Eleague Season 2 Quarterfinal Preview Part 1
By: Joe Tortorice
Tags: Esports, Gaming, Counter Strike

In assessing the match-ups, I only looked at offline results in premier tournaments since the Major, ESL One Cologne.

SK Gaming vs Dignitas

The first match-up in the quarterfinals of Eleague Season 2 will be between Brazilian powerhouse SK Gaming and the rising Danish team Dignitas. In this past year, SK Gaming, formerly Luminosity, has risen to prominence in the CS:GO competitive scene and has won the past two Majors. The Brazilian team boasts a powerful line-up where each player can carry a map. The team also invented the double-AWP set-up recently, using the strengths of team leader Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and star player Marcelo “coldzera” David.

Dignitas has long been thought of as the second best team in Denmark, often falling in the shadow cast by Astralis. Since the Major however, Dignitas has been on the rise and has eclipsed Astralis as the best Danish roster. Shortly after the Major, Dignitas picked up Emil “magiskb0Y” Reif and the new player has helped the team reach new heights including a tournament win at EPICENTER: Moscow. Both magiskb0Y and Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke have been the star players for the team boasting great numbers at tournaments.

These two teams have only played one map in an offline premier tournament. The map was Cobblestone and SK won 16–7. This match will be exciting as both of the teams are in sort of a state of limbo because SK has not won a tournament since ESL One Cologne, and Dignitas has not produced great results since their win at EPICENTER.

The pick/ban format for the series is Ban-Ban-Pick-Pick-Ban-Ban and the the map remaining will be played if needed. I expect Dignitas to ban Train in the first round of bans because it is their most banned map and SK has a fantastic record on that map. SK will most likely ban Nuke as Dignitas are one of the better teams on that map and SK has shown a recent aversion to playing Nuke. Dignitas will most likely pick Cobblestone as they have a good record on the map and SK will probably pick Dust2 or Overpass because they have solid records on the maps while Dignitas has a losing record on both of the maps. In the last round of bans, Dignitas will ban Overpass or Dust2, whichever SK did not pick, and SK will ban their most banned map, Cache. This would leave Mirage as the last map to be played in the series.

The maps played would then be Cobblestone, Overpass or Dust2, and Mirage. I predict that SK Gaming will win the series 2–0. Despite their inability to win a tournament sine the Major, they have consistently placed in the top four of premier tournaments while Dignitas has been struggling recently. While Cobblestone is a good map for Dignitas, SK are no slouches on it and their skill will lead them to victory. I also expect them to win whichever map is second due to record and skill. Despite only two games played in the series, I expect the maps to be exciting and close.

Astralis vs NiP

The second set of games will be played between Danish team Astralis and Swedish team Ninjas in Pyjamas. Astralis has had middling results since the Major and has been unable to find the level of play expected from their line-up. They recently made a change in dropping long-time in-game-leader Finn “karrigan” Andersen and replaced him with Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander from Heroic. Astralis played with gla1ve at the Major and has had decent results with the new player.

NiP has not made any roster changes although for a few tournaments, the team played with Maikel “Maikelele” Bill while Jacob “pyth” Mourujãrvi recovered from an injury. NiP had previously played with Maikelele and figured it would be easier to play with him while pyth was out instead of someone that has not played with the team before. Since the Major, NiP has both StarLadder StarSeries Season 2 and IEM Oakland. One tournament win was with pyth and one was with Maikelele.

These teams have played one series against each other in recent tournaments. The two teams met in the knockout stages of the StarLeague StarSeries Season 2 tournament. NiP would win the series 2–1, winning on both Dust2 and Overpass while Astralis won the first map on Cache. NiP is hitting a great run of form with their recent tournament wins while Astralis has still yet to show their true potential but has the capability of beating any team with their talented line-up.

In the Pick/Ban phase, Astralis will ban Cobblestone with their first ban because they frequently ban that map and NiP has a solid win percentage on the map. NiP will ban Mirage, as that is their most banned map. I believe Astralis will move on to pick Overpass. Despite having a poor record on the map, Astralis tends to pick it and it is their most played map. I believe NiP will pick Nuke because NiP boasts a great record on the map and Astralis has not shown they can play the map well. Astralis will next ban Cache, as that is their second most banned map and NiP will ban Dust2 or Train. Last time they met, NiP banned Train but that was a while ago and NiP ban Dust2 almost as much as they ban Train. This would leave either Dust2 or Train as the final map.

I expect NiP to win the series 2–0. Though Astralis frequently pick Overpass, they have a poor record on the map while NiP is fairly good on that map. I give this one to NiP though the game could be close. With Nuke as the second map, I expect NiP to win handedly over Astralis and I do not see the Danish side hitting double digit round wins on the map. NiP is playing great right now with both Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg and Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund playing almost at peak potential and the role players are also playing well to go with the stars. Astralis simply does not have enough maps played recently to judge their form truly, but the tournaments they have played in, they typically do not make it far. If Astralis is to have a chance in this series, Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz must play spectacularly for the team.

Select stats for the teams