Like a Coliseum show of Christians being fed to lions, the upcoming 2018 ELEAGUE Major is packed with fierce and hungry participants, vying to take the title of Major champions. 

SK

In the past three months, SK have won three tournaments and reaffirmed why they were 2017’s undisputed champs. However, entering into the ELEAGUE Major, it will be tricky to take their most recent wins as a solid indication of what’s to come; after all, they won’t have an identical roster.

Standing in for Boltz, due to his role in the qualifiers for ELEAGUE under the Immortals banner, is Felps. Since they won’t be practising with him, SK will enter into the competition with less preparation than their opponents. Still, the chemistry between the players from Felps’s previous stint with the team may live on. And, despite everything, SK will still be the team to beat at Boston.

 

Astralis

After his absence from the team’s last three events in 2017 – ECS Season 4 Finals, ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals and BLAST Pro – due to medical reasons, device, Astralis’s most prized player, will be returning to the roster for the ELEAGUE Major. They managed to hold their ground in two out of three of those event, with dennis standing in, but no one could deny a clear lack of impact from their start player.

It’ll be interesting to see how the team fares in the coming matches, as device surprisingly won’t be fully returning to the AWP. Dupreeh will continue as their key AWP player, a role he filled in device’s absence.

 

Virtus.pro

Taking second place at the 2017 ELEAGUE Major, VP will be looking to fiercely challenge their opponents for the title of first place this time round. They could put up a decent fight if Snax shows up as he did during the beginning of 2017, but it’s a tricky one to call.

Rising from the ashes, they managed to make it to the semi-finals at the PGL Major, and similarly at EPICENTER, but fell back down soon after at the WESG Europe Finals. But VP have a history of bringing their A game at major events. Based off recent performances however, their current form won’t be enough to take the title. Either way, their matchups will be interesting to say the least.

 

North

Apart from a few events, 2017 saw the Danes perform disappointingly. North are a team that will live up to expectations if they’re comfortably favourites to win, but, more often than not, struggle to defy the odds in matchups against the world’s elite.

At ESL Pro League, they lost eight out of ten pistol rounds, so an improvement in this area could provide them with a chance to challenge the big teams of the tournament. To their advantage, they also have arguably the best contemporary Danish player in config, who has the potential to carry the team single-handedly. Going through two roster changes last year, North will be looking to ELEAGUE for salvation of their current roster. It should be interesting to see how they perform.

 

Fnatic

Going into the major, Fnatic’s odds don’t inspire too much confidence. With three extremely experienced players in KRIMZ, JW and flush, Golden, their acting IGL, has potential to work with. But he himself hasn’t won a major in the past, so we can only wait to see how he performs on the main stage. Online, Fnatic have seen some good results, but how well they fare on LAN is more of a mystery. Watch on with interest! 

 

Gambit

Current major champions, having won PGL Krakow, Gambit have in one way or another always posed a threat to the top tier teams… given the right situation. 2016 saw them peak, in part due to the addition of Zeus and Hobbit, and they managed to plough through teams like G2 and Astralis to take the Major title.

While Zeus has since returned to Na’Vi, Hobbit, ranked 11th on HLTV, is still an incredible asset to the team. Gambit will be looking to surprise the scene once more, and they’re certainly in with a fighting chance.

 

BIG

There’s no denying BIG have a lot going for them. The team, which finished 5th to 8th in their last major, have a great, tactical IGL in gob b, who can effectively counter strat opponents. They also benefit from tabseN, BIG’s best player of 2017, and a solid LAN rating. But can their decent firepower stand up against myriad powerful teams at the ELEAGUE major? In many ways, they would be lucky to get another legend spot off the back of recent performances, which doesn’t inspire an abundance of confidence.