StarLadder Major 2019: New Challengers Stage preview

StarLadder Major 2019 Preliminary Stage Review by CSGO.com

Just a few days separates fans of the competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive from the start of StarLadder Major 2019, which is Valve's second and last tournament for this year. During the New Challengers Stage, which will take place August 23 to 26, the outsiders of the group stage of the previous major   Vitality,  AVANGAR,  G2,  HellRaisers &  Complexity will compete with the finalists of the regional qualifiers.

We focus your attention on the preview of the preliminary stage of the upcoming Counter-Strike: Global Offensive World Cup.

Location

All stages of StarLadder Major 2019 will take place in Berlin, Germany. The venue for the New Challengers Stage is the Verti Music Hall, which is located next to the Mercedes-Benz Arena and, according to information from the organizers, accommodates 1,000 spectators.

Participants and format

The StarLadder Major 2019 rivalry will kick off by the teams that stepped out 9-14 places during the previous major (not counting Cloud9, who has lost their slot due to changes in their line-up) and the finalists of the Minor Championships - Berlin 2019.

List of participants

IEM Katowice 2019 Challengers

 Vitality (NBK-, RpK, apEX, ALEX, ZywOo)
 AVANGAR (AdreN, SANJI, buster, qikert, Jame)
 G2 (JaCkz, shox, kennyS, AmaNEk, Lucky)
 HellRaisers (ANGE1, oskar, loWel, ISSAA, nukkye)
 Complexity (ShahZaM, dephh, Rickeh, SicK, oBo)

Finalists Europe Minor - Berlin 2019

 mousesports (karrigan, chrisJ, woxic, frozen, ropz)
 CR4ZY (huNter, LETN1, nexa, ottoNd, EspiranTo)

Finalists of Americas Minor - Berlin 2019

 NRG (stanislaw, tarik, Brehze, Ethan, CeRq)
 FURIA (arT, yuurih, VINI, KSCERATO, ableJ)

Finalists of CIS Minor - Berlin 2019

 forZe (facecrack, almazer, FL1T, xsepower, Jerry)
 Syman (t0rick, Ramz1k, neaLaN, Keoz, Perfecto)

Finalists of Asia Minor - Berlin 2019

 Grayhound (Sico, dexter, erkaSt, malta, DickStacy)
 TYLOO (Summer, BnTeT, AttackeR, somebody, Freeman)

Finalists of the Minor Play-in - Berlin 2019

 North (aizy, Kjaerbye, JUGi, gade, valde)
 DreamEaters (kinqie, svyatKrad, speed4k, Forester)
 INTZ (kNgV-, xand, destiny, yeL, chelo)

The New Challengers Stage will be held according to the Swiss-system tournament format. The first two rounds of the group will be played in the BO1 format, while the rest in the format of best-of-3.

The draw of the first round of the Swiss-system tournament group was based on the positions of the teams in the HLTV.org rating for the period from March 4 to August 12. According to the place in the basic seeding, the participants received their ELO rating, which will determine the pairs of subsequent rounds, taking into account the results of previous matches.

The eight strongest teams advance to the New Legends Stage, where they will continue to fight for the StarLadder Major 2019 championship title with the legends of IEM Major Katowice 2019 –  Astralis,  ENCE,  Natus Vincere,  MiBR,  FaZe,  Liquid,  Renegades &  NiP.

New Challengers Stage first round matches:

 Vitality vs.  Syman
 NRG vs.  DreamEaters
 G2 vs.  TYLOO
 North vs.  INTZ
 FURIA vs.  HellRaisers
 mousesports vs.  forZe
 AVANGAR vs.  Complexity
 CR4ZY vs.  Grayhound

Favorites and underdogs

Since the first two rounds of the New Challengers Stage will be played in the BO1 format, it is rather difficult to name unconditional favorites and underdogs. However, looking at the full list of participants, we could mark the teams that have a relatively greater or lesser chances of reaching the next stage of the major.

Favorites

 Vitality (2 place HLTV.org ranking)

The current Vitality five man roster has been formed only at the end of 2018, but already managed to gain a foothold in the ranking of the best. The team has visited most of the past major tournaments, where has shown an excellent form. StarLadder Major 2019 is the best opportunity for the French team to take a lead in world top of CS: GO.

Recent Achievements:

3-4 place IEM Chicago 2019
3-4 place ESEA S31 GLobal Challenge
2nd place ESL One Cologne 2019
1st place ECS S7 Finals
5-6 place DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019
1st place cs_summit # 4

 NRG (5th HLTV.org ranking)

A team from North America who has been holding a place in the top 10 of the HLTV.org rating for the past year . The last rearrangement in the lineup was made not so long ago: in June, Peter “stanislaw” Yarguz took the place of Damien “daps” Steele and assumed the duties of the in-game leader. If we talk about the results of the substitute, the NRG continued to show a stable game at the very high level.

Recent Achievements:

1st place Americas Minor - Berlin 2019
3rd place BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles 2019
5-6 place ESL One Cologne 2019
3-4 place ESL Pro League S9 Finals

 G2 (8th HLTV.org ranking)

Recent Achievements:

5-6 place IEM Chicago 2019
1st place Good Game League 2019
2nd place ESL Pro League S9 Finals
5-6 place DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019

 FURIA (9th HLTV.org ranking)

Recent Achievements:

2nd place Americas Minor - Berlin 2019
1st place ESEA S31 Global Challenge
9th-12th place ESL One Cologne 2019
3-4 place Moche XL Esports 2019
2nd place ECS S7 Finals
3-4 place of DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019

 mousesports (10th HLTV.org ranking)

Recent Achievements:

1st place Europe Minor - Berlin 2019
7-8 place ESL One Cologne 2019
3-4 place ESL Pro League S9 Finals

Challengers

The list of challengers includes teams that differ from the favorites in a matter of instability of their recent results or the lack of experience of playing at high-level tournaments, but still have an advantage in the class over the explicit underdogs of the New Challengers Stage.

 North (12th HLTV.org ranking)

Recent Achievements:

1-2 place Minor Play-in - Berlin 2019
9th-12th place ESL Pro League S9 Finals
3-4 place ECS S7 Finals
7-8 place DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019

 CR4ZY (17th HLTV.org ranking)

Recent Achievements:

2nd place Europe Minor - Berlin 2019
5-6 place DreamHack Open Summer 2019

 forZe (21st HLTV.org ranking)

Recent Achievements:

1st place CIS Minor - Berlin 2019
2nd place New York Invitational 2019
1st place Chicago Invitational 2019

 Complexity (27th HLTV.org ranking)

Recent Achievements:

5-6 place ECS S7 Finals

 HellRaisers (29th HLTV.org ranking)

Recent Achievements:

5-6 place Good Game League 2019
9th-12th place ESL Pro League S9 Finals

 AVANGAR (26th HLTV.org ranking)

Recent Achievements:

5-6 place DreamHack Open Summer 2019

Underdogs

The lowest expectations among the New Challengers Stage participants are assigned to Australia  Grayhound (23rd HLTV.org ranking),  INTZ (#30),  TYLOO (#31),  DreamEaters (#36) &  Syman (#44). This five teams have shown good results at regional tournaments, but at the international level, it is highly unlikely for them to perform.

But all these teams could be safely called the "dark horses". We have seen the phenomenon of Valve tournaments not even once, when the teams that no one believed in, except loyal fans, confidently went through the preliminary stage, or even became legends. Unpredictability is one of the main reasons that make majors the most spectacular tournaments not only in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but also across all e-sports in general.