ELEAGUE Major Preview: A tale of two North Americas

It's a tale of two North Americas heading into the inaugural ELEAGUE Major.

On one side is OpTic Gaming, the defending ELEAGUE Season 2 champions and arguably the hottest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team coming into the tournament.

On the other side is Team Liquid, who qualified by way of a second place finish at ESL One: Cologne in July but have trended downward since then and limp into the event with low expectations.

The shoe was on the other foot no more than six months ago as Liquid secured their spot in the major while OpTic struggled through roster changes.

Liquid shocked the world with a run to the finals in Cologne. They defeated heavyweights Natus Vincere and Fnatic in the quarter-finals and semifinals, respectively, before running into eventual champion SK Gaming. The boys in blue took home $150,000 for their second place finish but more importantly they could rest easy knowing a spot in Atlanta was waiting for them in the new year.

OpTic lost its only two games in Cologne and finished in the bottom four.

Prior to the disappointment showing in Cologne, OpTic said goodbye to an original member in Shahzeeb "ShahZaM" Khan, who left for Echo Fox, and welcomed Oscar "mixwell" Canellas. Another original member said goodbye in August as Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz was dropped in favour of Tarik "tarik" Celik. Stanislaw returned to the lineup near the end of September and the second-half surge began to take shape.

The team had promising showings ESL One: New York (5th-6th) and the ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals (5th-6th) before breaking through at the Northern Arena Esports Championship in Montreal. After a 2-1 group stage, OpTic defeated Heroic (2-1) in the semis and G2 Esports in the finals to capture $50,000 and their first marquee victory in 2016.

OpTic didn't let a sloppy 7th-8th place finish at DreamHack Winter slow them down as they bounced back with a victory at the ELEAGUE Season 2 Finals at the beginning of December, defeating Astralis in a grueling three-game series to take home top prize. Astralis would get the better of OpTic in the ECS Season 2 Finals a little more than a week later, but finishing second was a far cry from the disappointment of the first half of the year. 

The strong second half earned OpTic more than $600,000 in prize money and the squad would clinch a berth in the ELEAGUE Major later in December.
 

Liquid, on the other end of the spectrum, hasn't finished higher than 3rd-4th in a notable tournament since the win in Cologne. 

Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev jumped ship for Na'Vi at the beginning of August and since then Liquid narrowly missed out on the finals at ESL One: New York, failed to qualify for the ELEAGUE Season 2 Finals and finished 7th-8th at the ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals and IEM Oakland. Liquid also failed to advance through the group stage at Northern Arena in Montreal as OpTic went on to take the title.

It has been an unexpected turn of events for both clubs and the pressure is high as the only two North American representatives among 16 of the best CS:GO teams in the world, but on the bright side, having two dogs in the fight is better than having none.

The ELEAGUE Major runs from Jan. 22 to 29 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.

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ROSTERS

SK GAMING - Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo, Fernando "fer" Alvarenga, Marcelo "coldzera" David, Epitacio "TACO" Pessoa, Ricardo "fox" Pacheco

TEAM LIQUID - Nicholas "nitr0" Cannella, Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski, Spencer "Hiko" Martin, Joshua "jdm64" Marzano, Jacob "Pimp" Winneche

FNATIC - Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer, Dennis "dennis" Edman, Simon "twist" Eliasson, Freddy "KRiMZ" Johansson, Joakim "disco doplan" Gidetun

VIRTUS.PRO - Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas, Filip "NEO" Kubski, Jaroslaw "pasha" Jarzabkowski, Janusz "snax" Pogorzelski, Pawel "byali" Bielinski

ASTRALIS - Andras "Xyp9x" Hojsleth, Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz, Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen, Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjaerbye, Lukas gla1ve" Rossander

FLIPSID3 TACTICS - Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodensky, Georgy "WorldEdit" Yaskin, Yegor "markeloff" Markelov, Jan "wayLander" Rahkonen, Denis "electronic" Sharipov

GAMBIT ESPORTS - Mihail "Dosia" Stolyarov, Rustem "mou" Tlepov, Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev, Daniil "Zeus" Teslenko, Abay "HObbit" Khasenov

NATUS VINCERE - Denis "seized" Kostin, Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovacs, Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev, Egor "flamie" Vasilyev, Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev
 

FAZE CLAN - Havard "rain" Nygaard, Philip "aizy" Aistrup, Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey, Aleksi ""allu" Jalli, Finn "karrigan" Andersen

GODSENT - Markus "pronax" Wallsten, Andreas "znajder" Lindberg, Jesper "JW" Wecksell, Robin "flusha" Ronnquist, Jonas "Lekr0" Olofsson

MOUSESPORTS - Chris "chrisJ" de Jong, Nikola "NiKo" Kovac, Denis "denis" Howell, Timo "Spiidi" Richter, Christain "lowel" Antoran

NORTH - Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen, Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke, Ruben "RUBINO" Villarroel, Rene "cajunb" Borg, Emil "Magiskb0Y" Reif

OPTIC GAMING - Keith "NAF" Markovic, Will "RUSH" Wierzba, Oscar "mixwell" Canellas, Tarik "tarik" Celik, Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz

TEAM ENVYUS - Vincent "Happy" Cervoni, Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt, Kenny "kennyS" Schrub, Dan "apEX" Madesclaire, Christophe "SIXER" Xia

G2 ESPORTS - Cedric "RpK" Guipouy, Richard "shox" Papillon, Edouard "SmithZz" Dubourdeaux, Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom, Alexandre "bodyy" Pianaro

HELLRAISERS - Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow, Martin "STYKO" Styk, Patrik "Zero" Zudel, Vladyslav "bondik" Nechyporchuk, Bence "DeadFox" Borocz

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WHAT I THINK

• Astralis will decide their own fate. Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander says he "can't remember the last time I felt so confident in my team and in our game plan," and there is plenty of evidence to believe him. The Danish club is the clear favourite heading into the tournament and they have all the pieces extinguish each and every challenger. Their downfall could come at their own hands, I just don't expect it to.

• North America will be North America. OpTic has injected life into the hopes of an entire region while Liquid has shown the ability to compete with the toughest of foes over the last year, but in typical major tournament fashion, they won't be there when it matters. Liquid has low expectations and could even fail to meet them while OpTic will keep NA fans on the edge of their seats just to fall early in the elimination rounds.

• Virtus.pro should not be taken lightly. Yes, VP has had their fair share of ups and downs in 2016, but the ups far outweigh the downs and a strong performance at the World Electronic Sports Games at the beginning of the new year has VP poised to make a statement in Atlanta. The all-Polish lineup is signed until 2020 and their commitment to the team and each other will show on the big stage.