3rd-4th place spot. Nonetheless, the Danish team finally proved their ability to compete in international tournaments and not just domestic events. Two weeks later, they came in first at Fragbite Masters after defeating Titan 3-2 with a map advantage due to coming from the winners bracket, and the team's future subsequently looked bright.

      Seemingly per tradition, cajunb left the team once again over disagreements in May, and three weeks later Dignitas officially added up-and-comer Philip "aizy" Aistrup to the lineup before competing in the FACEIT Spring League and snagging second. Afterwards, the team racked up top-four placements at the Dignitas SCAN Invitational, Gfinity G3, and ESL One Cologne, and their notoriety for choking in the semis began to loom over them.

      Cajunb would once again rejoin the team, this time to replace the man who took his spot, aizy. This seemed to be a welcomed reunion as they took second at the Hitbox Arena Championship, losing the final set to Team LDLC 1-2 after triumphing over Virtus.pro. However, in the final event of 2014, DreamHack Winter, Dignitas lost in the quarterfinals against Natus Vincere after getting dominated on Cobblestone and were unable to convert their lead on Mirage into a win. Following the disappointing result, the team decided to remove their long-time leader FeTiSh, citing a necessity to change the team's playing style, and in his place came Finn "karrigan" Andersen.

      The first test for the team under their new leadership came in the form of MLG Aspen, the first international LAN of 2015. In the group stage, the Danes lost once again to NiP after a close overtime match on Dust 2. Regardless, they were able to make quick work of KaBuM.TD and Cloud9 to advance to the semi-finals where they faced LDLC in a best of three. Dignitas surprisingly managed to snag a map win on Inferno against the French champions after dropping six rounds as Counter-Terrorists, showing a new and improved Terrorist side with karrigan at the helm and cajunb’s phenomenal entries, but they could not keep up with the likes of Vincent "Happy" Cervoni and his squad on Dust 2 nor Cache. This bumped them down to the consolation final against Fnatic, where in stunning fashion, the Danes managed to topple the Swedish giants in overtime on Mirage, the second and final map of the series.

      Immediately after MLG Aspen, the five found a new home with Team SoloMid, an organization that entered the CS:GO scene in order to expand from its roots in League of Legends. With the team showing incredible potential at MLG, TSM did not hesitate to pull the trigger.

      Karrigan, as the in-game leader, is a capable rifler and AWPer. Though he is not their star fragger, he has brought life to the team's Terrorist play immediately after replacing FeTiSh. At Aspen, the team managed to score seven rounds on their T side against NiP on Dust 2, eight rounds against then-LDLC on Inferno, nine rounds on Nuke against Fnatic, and six rounds on Mirage against the Swedes before bringing the map to overtime, a huge improvement over what the squad accomplished under the guidance of FeTiSh.

      Cajunb has established himself as a well-rounded player with the potential to be great but constantly battles with inconsistency. Device, the main AWPer of the team, harnesses amazing skill and is undoubtedly their star, but his tendency to underperform on the big stage has cost his team dearly in the past. Dupreeh, statistically, is the best rifler on the team, their most consistent player and a star in his own right, while the calm and collected Xyp9x epitomizes the definition of "solid."

      TSM is known to switch between AWPers, as karrigan or cajunb can be seen equipping the weapon when device feels he is not up to the task. The team may also employ a double AWP setup if the map warrants it. As is customary of AWPers, they will vary their position each round depending on their opponent's strategy, but generally hold much more passive angles in stark contrast to the likes of Titan’s Kenny “kennyS” Schrub. As Counter-Terrorists, TSM wisely utilizes angles and positioning to force their opponents to run head first into a sturdy defense rather than set up ultra-aggressive posts. On their Terrorist side, they will try to take advantage of weaknesses in their opponent's set up and bowl them down with crisp execution as five after vying for map control and early picks behind device’s AWP, occasionally opting for quick executes to take the opponent off guard.

      At Katowice, TSM will need to keep their momentum flowing. As one of the teams with a broader map pool, they will have an easier time with the veto process than most, but no matter what map comes their way, so long as device cannot rid himself of the anxiety that seemingly crushes him once the team reaches the semi-finals, TSM will have a tough time making it to the grand finals regardless. At MLG, the world bore witness to the full potential of the team in the consolation finals against Fnatic and the ability of device when the pressure is lifted. If that team can make an appearance when it counts, the competition at Katowice will be more than fierce.

      Overall, TSM is a very solid team with a lot of experience and chemistry amongst their players. Their weakest links are nerves and execution, not maps. TSM will definitely be the team to watch come March 12th as they have the potential to uproot the top brass. The first step is making it out of their group, in which they will be met with fierce competition from the hometown favorites, Virtus.pro, and the scrappy North Americans of Cloud9. They should have no problem defeating 3DMAX were they to meet. With their talented roster, they will be aiming for the top.

      Counting down the days to ESL One Katowice, performances by North American squad Cloud9 have looked less than promising. With Cloud9's stellar run at ESL One Cologne in August of 2014, the underdogs from the West looked like they were the next great hope for North American Counter-Strike. In the many months since Cologne, however, Cloud9 has been a team struggling to find their footing. Shaky outings and extreme inconsistency have continued to haunt the team even after replacing Spencer “Hiko” Martin with dedicated AWPer Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan. Cloud9 is under extreme pressure to perform in Katowice—the new lineup has shown even greater promise and potential than with Hiko in the roster but, aside from a few great maps, they've yet to really capitalize on it. As Sean “sgares” Gares has relinquished his AWPing duties to ShahZaM and is free to focus on in-game leading, all the pieces for a successful team are in place. Katowice will be the event for the current Cloud9 squad to prove themselves and to break out of their slump.

      Consistency has been a key area of struggle for many North American teams, but very few have seen inconsistency to the same degree which Cloud9 has. After a disappointing period of results following their early exit from the Dreamhack Winter group stages, Cloud9 appeared to be completely lost in their gameplay. They had no definition to their strategy and their roles were loosely defined. Hiko and Mike “shroud” Grzesiek would switch off lurking, sgares and Korey “semphis” Friesen would share calling, AWPing was low-priority, and Jordan “n0thing” Gilbert could never seem to hit his stride for more than a game or two. The team was crumbling and it was clear to see.

      Nearing the end of 2014, Hiko was feeling the weight of the team's poor showings and decided to step down, but played with the team until they could find a replacement. Cloud9 was about to lose its strongest player. At the ESEA Season 17 LAN finals, ShahZaM, playing under the Denial banner at the time, gave a star performance and took his team far, even knocking out Cloud9 in the loser's bracket semi-finals. Suddenly, ShahZaM's was a name that appeared on the radar of all major North American teams, and it didn't take long for Cloud9 to buy out the young AWPer's contract with Denial. Hiko was out, ShahZaM was in, and Cloud9 had made their first roster change since dropping Todd “anger” Williams for shroud almost nine months prior. A new era for Cloud9 CS:GO was set to begin.

      MLG's X Games Aspen event marked the first LAN with ShahZaM in the roster for Cloud9. Though much had changed in the infrastructure of the team, it was clear that the North American contenders had not quite ironed out their consistency issues—a brutal 4-16 loss against the unknowns in KaBuM.TD was immediately followed by a 16-7 victory over Ninjas in Pyjamas. Although best-of-one group stages aren't a wholly indicative metric for a team's overall level of play, a 2-16 defeat at the hands of the then Team Dignitas would send Cloud9 packing and show that their new lineup was not quite ready for the big stages yet.

      Cloud9's tendency for uneven play has seeped into their online showings lately, too. In domestic matches, Cloud9 are placing well in FACEIT, CEVO, and ESEA, but are not showing the disciplined form expected out of a team competing at an international level. Recent losses to Team eLevate, Counter Logic Gaming, and Denial highlight the scrappy and disjointed style of play Cloud9 has been employing recently. Even their wins in these divisions are typically very close, with 8 out of their 11 played matches in ESEA this season ending at 28 rounds or more. This is certainly not the strangle-hold that iBUYPOWER had over the North American scene during their prime, and it's not just due to increased competition in the region.

      Cloud9 is a team that has every ability to succeed but simply isn't. Shroud and n0thing, two players touted by many as those with the most potential in North America, have encapsulated Cloud9's inconsistency problems perfectly. Shroud was a wildcard pickup—though proven to work on an invite level team, shroud had considerably less LAN experience than the rest of Cloud9. So far in his LAN outings with the team, he struggles to find his comfort zone, his aim less crisp than usual and his decision making not quite as well-rounded as it is during online matches, but his performance during the Katowice offline qualifiers once again highlighted the promise of the young star. N0thing represents much of the same problem for Cloud9, but it certainly can't be attributed to inexperience in his case. A 1.6 prodigy and legend in the North American scene, n0thing remains as an x-factor in his CS:GO career. His performances range wildly, from dominating one map single handedly to bottom fragging the next. Shroud and n0thing are players who can peak and determine matches all on their own, and it's when Cloud9 sees these explosive performances that they start to succeed on LAN.

      Group D in ESL One places Cloud9 alongside Team SoloMid, 3DMAX, and Virtus.pro. TSM too has faced consistency issues in CS:GO, and especially so on LAN. Though the team clearly plays at a world-class level, there's definitely a chance that TSM falls to Cloud9 in groups. 3DMAX is probably closer to Cloud9's average level, but has been hit with lineup changes just weeks before the event. The Finns are entering Katowice on shaky ground right from the get-go. Virtus.pro is likely a given to take the group, but they have been upset by Cloud9 before, even on LAN. Though playing for a home crowd energizes VP especially well, the North Americans have a real chance of making it to the bracket stages.

      Though things haven't looked smooth for Cloud9 as of late, there's still plenty of reasons to be a fan and, more importantly, to be hopeful going into Katowice. DreamHack Winter saw a disorganized Cloud9 with an unmotivated Hiko get blown out of the group stage rather decisively. The new lineup is revitalized, more defined, and has an extremely high ceiling to reach. The lack of a dedicated AWPer (sgares only picked up the AWP reluctantly) was catching up to Cloud9 in the past, but ShahZaM has been fragging well since his introduction to the team. This change also leaves sgares in a position to dedicate himself to calling—another area in which Cloud9 has struggled heavily. Clear direction in the team gives more stable roles to sgares, ShahZaM, and semphis while giving freedom to shroud and n0thing so that they can frag to their highest level.

      If Cloud9 makes it to Katowice prepared, then they'll be a force to reckon with at the event. If Cloud9 play like they have been online lately, we may see a broken-down team scrambling their way through matches while relying purely on aim. Since ShahZaM has settled in, Cloud9 has not seen a sudden, drastic improvement, but is on a potentially massive upswing. A clear-headed Cloud9 squad has all the talent necessary for masterful executions and defenses; it's simply up to sgares and co. to take advantage of a lineup chock-full of potential.

       3DMAX will certainly have the odds stacked against them come March 12th. The Finnish team, who was already a massive underdog to even escape the group phase, lost arguably and statistically their best player, Aleksi “allu” Jalli, to Ninjas in Pyjamas mere weeks before the major. This is likely to not only harm them in the fragging department but also in terms of tactics and strategies that they will now have to adjust to fit new and returning member, Mikko "xartE" Välimaa.

      xartE will not be coming into the team as a total stranger; the 23 year-old played as a stand-in at the offline qualifiers for Katowice where he gave a phenomenal 32-9 performance in their deciding match versus mousesports. xartE was also a member of 3DMAX prior to their acquisition of allu and Tom “stonde” Glad, meaning that his ex-teammates will have a certain degree of knowledge about what he is capable of. On his personal Facebook page, team captain Joona “natu” Leppänen made it clear that xartE was the only realistic choice when it came to replacing allu, stating “everyone knew exactly who we wanted to have on our team.” As well as being an excellent rifler, xartE is very capable with the AWP, which will give the team the option to run dual AWP setups on certain maps should they wish to.

      Team captain and in-game leader, natu, has been playing Counter-Strike at a competitive level for almost as long as some top players have been alive. The veteran has been collecting prizes for his LAN finishes since as far back as 2001, meaning that he has played against virtually every great team and player in the history of the game. The 29-year-old most certainly boasts a vast wealth of experience and knowledge about Counter-Strike that can be challenged by very few people on Earth. While not a star player, natu is a solid and dependable utility rifler who can be relied upon to do his job with consistency and precision. What he lacks in raw ability is made up for with sensible positioning, a cool head and a great deal of experience in almost any situation imaginable. Much like his individual playstyle, natu’s style of in-game leading leaves his team with a solid structure and style of play with every member of the team knowing their roles in each set-up and strategy. However, this can lead to the team becoming predictable and leave them open to easy counters from teams with a wider variety of styles. If he wants to give his team the best possible chance to escape the group stage at Katowice, natu may have to employ some more imagination in his calls in order to keep opposing teams on their toes.

      Joining natu and xartE will be stonde, Taneli “diSTURBED” Veikkola and Jesse “KHRN” Grandell. With the departure of allu, stonde will be stepping into the role of primary AWPer on the team and in an interview with aftonbladet, natu seemed confident that the 21-year-old could fill the very large shoes that allu had vacated. The team captain quoted allu to have said that stonde is going to be “one of the best players in the world” and gave his own thoughts stating “we have a player in him that’s an amazing AWPer, one of the fastest I’ve ever seen.” However, it will likely take a career-best performance from stonde if he wishes to compete with the best AWP players in the world in his new role. DiSTURBED tends to take on the role of lurker on most maps, often meaning that he is the player that the clutch rounds falls to. The 21-year-old is extremely consistent and can be relied on to put in great performances in the biggest matches. With allu gone, the weight will be heavy on diSTURBED’s shoulders to continue the excellent form that he displayed at the ESL One Katowice offline qualifier. KHRN has struggled in the fragging department in recent times and will have to improve upon his recent individual performances if he wants to help his team in their quest to advance from the group stage.

      The first outing for the new lineup came during the last weekend of February at LanTrek 2015. 3DMAX was able to secure the victory in the grand final of the Finnish event 2-0 over xartE’s previous team, Menace, with a comfortable 16-2 victory on Dust 2 and a much closer 16-14 on Mirage. Unfortunately, the experience gained from LanTrek is unlikely to have achieved any more than give the team some practice on their new setups and positions in a LAN setting as the competition they faced was significantly lower than anything that they will run into at Katowice, where they will be competing with the world’s most elite CS:GO teams.

      The tale of standard setups, solid strategy, consistency and a well-rounded team has lead to 3DMAX being a squad that cannot be underestimated by any team. In a game that often proves to be heavily Counter-Terrorist sided, 3DMAX is able to display well-executed Terrorist plays which is reflected in the fact that they tend to pick up about as many Terrorist round wins as Counter-Terrorist round wins on their most played maps. Unfortunately, the team cannot claim to have a specific “home map” where they dominate most teams; they tend to lose as many or more games on their most played maps: Mirage, Dust 2, Cache and Nuke. However, their weakness is also a strength, especially in a tournament like ESL One Katowice 2015 where the veto system will come in to play, as they are capable of putting in strong performances on almost any map and will not be reliant on any specific one for their success.

      To escape the group stages at Katowice, in-game leader natu will need to call upon all his experience and expertise while also incorporating some innovation and more dynamic tactics. Nothing short of career-best performances from all five members of the team will be enough advance the Finnish men through to the playoff stages of the tournament. In a group that includes last year’s Katowice CS:GO major champions, Virtus.pro and two teams whose core members have made it to the playoff stages of previous majors, Team SoloMid and Cloud9, the odds are most certainly stacked against 3DMAX. The team has been offered the opportunity to bootcamp at SEUL’s “gamerhouse” for the last two weeks before the tournament begins, which should give them a chance to build on their team play and cohesion. Whether this will be enough to make up for losing their star player and having to change so much within their team right before Katowice is yet to be seen.