E-League Group A Preview

This coming tuesday marks the inauguration of TBS’s venture E-League and heralds the return of esports to mainstream television. While the teams have not been fully seeded into their respective groups, group A will be headlining the opening week of E-League. Team Liquid, Cloud9, Luminosity Gaming, and Renegades will be battling it out in the Atlanta based arena. Let’s break down the teams competing this week and predict how it will play out.

Since this is a brand new tournament and the first league to be broadcasted on television since the CGS, it is important to outline the format used. Teams have been seeded into groups of four and will play out best of two matches in a round robin format. This will determine the seeding of the teams as they get seeded into a playoff bracket. The teams will play single elimination, best of three matches in the playoffs brackets. The winner advances to the final playoff stages while second place gets seeded into the last chance qualifier to make it to said final playoffs. From the 3rd place teams, the two teams with the highest scores will advance to the last chance qualifier.

The counter-strike world is theirs. Ever since their storied run at MLG Columbus, and with no Olofmeister to halt them in their tracks, Luminosity Gaming have seized control and stamped themselves firmly as the number one team. Coming hot off of wins at Dreamhack Austin and the ESL Pro League Season 3 finals, Luminosity should have very little trouble disposing of their enemies in this group.

FalleN’s in-game leading has not faltered one bit, Coldzera is still the superstar that he was at MLG Columbus, and the trio of Fnx, Taco, and Fer are still hitting their shots and making big plays. Make no doubt; this team is the toughest team to face. As shown when playing against Team Liquid at MLG Columbus and against G2 eSports at ESL Pro League Season 3 finals, Luminosity will not lose. It’s not a matter of having the best aimers nor having the best tactics/most diverse playbook, it’s a matter of having the winning mentality.

This team has the best mental fortitude out of any team in the world; only Pronax’s Fnatic in 2015 could make a fair claim to that assertation. They will not lose easily, they will not give up because they are behind in rounds; they will keep fighting, and fighting, and fighting. They either win in strong suit as they dominate the map or they will win through sheer force of will, mentally gridlocking their opponents and overpowering the morale of their foes.

Team Liquid has only recently achieved roster stability -- perhaps in an unexpected way -- and finally brought on a coach in Peacemaker who has the tenure and smarts to coach them to success. With their tumultuous period left behind, they now have to coalesce their playbook with Peacemaker’s vision of counter-strike and work under his tutelage.

Liquid have struggled recently in online competition against supposedly worse teams, their last two showings a close affair against the retooled Echo Fox roster and a disappointing loss to Cloud9 0-2, both for ECS. Liquid once were heir apparent to the throne of best North American team in the period following MLG Columbus, but they have yet to find consistent form in league competition post-s1mple.

It will be a tough group for Liquid to come out on top of. Not only have they dropped the recent series to Cloud9, but Liquid also have a string of losses to Luminosity in offline competition. Now more than ever, the team needs to find its footing and get over its inability to close out maps lest they become the butt of yet more twitter jabs from the scene’s pundits and fans alike.

Cloud9 have finally gotten out of their deepest recession of this past winter. The dark age, prominently marked by n0thing’s ineffectual in-game leading, is over. They have found a new IGL in Slemmy and have been training ex-1.6 player, and shroud’s former teammate Irukandji as their coach. The onboarding of Slemmy and Irukandji has already elevated Cloud9 out of their deep depression. Their T side gameplay is now vibrant and diverse, Skadoodle has found his mojo once again, and Stewie2k has grown out of being a caricature of American Counter-Strike into a legitimate threat to reckon with.

Their recent LAN results may not support the notion that they are back, but their gameplay has been revived for the better. Irukandji is working the kinks out of the team, transforming Cloud9 from an overaggressive PUG-style squad into a more disciplined side. The aforementioned development of Stewie is a parallel to the overall improvement of the team as they look to regain their status as the best North America has to offer.

Their recent success against Liquid notwithstanding, C9 will still have an uphill battle topping the group. The Brazilians are still the obvious favorites, and C9 do not have a promising track record against them. Still, they have an excellent shot at coming out second in the group seeing due to Team Liquid’s transitional state with the recent addition of a new coach.

La Renegades. The dark horses of this tournament, Renegades have a lot to prove to themselves and to the world that their move to North America has been worth it this past year. Their past couple months have seen them meddling amongst the middle tier north american teams, finishing seventh in the north american leg of ESL Pro League Season 3. Their recent ventures into Asia to compete in the Asian qualifiers for ESL Cologne 2016 saw them qualify for major qualifier itself, falling short 1-2 to Chinese powerhouse Tyloo in the finals.

While they have proven that they are staying in the elite tier of oceania counter-strike, is that enough for E-League itself? When competing against the best in the world, against Major Winners? They have not had any notable wins in a very long time in any best of three, nevertheless any offline matches. However, there is a slimmer of hope for the aussies. Their grand run at the RGN Pro Series LAN last winter is perhaps a rare insight into the potential final form of Renegades. That being stated, Renegades have nothing to lose at this point.

This week will be the watershed moment for the Aussies. Can they escape their shell of mediocrity and ascend into glory?