Counter Strike CEVO Season 8: The teams and their dreams
And after months of intense fire-fighting, the schedule, group seeding and team list are all complete - the explosive action is about to begin
By Suzy Mostaani
The explosive action of the CEVO Season 8 Pro League Finals is about to begin.
This Friday, the eight top teams lock and load, ready to jump into combat in the group stages.
It’s been a long time coming. And after months of intense fire-fighting, the schedule, group seeding and team list are all complete.
The eight qualifying teams are Virtus.Pro, Conquest, Natus Vincere, Mousesports, Team Liquid, Team Dignitas, Titan and Luminosity Gaming.
They will be battling it out for the $150,000 prize pool money, in the GSL-style format, and have been split into Group A and Group B.
So what are our competing teams' prospects?
Virtus.Pro v Conquest
Virtus.Pro are the highest overall ranking team in the tournament finals, boasting fourth place on the world leaderboard.
The Polish powerhouse has a respectable all-time win-rate of 64 per cent and had a strong end to October. This makes them favourites to win the tournament with odds of 31/20.
First to play VP are Conquest and, despite facing an uphill struggle, they should not be written off.
The American team, who came third in s8 CEVO-P NA, are on a winning streak of eight games.
They also have an enviable all-time win-rate of 68 per cent, but will be met with a tougher challenge when facing their EU rivals, since they’ve only been beating their fellow countrymen.
Na’Vi v Mousesports
Second favourites with odds of 5/2 are the Ukrainians, Natus Vincere, fresh from just losing out in the DreamHack finals.
They come in ranking fifth in the world overall and, with star player Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovacs on their side, they’re looking like a tough proposition for their German rivals.
Mousesports, who will be playing Na’Vi first, had certainly better watch their backs.
They came fifth in s8 CEVO-P EU and are only in the competition because G2.Kinguin backed out, making them true underdogs.
However, they were the only team to beat Titan in the EU round robin, so should not be underestimated.
Team Liquid v Team Dignitas
Like Na’Vi, Team Liquid are also licking their wounds.
After a phenomenal streak of wins throughout October, they were knocked out of DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca early on in the qualifiers, after just two matches.
However, Team Liquid won first place in s8 CEVO-P NA, finishing with an impressive 20 points and without losing a single match.
They will be up against Team Dignitas, who came second in s8 CEVO-P EU.
The Danes, ranked 12th in the world, have had a patchy month so far. Though they won seven of their eleven qualifying matches, they are currently on a three-loss streak.
Titan v Luminosity Gaming
Titan finished first in s8 CEVO-P EU, winning nine out of 11 matches and only losing once.
They’ll be pitted against Luminosity Gaming in their first match, who finished in second place at CEVO-P NA.
How will this play out? We’ve got odds of 10/1 on Titan and 9/2 on Luminosity to win the tournament.
The CEVO Season 8 finals are looking fierce.
With beastly players like Snax from Virtus.Pro and GuardiaN from Na’Vi in the field, rest assured, we will see blood. And lots of it.
Will Mousesports prove their worth? Will Conquest’s winning streak continue?
One thing's for sure: we're in for a lot of kills, and plenty of thrills.
