Pick’em Challenge Selection for BLAST.tv Austin Major: Stage 3 from CS2 Talents. Give in to Emotions or Keep a Cool Head?
Events in Austin are unfolding according to an unimaginable scenario and, as we predicted for Stage 3 – only a few will be able to get the diamond coin. And in the second stage, such chaos occurred that over the past 5 days, fans have gone through all stages of acceptance and seem ready for any outcome at this tournament. However, we suggest considering everything happening at the Major from two sides: giving in to emotions from all the results and trying to give a sober assessment of what happened. Which approach to choose when forming your own Pick’em challenge is up to you, and we’ll try to help you decide. As usual, we’ll first share our own thoughts, and then see what industry people think about it.
Pick'em Challenge from SIH
3:0 – MOUZ, The MongolZ
3:1/3:2 – Team Spirit, Aurora, Vitality, FURIA, FaZe, NAVI
0:3 – Legacy, G2
As you can see – we decided to stop somewhere between the “emotional” and “rational” approach. The first shock, in our opinion, should be Vitality’s interrupted streak of 30 consecutive wins, which corresponds well to the trends in Austin. And where else, if not at a Major, should this happen? But it’s worth noting – this is not a prediction of complete failure for apEX and company, they are obvious favorites and will remain so until the very end, and the interrupted winstreak will even help relieve unnecessary burden from their shoulders.
Next, we predict G2’s failure, which to some extent can’t even be called a sensation. VP came to Austin as a completely different team: gameplay is visible, energy, and watching such Bears was damn pleasant. But it feels like their failure, after such a confident start, should become the sensation of this stage. The guys don’t have the easiest bracket from the first match, and it will be very difficult for them to reach the playoffs.
The rest of the choice was made purely on “intuition,” because it’s absolutely unclear what form the other participants arrived at the tournament in. This is where we return to the difference between “emotional” and “rational” choice. Undoubtedly, teams from the previous stage look much weaker, but on emotions from the previous stage, you might continue to root for these dark horses. And you’ll be partially right – first of all, as practice has shown, these teams get into the game faster, especially in BO1 matches, when leaders have to warm up. And secondly, it’s simply impossible to ignore the “Major magic”!
However, if we look rationally: what so sensational happened in the previous stage? Falcons’ elimination – absolutely, but what else? Unstable FaZe – quite understandable. HEROIC’s elimination? The team has already fallen apart, and with all due respect – this is not a tier-1 collective that should have beaten anyone without chances. The same can be said about B8, MIBR, TYLOO, M80, BetBoom Team and OG – where would these teams get the experience to beat someone “on class”? How are they stronger than NEMIGA, paiN, Lynn Vision or Legacy who advanced? Not at all.
But in the next stage, this experience and class will definitely be present in teams like MOUZ, Spirit, NAVI, Vitality, Aurora, The MongolZ, and it’s not excluded that we won’t see any more sensations! That’s why we chose a balanced tactic, not to completely close our eyes to the results, but still maintain logic in force distribution. If this doesn’t work – it won’t be so disappointing, because fortune-telling is a less thankless task.
Pick'em Challenge from n0rb3r7
3:0 – MOUZ, Vitality
3:1/3:2 – Team Spirit, VP, The MongolZ, FURIA, FaZe, NAVI
0:3 – Liquid, G2
Apparently, event participants decided to no longer make any picks with their participation, or at least not publish them publicly. Therefore, we turn to players and analysts who are close to teams and might still have some additional information. David is still under contract with VP and believed in his former teammates’ advancement. Well, considering their performance in the second stage – this is definitely a logical pick. Also, David doesn’t believe that Vitality will break their winstreak at this group stage, and the only surprising choice in this pick’em is both teams at 0:3. Really, couldn’t Liquid with siuhy manage at least one victory?
Pick'em Challenge from Mauisnake
3:0 – MOUZ, Vitality
3:1/3:2 – Team Spirit, VP, The MongolZ, paiN, FaZe, NAVI
0:3 – Legacy, Lynn Vision
We already turned to the Western analyst in the first stage and his prediction turned out to be correct, so we suggest returning to his pragmatic approach for the third. Again, the 0:3 pick immediately catches the eye – where two triumphants of the two previous stages ended up. In our view, being on such momentum – winning at least one match should be within their power. But we agree that on paper – these are indeed the two weakest collectives, and the level of first-stage participants is too high to believe in the continuation of the Brazilian-Chinese fairy tale.
Pick'em Challenge from Launders
3:0 – MOUZ, Vitality
3:1/3:2 – Team Spirit, Aurora, The MongolZ, 3DMAX, FaZe, Lynn Vision
0:3 – NAVI, G2
Mauisnake’s colleague – Launders, apparently, was completely upset after failed picks in the previous stage and decided to have fun. Or maybe he just turned to the “emotional” approach we wrote about at the very beginning? There are too many sensations here, from the Chinese team’s advancement to the 0:3 elimination of last year’s best team. It seems the analyst decided to try to catch the wave of events happening in Austin or ride at least one of them. Actually, such a decision has every right to exist, especially if you’ve already lost chances for the diamond reward.
Pick'em Challenge from Overdrive
3:0 – Vitality, Team Spirit
3:1/3:2 – MOUZ, Aurora, The MongolZ, 3DMAX, VP, Liquid
0:3 – Lynn Vision, G2
We won’t leave aside the main insider again, especially since he also has a couple of interesting choices. First of all, attention should be paid to Aurora, which for unclear reasons not everyone puts for advancement. The reasons for such decisions are unclear to Overdrive as well, so he boldly takes the Turks in his prediction. If we’ve already seen the 3DMAX pick, although it’s far from the most obvious prediction, we see Liquid in the 3:1/3:2 stage even less often. Previously, the insider often criticized this organization, which makes this decision raise more questions than answers. Actually, in his case, there was an analogous situation with VP, but the Bears had the opportunity to convince with their play in the previous stage.
Pick'em Challenge from Thorin
3:0 – Vitality, MOUZ
3:1/3:2 – Team Spirit, Aurora, The MongolZ, NAVI, FaZe, Liquid
0:3 – Lynn Vision, Nemiga
We’ll conclude our selection with the main hater of everything – Thorin. His pick looks like the most rational and completely ignoring everything happening at the Major approach. We especially want to note his faith in FaZe and strong support for s1mple on personal social networks, although many others criticize and absolutely don’t believe in FaZe’s success. Apparently, this only confirms our theory that he decided to completely abstract from results from two days ago, and this might actually work. The higher the CS level – the easier it is for top players to play it (however paradoxical this may sound), so it might even be easier for FaZe.
Overall, we got another proof – that analyzing events in Austin is very difficult and giving even one 100% prediction is not so simple.
