https://www.cybersport.ru/counter-strike-go/articles/poslednii-shans-s1mple-stat-top-1-po-itogam-goda-prevyu-iem-global-challenge

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Team Vitality was able to get in excellent shape at the end of the year. In the first half of 2023, the French mostly suffered, and shox and ZywOo weren’t heroic enough. At the end of the summer, the team significantly improved, but the titles did not obey it in any way. Moreover, Vitality suffered three painful defeats in the finals of major events, and many fans have probably wondered whether it is worth changing someone.

But Vitality did it, and not least thanks to the captain Danu apEX Madesclair… Nevertheless, the main brain and, in general, the key figure of the team is the coach Remy XTQZZZ Kwonyam: he does not communicate with the Western press and, in general, shows himself little in public space, but does a colossal amount of work, which the team members talk about in almost every interview.

We do not know on whose initiative the younger brother was taken to the team. ScreaM Nabil Nivera Benrlit, but it was XTQZZZ who organically integrated the young Belgian into the team. Benrlit plays only two maps – Dust2 and Inferno – but this is more than enough for the team at the moment. It was due to the competent rotation of the composition on the maps that the French managed to win the last two major championships – IEM Beijing Online 2023 and BLAST Premier: Fall 2023…

Vitality is looking very menacing right now. And it’s not just the last titles: the French, in principle, almost never lose and are not at all afraid of the second main contender to win the IEM – Astralis…

Astralis also looks very confident. By the end of the year, she at least won the title of the best team in Denmark from Heroic, and who knows, perhaps success on IEM Global Challenge 2023 will help her compete for the title of the best squad of the year. However, there are not so many chances for this, but to finish the sad 2023 on a positive note for the lineup Lucas gla1ve Rossander exactly on the strength.

In the team, the perturbations with the composition have finally ended. Now it is obvious that the main roster will consist of the “oldies”, and the same Lucas Bubzkji Andersen will only occasionally substitute for one of the compatriots as necessary. It seems that he and the whole team are satisfied with this, which means that there is no drama that some journalists diligently draw in Astralis.

As strange as it sounds, gla1ve has recently returned to the role of in-game leader. Earlier (even when Rossander just returned to the team), the team led Magisk, and I must admit that he did it very well. But still he is not gla1ve. Now the team has finally decided on the roles and is clearly approaching the IEM as one of the favorites. The odds for the first match of the Danes confirms this: in the starting meeting with Complexity Gaming BC Parimatch gives a quote of 1.15 for the victory of four-time world champions.

Applicants

Some things stay the same and instability Natus Vincere among them. It is absolutely impossible to say something new about the composition of s1mple. NAVI can still beat and lose to absolutely any opponent.

Despite the obvious problems on some maps and periodic “shots”, NAVI is still consistently in the top 4 in almost all tournaments. Of course, the latest results are always remembered better than others, and a failure at BLAST may confuse skeptics, but overall, NAVI is having a very good year and may well claim to win the IEM. But for this you have to really try very hard.

The latest changes in the team are still difficult to assess. NAVI began to include the captain of the junior team in the main team Valeria B1t Vakhovsky, but he has not yet shown himself – we very much hope that it will not take much time to adapt and the young Ukrainian will show his best side at IEM. The same goes for Egor flamie Vasilyeva, which clearly benefits from competition.

Perhaps the main intrigue of the year for NAVI is whether s1mple will be able to bypass ZywOo in the top HLTV.org at the end of 2023. Not everything depends on the Ukrainian himself – after all, the team results decide a lot, and in this NAVI is still inferior to Vitality. But there is a chance that the IEM Global Challenge could change everything. We all know what Kostylev is capable of, and at the final championship he needs to show his maximum (and hope that Vitality will play worse than usual) – then, perhaps, s1mple will be recognized as the best player of the year.

Although NAVI is not the main favorite in the race for the title, the team still outperforms many of its rivals in the tournament. In the first match, the CIS team will play with FURIA Esports, which in the meetings with the Europeans still looks much weaker than in the confrontations with the North American teams. You can bet on our victory in the first game with a coefficient 1.45…

Heroic we refer to the applicants in advance, simply because their memory is still fresh in their successes of summer – early autumn. The rest of the team Kasper cadiaN Möller passed a little: at the last championships the Danes did not even enter the top four.

Otherwise, Heroic is still one of the strongest and most stable teams in the scene. In addition, the Danes were lucky to get into group B, where on paper they are perhaps second only to Natus Vincere. But to cope with the same Team Liquid and FURIA they can do it.

It’s a bit of a pity that Heroic passed at the end of the year, otherwise it could well have claimed, if not for the title of the best team of the year, then at least was ready to surpass BIG in the fight for the status of “breakthrough in 2023”. Nevertheless, the team had a very difficult year – a change in organization, uncertainties with the line-up, a ban of the coach, etc. But cadiaN was still able to lead the team to success, and for this he deserves only praise.

Underdogs

FURIA now – the best team in North America, but in Europe its results are unstable. As shown BLAST Premier: Fall 2023 Showdown, the qualifying tournament for the final BLAST championship, the Brazilians are able to consistently beat the tier-2 squads of Europe, but they are still not enough for more serious accomplishments.

In general, the future of the team is still in question. It is rumored that the squad may leave for unclear reasons Enrique HEN1 Teles and Vinicius VINI Figueiredoand whether FURIA can find adequate replacements for them is a big question. The fact is that absolutely all Brazilian clubs literally hold their main players with their teeth – local teams learned about the power of contracts back in the era Luminosity Gaming / SK Gaming, because of which Gabriel FalleN Toledo at one time he could not reanimate his team in time.

At the same time, despite all the problems, FURIA did not quite reach the status of an applicant. The Brazilians, of course, can hardly count on victory, but they can quite compete for the top 4, and for this they need to show their best sides on the fly. In the very first match FURIA will face a serious test in the person of NAVI, and Parimatch does not really believe in the success of the Brazilians – BC gives a coefficient for their victory 2.42… But given the instability of the s1mple team, nothing has been decided in advance in this match.

BIG It is quite logical to compare with Heroic: the team had the same unexpected takeoff in the online era and a series of successful performances in tournaments. But the German team began to pass a little earlier – after the summer break. Therefore, BIG is now only an underdog.

Despite the recent setbacks, BIG remains a very strong team and able to pull the nerves of any opponent. But at the IEM Global Challenge, the Germans were not lucky to get into the group with two favorites of the tournament. And if Complexity Gaming is able to beat them, then with the same Vitality in the first match it will be very difficult, which is confirmed by the quotes – for the victory of BIG, BC Parimatch gives the odds 3.75…

Team Liquid has finally lost the status of a top team and now is not a leader even among American teams. Moving to Europe does not help the players at all either: on the same DreamHack Masters Winter 2023 structure Jake Stewie2k Yip shared last place with c0ntact Gaming, ENCE eSports and Nemiga Gaming…

It is likely that the IEM Global Challenge will be the last championship for Liquid in the current roster, and it is not yet clear what will happen to the team. It is unlikely that the organization is satisfied with such a sharp drop in results, and the players themselves are unlikely to be satisfied with themselves, especially since all the recent changes did not go to the team’s benefit.

Complexity Gaming – the main outsider of the tournament, but only because the team ended up in the same group with Astralis and Vitality. The rest of the roster Benjamin blameF Bremer in no way inferior to the same Liquid, but the Americans at least have a chance to catch on to the playoffs, because they can beat the conventional Heroic and FURIA.

The team is still looking for their game after the unexpected departure from the young star Owen oBo Sclatter… Justin Jks Savage the same, taken to replace the American, is not yet fully integrated into the model that blameF adheres to. Most likely, we will see the real power of Complexity in the new year, but for now, the team just has to end the year not on the saddest note.

But this will be difficult to do. BC Parimatch does not at all believe in the success of the team in the starting game against Astralis: COL is given the highest odds among all teams in the starting match – 5.00…

Odds taken from the website of the bookmaker Parimatch and are relevant at the time of publication of the material. After registration there is a 100% bonus on the first deposit.

The IEM Global Challenge will take place online from December 15-20. Participants will compete for $ 500,000 and 7,502 BLAST points required to qualify for BLAST Premier: Global Final 2023, which will be held in January.