Rise vs GX

ESEA MDL Season 27 North America,

Today we will be looking at a very interesting game that i've found. The likes of Rise Nation and GX will be playing against each other in a best of one series. Now this just looks like any other game and clearly Rise Nation are the favorites to win the entire Season, let alone this one game. But GX made some very interesting roster changes. Some that were announced and another that might have gone undetected, but adds a huge factor into the GX lineup.

Rise Nation :

I've analyzed a spoken about the grea Rise Nation in the past and how I feel they are a very competative tier 3 organization, much like AGO, who will soon step into the main stage and compete against the big boys of the world. Unfortunately for Rise Nation they did end up losing to SOAR Gaming and losing out on the opportunity to compete, bu they are back with the same line up ready to take on the world again for another chance.

Maps for Rise Nation are as followed; Mirage is 11-6, Inferno is 12-3, Train is 5-2, Nuke is 2-4, Overpass is also 2-4, Cobblestone is 0-2, and finally Cache is the perma ban.

GX :

For those that don't know who GX is and why I am so interested in this particular team, it is because GX is the team of the remaining members of the ex-iBUYPOWER team that threw games and got banned. They are starting to make their comeback and recently announced that their old IGL Steel, would be re joining them after the departure of team mates DaZed. Along with the announement of Steel returning, HLTV has confirmed that ex-CLG AWPer Koosta, will be joining GX for today's match up. What this means for GX is that Swag will no longer have to AWP and can focus on his main form of Rifling. Also Koosta is a pretty damn good AWPer.

GX's maps are as followed; Mirage is 3-6, Train is 3-5, Cache is 3-4, Inferno is 3-4, Cobblestone is 3-2, Nuke is 0-1, and finally Cache is the perma ban.

Map Pick/Ban :

Seeing as this is a best of one I feel as though both teams will opt for their most favored map which will be Mirage. I don't see Steel trying anything fancy against Rise Nation and we will likely get the standard matchup. Steel will be looking for practice more than a game, but don't think he won't try.

Final Thoughts:

My final thoughts on this match up will be a little hard to grasp, I hope I am correct in this prediction. But with the addition of a real IGL and solid rifler in the form of Steel and the primary AWP role postition finally covered by someone who actually dominates at it, I feel GX will slowly get into better and better shape until they become a force to fear. In this match up I can see them winning, though this is only their first game as a fully assembled team I feel that this is a pretty solid line up and will allow each individual player to do what they need to do to be successful. Low bet, but an interesting game to be watched.