Team Analysis: SuperNova Malta 2018
SuperNova Malta 2018 is one of the last CS:GO tournaments of the year. The event is scheduled to take place in Malta, between November 29th – December 2nd, and will bring together eight very strong teams.
SuperNova Malta 2018 has a decent prize pool of $150.000 and is going to be a lot of fun to watch and even bet on if you know what you’re doing.
Participants
SuperNova Malta 2018 features 8 teams gathered from all over the world where CS:GO is a major phenomenon. From Europe to North America.
- NRG Esports
- Virtus.pro
- Team Kinguin
- Team Liquid
- TyLoo
- BIG
- Gambit Esports
- HellRaisers
Given the level of competition, I could say that Team Liquid is 100% in a class of its own and should be regarded as the default winner of the event, unless something spectacular happens and someone else steals its trophy. But with the exception of this CS:GO powerhouse, everyone else has a fair chance of going wild and making it all the way to the Grand Final.
In the second skill group we have Gambit Esports, NRG Esports and BIG. Any of these 3 teams could win the event, if it manages to beat Team Liquid along the way, most probably in the Grand Final. Everyone else falls into the 3rd skill group.
Tournament format
SuperNova Malta 2018 takes place in two stages: the Group Stage and the Playoffs Stage. For the Group Stage, the participants will be divided into 2 groups of 4:
Group A
- Team Liquid
- Virtus.prov
- NRG Esports
- Team Kinguin
Group B
- HellRaisers
- TyLoo
- BIG
- Gambit Esports
Each group will be played in a GSL format, also known as double elimination bracket. The initial matches will be Bo1s. All subsequent matches of the event will be Bo3. The best two teams from each group will advance to the Playoffs. This stage consists of 2 Semifinals, a 3rd place match and of course, one Grand Final.
Team analysis
Here’s a short analysis of the teams who are taking part in SuperNova Malta 2018.
BIG
At one of the most recent events – Intel Extreme Masters XIII Chicago – BIG managed to finish only 9th – 12th. If we look beyond this unfortunate result however, smooya, gob b and the rest of the crew have had a pretty strong performance lately. Some of their most recent achievements include getting a 2nd place at ESL One: Cologne 2018, finishing 3rd at cs_summit 3 and managing to get two 5th – 8th place results at FACEIT Major: London 2018 and StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 6.
All in all, BIG can be considered one of the strongest teams taking part at SuperNova Malta 2018. Playing in the weaker group and meeting opponents such as HellRaisers, Gambit Esports and TyLoo in Group B are only raising their chances to qualify in the Grand Final. This is because the other contenders are not yet at the same level as BIG, in my opinion.
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Gambit Esports
As an overview over Gambit’s most recent results, they have been definitely trying to make the best out of each competition but have not succeeded in any way. One of the best results the team scored over the last 4 months is getting a 3rd – 4th place at both Intel Extreme Masters XIII Shanghai and ESL One: New York 2018.
Going into other competitions, Gambit Esports has had a mediocre performance overall. Some examples are getting the 13th – 16th place at ESL One: Cologne 2018 and DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018, 20th -22nd place at FACEIT Major: London 2018 and 12th – 14th place at StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 6. Anyhow, for a team at their level, just competing at such big events is definitely a plus, as they are offered perspective and training.
Overall, I believe Gambit will have a hard time trying to defeat the others in Group B. Even though this might happen, the odds are so slim they almost don’t deserve to be considered.
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HellRaisers
In the past few months, HellRaisers have been totally out of shape and scored failure after failure at several events. In this context, their most remarkable result was getting the 5th – 8 th place at FACEIT Major: London 2018.
Two other rankings that are worth mentioning are the 9th – 11th place at StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 6 and finishing 5th – 6th at EPICENTER 2018. Such as in Gambit’s case, I don’t expect for HellRaisers to advance to the Playoffs Stage at SuperNova Malta 2018.
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Team Kinguin
The most recent roast change Team Kinguin went through brought them a lot of advantages. TaZ already proved to be a great asset for the team, as they have managed to improve significantly over the past few months since he came along.
Contrary to the 2018 competitive season, when Kinguin had almost no results, they proudly won the 1st place at both DreamHack Open Montreal 2018 and ESL Polish Championship Summer 2018, the 2nd place at Hellcase Cup #7 and at ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018 and finished 7th – 8th at cs_summit 3.
Going into SuperNova Malta 2018, Team Kinguin will be meeting some of the best teams worldwide in Group A. While Virtus.pro should not be a threat for Kinguin, NRG Esports might take a bit more effort to be defeated but it is not impossible. To qualify to the Playoffs, Team Kinguin would have to beat these 2 adversaries, as Team Liquid might be too much of a challenge for them at the moment.
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TyLoo
Probably the best CS:GO team in the Asian Region at the time, TyLoo imposes a serious threat to each team taking part at the event, especially now when they won the Asian Development League Season 1.
It is certain that TyLoo has been in great shape lately, as reflected in the following results: being ranked 2nd at Asia Minor Championship London 2018 and at Intel Extreme Masters XIII Shanghai, finishing 3rd – 4th at CS:GO Asia Championships 2018, 9th – 12th at DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018 and getting the 12th – 14th place at FACEIT Major: London 2018, as well as at StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 6.
As I think there are no chances for TyLoo to defeat BIG in its opening match at SuperNova Malta 2018, they will have to win against both Gambit Esports and HellRaisers. This way only, they will have a chance of advancing to the Playoffs Stage.
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Team Liquid
At the moment, Team Liquid is a top 3 team in the world and they are the strongest at this tournament, without any doubt. The past 6 months brought great results to Liquid and, if Astralis did not have the chance to dethrone it, they would have been the best team in the CS:GO 2018 season. Their recent achievements consist of playing no less than 6 Grand Finals and scoring 5 top 4 placements this year.
As none of the other competitors are at Team Liquid’s level, I predict that they will win the tournament. The only things that could stay in their way are issues regarding the schedule or a jet lag. Even less probable is that some of the other teams will play better than before and will stand a change against Team Liquid. Considering the odds however, they have 67% chances of winning the event before it even begins.
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NRG Esports
Recently, NRG Esports managed to score quite impressive results, such as finishing 1st at Intel Extreme Masters XIII Shanghai and cs_summit 3, together with getting the 3rd – 4th place at ESL One: New York 2018 and StarSeries i-League CS:GO Season 6. This season, NRG have also challenged Team Liquid pretty often and they promise to be in great shape at SuperNova Malta 2018. This can only make me curious to see their performance.
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Virtus.pro
In my opinion, Virtus.pro doesn’t stand a chance at this competition and, considering their current shape, won’t qualify to the Playoffs Stage.
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