Photo Credit: HLTV
With the conclusion of the group stages over the last weekend, the quarterfinals bracket has been drawn. Several surprising underdogs made it through to the playoffs pulling off some upsets on the top teams around the world. The teams who made it to the quarters are FaZe, mousesports, Na’Vi, Quantum Bellator Fire, G2, Cloud9, SK, and fnatic. Several big names that are missing include previous major winners, Gambit, the world’s third ranked team, Astralis, and the legendary Polish team, Virtus.pro. The most surprising team that made it to the playoffs has got to be Quantum Bellator Fire. Currently ranked at 25th and not even considered the top team from their own region, this team pulled off a miraculous run by defeating mousesports and Gambit in two close games and smashing Virtus.pro.
Predictions and the Matchups
The quarterfinals will begin this Friday with FaZe against mousesports followed by Na’Vi against Quantum Bellator Fire and then G2 versus Cloud9. The final quarters match will be played the next day between SK and fnatic. For our predictions, we will be going with FaZe, Na’Vi, G2 and SK. FaZea are undisputably the best team in the tournament at the moment with SK using a substitute for boltz. QBF have had a great run so far, but against Na’Vi, they shouldn’t be able to compete against the best team from their region. The next two matches are more of a tossup, but G2 has shown a strong return to form including a win over Cloud9 already in the group stages. Although fnatic have been improving tremendously since the addition of Golden and Lekr0, they are still an unpolished team and SK are the best team in the world. Their stand-in, felps, played on the team in the previous iteration, so it’s not like he’s a stranger to how the team plays.
One thing is for sure though. The playoffs will generate many exciting moments and intense gameplay of CS:GO that will leave viewers on the edge of their seats. Root for your favorite teams and watch CS:GO history be made.