Virtus Pro vs Astralis

Normally a matchup of this stature would be one people would look forward to, however circumstances have changed and as such we are faced with what looks to be an extremely lackluster quarterfinal set between these two teams.

Astralis have been nowhere close to their full strength at this major as they are currently playing without two of their fragging mainstays, having replaced dupreeh and kjaerbye with Gla1ve and zonic for this major. Due to these roster substitutions Astralis were barely able to squeeze through the group stages and overall look wholly unprepared to deal with the beast that is Virtus Pro.

Virtus Pro, on the other hand, have looked extremely deadly at this LAN so far. Virtus Pro quickly marched through their opposition in the group stages, dismantling Mouz 16-10 and Team Liquid 16-12, and their star player in the form of Snax has been in tip top form so far, finishing the group stages with a rating of 1.50. Existing as a sort of caveat to the current Astralis, Virtus Pro look to be in the type of form that has previously enabled them to make deep runs at major events.

Down the line, with different circumstances, this matchup could be an extremely enticing one to watch, however in its current form its quite droll. Virtus Pro going into this best of three appear to be the favorites by quite a large margin, after all what can one come to expect from a half dead astralis lineup. Look for Virtus Pro to handedly take this series in a relatively comfortable performance versus the mangled Astralis boys.

SK vs Flipside

SK Gaming versus Flipside can only be described in the biblical sense, after all this playoff quarterfinal has to be one of the biggest mismatches in history ever since David vs Goliath. A team who most did not rank in the top ten in the world going into this major have suddenly found themselves in a best of three versus the best team in the world, and as such the odds simply do not favor them.

SK Gaming going into this quarterfinal are the best team in the world, and one of the best teams to ever touch the game of Counter Strike. Led by Fallen, quite possibly the best in game leader in the world, SK Gaming are one of the most disciplined and well structured teams in the game today.

SK’s brilliant mind for the tactics of the game is well complemented by the fact that SK Gaming’s roster is built in such a way that no holes exist. SK Gaming are blessed with the hottest star duo in the game today and some of the best complementary players in the game today.

This major is one of extreme importance for the players on SK Gaming, after all if they claim the title they could join Fnatic’s original roster in the pantheon of teams that have won two majors. This quarter final set is one that is in the way of defining a legacy, and as such SK Gaming will hold nothing back in attempts to overcome the boys at Flipside Tactics.

On the flipside of things we can take a look at flipside tactics. When looking at this roster two players jump out to the forefront, Blade ,the genius behind the well structured play of Flipside tactics, and Worldedit star AWPER of Flipside.

Flipside Tactics are a team whose success heavily relies on a set structure around their ingame play, after all this exact structure is what helped lead them over NiP in the group stages.

Be that as it may regardless of how much structure Flipside Tactics possesses there still is a wall that structure can not lead them past, Flipside Tactics simply do not possess the type of individual skill that is required to overcome a team like SK Gaming.

Overall this matchup should  be fairly straightforward, a team like SK Gaming simply outmatches Flipside both tactically and in terms of firepower, and as such should be able to take this series by an extremely comfortable margin..

Na’ Vi vs Team Liquid

Natus Vincere vs Team Liquid is in my book the most exciting matchup in store for us in the quarter finals.

Supposedly, both these teams are quite well acquainted with each other, after all Team Liquid’s primary partner for their bootcamp prior to this major and ECS has been stated to be Natus Vincere. As such both these teams should be well versed on each other's playstyles, and should know more about their opponents than the general public has access too.

Natus Vincere are one of the deepest teams in Counter Strike Global Offensive today, and undoubtedly one of the main contenders to SK Gaming’s throne as best team in the world. Possessing some of the most talented players in the game and supplementing them with the tactical mind of Starix, Natus Vincere emerge as the favorites when put alongside their North American counterparts.

Team Liquid are in some ways similar to this Natus Vincere lineup, yet in some ways completely opposite. Matching Natus Vincere’s roster, Team Liquid’s roster is one with an extreme depth in terms of talent. Building the base of the roster with the entrappings of a North American dream team and then appending on one of the most talented players to touch the game in the form of S1mple.

Interestingly enough Team liquid also happen to possess an in game leader who operates from behind the team akin to Starix’s role in Natus Vincere..

Despite all these similarities between the two teams there exists a world of differences too, Team Liquid are not as much of a known quantity as Na’Vi is. The map pool of Na’Vi is open to whoever wishes to figure it out as all the data is available on hltv, however in terms of Team Liquid the true depth of their map pool has yet to be figured out as they have not played that many public events.

Going into this quarter finals Natus Vincere are the clear favorites, after all they are a top 4 team in the world and also possess one of the strongest rosters in the game today. Be that as it may this is not a matchup of biblical proportions, Team Liquid certainly have built a team that can make its mark on the world stage, and that mark could be made in the quarterfinals versus Natus Vincere.

Gambit vs Fnatic

On paper this matchup is quite unexciting, pegging a top three team in the world versus a team that most had going out of group A, one of the weakest groups in major history, in third place. Despite those past predictions the future turned out to be vastly different, Gambit ended up exiting Group A in first seed and drew Fnatic as their opponent. Out of all possible opponents they could have drawn Gambit got the worst possible matchup, after all no one wants to go against a team like Fnatic in the playoff bracket.

Gambit Gaming come into this matchup as the first seed, after conquering the extremely weak group A they are now faced with the task of overcoming Fnatic. Gambit are a CIS team whose style is built around taking aim duels and winning them. The problem that has come up for Gambit is the inconvenient truth that Fnatic have built a large part of their legacy off of that very style, and thusly it seems that out skilling Fnatic is not something on the table for Gambit Gaming.

This series overall seems to be one that is Fnatic’s to lose, they have been blessed with an opponent who plays a similar style to them yet to a lesser degree of effectiveness. All that remains to be seen is whether or not Fnatic have it in them to go through the formalities of beating Gambit Gaming, and history seems to suggest that they do.

Photos courtesy of HLTV.