Blast Pro Series Copenhagen 2018

02 November, 2018 - 03 November, 2018 Copenhagen, Denmark

Blast Pro Series, hosted by RFRSH, returns to Copenhagen for the third iteration of the tournament. Six of the world's best CS:GO teams have been invited to compete for a $ 250,000 prize pool.

Aside from the main event, the tournament will also feature a 1v1 aim duel showmatch, the BLAST Pro Standoff, boasting an extra $ 20,000 prize pool.

Preview

BLAST pro series is back with another high quality invite-only event. We have the #1, #2, #4, #5, #8 (and #29...). From the hltv top 20 ranked teams in the world. All world class top ranked teams. That have been at the top of the e-sports world for such a long time.

In Istanbul MIBR managed to give Astralis a run for their money. But a run is not enough to make Astralis sweat, and they won another event. However things will not go so easy for them this time, with Faze and NAVI replacing VP and space soldiers, the field will become ridiculously competitive. And the BO1 format might be enough to deny Astralis the first position.

Since Liquid is not attending it will be harder to predict who will come in second place, but with this field, they are sure to be an amazing team. But with NAVI, Faze and NIP attended epicenter just a week before this competition, while at the same time every team has to play a ridiculous amount of games for both ESL and ESC. They might be starting to feel the stress of so many games.

Five exciting questions for this tournament

1. Are Faze really back?
2. Will Astralis ever be tired of winning?
3. Have Navi peaked?
4. Who wins the C9 vs NiP grudge match?
5. Why was Cloud9 invited?

Astralis has had a completely dominant 2018, and there can be no question about the Astralis era anymore. Of the 10 last premiere LAN events they have attended they have won 7!. Only loses has come frome Faze in Sydney and North in Stockholm, both second place finishes. And the worst result being 3rd-4th placement at ESL cologne where they lost the semi-finals against NAVI. They have been really professional about everything thing in the game. From practice sessions, finding nade spots and even making sure to get enough rest to able to perform at a top level. 

They are leading both online leagues and there just doesn't seem to be any stopping them.

This might be one of their bigger challenges in a while, and every team must be studying how they play both for learning and countering purposes. They have probably done the same with MIBR, Faze and NAVI already. I'm not too sure they are ready to move away from the Astralis era just yet.

Astralis prediction: 1st place (4W - 1L) 

Navi has had a good 2018 showing insane consistency finishing top 4 in almost every big LAN event you could think of. Their major accomplishment was winning ESL One:Cologne 2018 even besting Astralis in the semi finals. They are also showing good form at the online tournaments, but I think the chemistry in the team is not at its best when they are facing uphill battles and this will be the reason why they won't make it to the top in this tournament. Much will depend on how they focus after their epicenter 2nd place, do they only see their failures in a grand final? Or are they able to focus on the games when they crushed faze 2-0 in the group stage and remember that they can beat anyone.

Natus Vincere prediction: 3rd/4h place (2W - 3L)

They really want to come back to the good old SK days, and the way the team has been restructured I really think they have a shot at accomplishing that. They bought the two best players in the NA region and added YNK as a coach. Stewie2k took quite a while to adjust to the team, and the team to him. But after the english was already in place, his former teammate tarik fitted right in. They got a sweet 3rd-4th place at the major and a close second at BLAST Pro Series: Istanbul. Similar to Astralis they made the decision to skip a few lan events in the online season and they are ready to show the value off that decision  at this event. If anyone are ready to analyze Astralis and beat them, its MIBR.

Made In Brazil prediction: 2nd place (3W - 2L)

After a long ride with success with Karrigan in the driver seat, even winning a tournaments with stand-ins Cromen and Xist. The team seems to have committed mutiny and Niko has taken over the in game leader role. Maybe for a team expecting to be number#1 getting very good results just aren't enough.

How well this move works is a bit early to tell. Karrigan has definitely started posting higher stats. But the team has not yet adjusted 100% to the new style, but Niko seems to keep up his insane rifle skills at the same time. He is by far the deadliest ingame leader at the moment. My heart really wants them to make it, but my logic is much more sceptical. 

Epicenter update: Wow Faze showed the world that they really do have what it takes, beating Nip, Liquid and then Navi 2-0 each to win the entire tournament, what a feat! But i'm still a bit concerned with their form

Faze prediction: 3rd/4th place (3W- 2L)
 

They are really playing better CS than in a few years. But at this level it is sadly not enough. They still need more skills and more flare in their tactics to be able to deal with these behemoths. The entire 2018 LAN ride has been pretty bad for them, and Lekro has been playing long enough for them to be acquainted with each other. Losing to AVANGAR did not inspire confidence. And neither does 4-12 standing at ESL.

They are able to take a map of any of the other teams here, but then almost the entire team has to perform extremely well, and I don't see that happening more than once and maybe not that. And they also have the potential to lose against Cloud9 if they are off. It's always much more random when former teammates face eachother, but should be a fun grudge match.

 Ninjas In Pyjamas prediction: 5th place (1W - 4L)

How did this team manage to get an invite? They got 6th at the last BLAST series in Istanbul. Which was actually one of the best LAN result they have had since Stewie2k left. The only sad part about this fact is that only six teams attended the event, so not such a big accomplishment. They have been trying a lot of different players lately but nothing has really clicked, and even Skadoodle has retired once again. Unless they convince S1mple to join the team I don't see much hope for them.

Cloud9 prediction: 6th place (0W - 5L)

Blast challenge prediction

Nip won last time, but I don't think they will make it to 3rd place, and whoever gets third place the team will have better aim then them. If NAVI ends up in third place I'm pretty sure they will demolish anyone they face (not Zeus though). But all in all the team with the best odds to win this, will be Faze 

Faze will win

Tournament Format

Group Stage:

Single round robin group with Best-of-One matches. The top two teams advance to the grand finals.

Grand Final:

Single Best-of-Three series.

BLAST Pro Standoff:

Showmatch event consisting of five 1v1 aim duels. The team finishing in 3rd place gets to choose their next opponent from the remaining teams who finish below them.