Wait! On April 30, teams from the CIS will begin the fight for slots in the only major in 2023. ESL One: Road to Rio will be a unique championship of its kind – well, where else can you see the games of absolutely all the top teams in our region, including Natus vincere? The fight will go not only for points and prize pool, but also for the figurative title of “CIS top-1”. Cybersport.ru understands what to expect from the participants of the competition.
How does the system work?
Coronavirus spoiled plans for everyone. Due to the pandemic, Valve and ESL canceled the minors and came up with a new qualifying system: there are no major invitations, everyone needs to prove their strength at regional qualification tournaments, which (at least in the coming months) will be held online.
How it works? Everything is very simple: during each championship teams will earn points, the higher the place – the more there are. Based on the results of all qualification tournaments, five teams will be determined, which will go to the major. More about the system – here.
At the start of the series of qualifying tournaments, VP gained an advantage in points; Photo: Epic Esports Events
What is important, some participants in the past major received additional points. Virtus.pro got 600 points (participation in the playoffs), Natus Vincere – 480 (playoffs, a 20% penalty for replacing a player between majors), and Hard legion esports – 240 (group stage, 20% penalty for replacing a player). However, these bonuses are unlikely to have a significant impact on the location of teams following the results of all qualifying tournaments: for example, VP received only 100 points more than it relies on for last place on ESL One: Road to Rio.
The Road to Rio format is standard: two groups of six teams each, round-robin, two teams each will reach the top playoff grid, and two more will go to the bottom. The champion will receive $ 15 thousand and 1.6 thousand qualification points.
What problems can players face?
The return of eSports to online revealed a seemingly long-forgotten problem – a poor connection. High ping is really not a joke. For example, Brazilian FURIA Esports because of this, even had to dissolve the composition of the “DotA”. Counter-Strike also applies to this: everyone remembers the problem with ping. Og, because of which the team lost the qualifiers on IEM Katowice. Well, the situation with the scene in Kazakhstan is described by the nickname Dauren AdreN Kystaubaeva among English-speaking casters – Clutch King with 100 Ping.
Before ESL One: Road to Rio, not all teams managed to get together at the bootcamp, so many will have to play from home. For the same Winstrike team it seems to hit: as recently admitted Abay HObbit KhasenovHe did not have time to fly out of the country before the border was closed.
HObbit; source: instagram @hobbitzce
However, ping is not the only problem. Most of the top CIS teams have long switched to LAN mode – always together, constant flights and leaving the comfort zone. Now the players are left to their own devices, and not everyone can, like Alexander s1mple Kostylev, keep the tone and continue to fill 30 frags per card.
Does NAVI have competitors?
In the era of online in CS, it is impossible to clearly identify favorites and outsiders. This applies to any region: in the same Europe, after the first two rounds of Road to Rio, the leaders were Movistar riders, and mousesports lost two matches and fell to the last line. In the CIS, the situation is the same, but we will name the favorites “on paper”.
Natus vincere It’s awkward to mention. Yes, the team obviously has problems: on the same ESL Pro League, s1mple was mainly blown away for NAVI, and Egor flamie Vasiliev and Ilya Perfecto Zalutsky and could not find their game, becoming, according to statistics, one of the worst participants in the championship. However, the team still entered the top 4 – and spoke on the head of the best other representatives of the region. If NAVI on Road to Rio does not reach at least the finals, this will be a huge surprise. In the first game of the tournament, the quote for the victory of NAVI is only 1.07. It is difficult to imagine a universe in which ESPADA can counter s1mple and Co. with something.
Flamie Photo: Epic Esports Events
Forzeseems to get a slight edge on Road to Rio. Right before the start of the competition, the coaches were allowed to communicate with the teams during the matches. And forZe has two mentors: in addition to Anatoly LiTTle Yashinrecently experienced team began to work with the composition Sergey lmbt Bezhanov. We are waiting for the roster to enter the top four: any other result can be called a failure. Five Andrey Jerry Mehryakova will start his performance in the tournament with a match against Nemiga and can count on success (odds – 1.20 against 4.20) The team is still trying on the mythical title of “CIS Top-2,” but it cannot finally stake it out. And it interferes with him, including the next team on the list.
Team spirit – the most progressive composition of the region. It’s hard to say what gave him the key boost: coming Nikolai mir Bityukov and Boris magixx Vorobiev or that Leonid chopper Vishnyakov became a captain. This is not so important, the main thing is that Team spirit learned to consistently beat the European shooting range-2 teams. On the same EPL, the roster easily coped with ENCE eSports and won Team vitality. Spirit misfires, but really very rarely. Experts believe that in the first match of the tournament against Gambit youngsters the team should have no problems: the odds of winning Spirit – 1.40. The game will be interesting to those who follow the young talents of the scene. Just six months ago, Gambit Youngsters became one of the youngest teams in the top 30 of HLTV.org, and the 16-year-old magixx periodically abruptly plays in Spirit: at one time they managed to break into the pro-stage so early only To David frozen Chernyansky.
Winstrike nevertheless, it cannot be called an unequivocal favorite, but for sure the main dark horse. If at the mention of the tag only endless re-shuffles come to mind, then it’s time to break the habit: this team is a strong contender for the top places of ESL One: Road to Rio. An important role in this was played by coming to the coaching post Dmitry hooch Bogdanov – the unsinkable Uncle Mitya, who, for a second, built the foundation of the Gambit, which subsequently won the major. If Winstrike expects serious results, then it should begin the “road to Rio” with victory: a quote for success in the game with Team unique – 1.40.
Hooch as part of Gambit; Photo: MLG
Virtus.pro still tormented. In April, AdreN managed to concede both Spirit and forZe, and showed a convincing game only with notorious outsiders. According to Kystaubaev, there is no talk of replacements in the team yet, but due to what the team will be selected from the abyss is completely incomprehensible. I want to believe that VP was purposefully preparing for Road to Rio, and AdreN found the right words to motivate teammates. But for now, the finalists of the past major only upset the fans. Given the current form of the roster, a place in the top 5 following the results of Road to Rio for him will no longer seem such a bad result.
All other teams are at approximately the same level: the same Gambit Youngsters have not yet found stability, and Hard Legion also does not shine after the last major. However, as Jerry said, between the teams from the CIS matches always come out hot, and the results are unpredictable. So do not be very surprised if the rosters will be selected for the prizes Sergey starix Ischuk, Rustem mou Telepova or George WorldEdit Yaskin. In a word, we are waiting for a classic CIS meat grinder.
Odds are taken from the website of the betting company Parimatch and are relevant at the time of publication of the material. After registration, first-rate insurance for up to 2 thousand rubles will be available.
Group stage:
Matches of teams from the CIS at ESL One: Road to Rio will be held from April 30 to May 17. The prize pool of the championship will be $ 50 thousand and 12.6 thousand rating points required to qualify for ESL One Rio 2023.
