FISSURE Playground 2 Group Stage Predictions: Favorites, Dark Horses, and Clear Underdogs
The second major international tournament from FISSURE with an impressive prize pool of $1,250,000 will begin on September 12th. The event will take place in the Serbian capital, which has recently been claiming the title of the main esports hub. All event information has already been compiled here, and in this material we’ll focus on the competitive side. As a reminder, only eight teams out of 16 participants will advance to playoffs, determined in the group stage using the Swiss system. Let’s try to identify the winners, outsiders, and teams capable of surprises.
Teams Expected to Go 3:0 or 3:1
Since only five teams can fall into this category, we won’t reinvent the wheel and will identify the strongest based on HLTV rankings. These include The MongolZ, G2, Falcons, Aurora, and FURIA. It’s unlikely anyone would doubt that these collectives won’t reach playoffs, and in the worst-case scenario (or if the bracket places them in the 2:1 basket), they’ll only need to play one extra match to get to Belgrade Arena.
The MongolZ – current EWC champions who took a short two-week break after their victory. The guys will return to tournament play refreshed and as main title contenders. It’s much easier for the Mongols to perform as favorites since they can focus on their own game rather than thinking about how to disrupt opponents’ plans. They’re ready to play on any map, and this factor has always been their main trump card, allowing them to remove opponents’ strongest maps.
G2 managed to leave their last tier-1 event with a trophy in hand, defeating Vitality in a BO5 grand final. Undoubtedly, this is a very strong and worthy result, but we wouldn’t immediately place the Samurai on the same level as The MongolZ. The match could easily have ended in defeat, and their game still has many problems due to SunPayy’s. A recording surfaced during BLAST broadcast where coach sAw heavily criticized the Spaniard, and the complaints concerned very basic things that G2’s sniper somehow gets lost in.
For example, if they face Falcons directly, m0NESY won’t leave him a chance, but the star team has its own problems. The main one is their absolutely failed Inferno, which any team gladly picks against them and practically guarantees starting the game with an advantage. zonic had enough time to abandon it and start working on Overpass, but if they decided to continue beating their heads against the wall and “fixing” mistakes on Inferno – this would be an alarming bell.
Regarding FURIA and Aurora, traditionally they shouldn’t face problems in the group stage, especially since Serbia has recently become their second home where they train and gather together. However, both collectives have quite difficult opponents in the first round – FURIA will meet Liquid, and Aurora faces Astralis.
Teams Going 3:2 or 2:3: Fighting for Playoffs
Probably the only team that could claim the previous basket is FaZe, but their last performance in the BLAST Open London quarterfinals forces us to be less confident about their playoff advancement. When you lose a match where karrigan finishes second in statistics – it’s hard to imagine how you plan to win. jcobbb’s integration into the lineup will obviously take more time than expected, so they should certainly secure three victories, but let’s give them two chances for mistakes.
Let’s pay respect to the Chinese collective that will come to Serbia to defend their title as current FISSURE Playground 1 champions. After their triumphant victory where most matches were played with a coach, TYLOO hasn’t shown anything convincing. We’re all lucky that we’ll see charming Jee and watch a couple of interviews with him – hopefully he’ll stay at the tournament as long as possible and delight local fans.
Astralis will arrive at the tournament with an updated lineup – team legend Magisk will replace stavn, who took a career break. The organization has recently often justified replacements this way, but here everything seems truthful. Emil is undoubtedly a legend, but clearly not stronger than stavn, and this transfer doesn’t look like a strengthening. Using VP as an example, we saw that reuniting two legendary teammates electroNic and Perfecto led to nothing, so we have no illusions that this move with device and Magisk will bring results. The only thing that might inspire Emil is returning to Danish communication and getting a second chance to resume his career, which seemed unlikely.
Since we mentioned Virtus.pro, we want to take a risk and give them the status of that very “dark horse.” Global changes occurred in the team – Denis Sharipov was benched, Perfecto became captain, and academy player tO0RO was promoted to the main roster. Of course, on paper this isn’t a strengthening, but the Bears often perform well at debut events (like their Katowice playoffs). Also, electroNic’s departure might help players relax a bit and show that potential they possess.
3DMAX and paiN – always ready to bite favorites, especially on a good day for themselves. This is the category of teams that first easily beats HLTV top-10, then loses without chances to a collective from top-30. We wouldn’t be surprised by their playoff advancement, just as we wouldn’t be surprised by their tournament elimination before the last day of the group stage.
Teams with Lower Playoff Chances
As we already mentioned, FISSURE Playground 2 turned out to be an extremely competitive tournament, and the remaining collectives are hard to call obvious outsiders. Liquid, GamerLegion, Legacy, Lynn Vision, and of course HEROIC can not only cause problems for stronger opponents but even advance from the group. However, recent results make us doubt a bit, so we consider their chances slightly lower than the teams above.
HEROIC lost their main asset – TN1R, which makes us forget about their EWC success. Liquid has been consistently poor recently, and GamerLegion lost their form after the summer break and Kursy’s arrival as sniper. Lynn Vision and Legacy entertained themselves online, padding VRS ratings, while their tier-1 appearances ended in defeats.
Who Will Advance to Playoffs?
After team distribution, we’re betting on exactly this eight that will advance to Belgrade Arena. However, we remind once again – team levels are too close and absolutely everyone can stumble here, which will undoubtedly make corrections to any prediction.
Final Predictions:
- 3:0 – The MongolZ, Falcons
- 3:1 – G2, Aurora, FURIA
- 3:2 – FaZe, Astralis, TYLOO
Alex
Alex is an author and esports observer with more than seven years of experience. He specializes in analyzing new releases in the world of computer games, gaming services, and in-game economies. Alex shares practical experience and an expert perspective on the development of gaming, helping readers understand complex mechanics and stay up to date with the latest news.
