Live from the ELEAGUE Arena in Atlanta, Georgia - the world’s best CS:GO teams will come together on July 21 to battle it out for a share of the $1,000,000 prize pool. Who are the favourites? Could there be another upset? Read on for our preview of the event, the format and the teams in contention.
The top-ranked teams in the CS:GO standings will all be competing at this year’s ELEAGUE Premier, some with a point to prove and others looking to create history and take home their share of the massive prize money on offer.
Here are the latest odds:
ELEAGUE Premier: The format
The group stages take place between July 21 – 25 with two groups of four teams all playing in a BO3 format. The two top teams from both groups will advance to the playoffs that take place July 28-29. It’s a single elimination bracket, with the semi-finals under a BO3 format and the final being a BO5.
The draw for the group stages have yet to be completed so keep a look out as they could play a big role in deciding who goes through to the play-offs.
Who are the favourites?
Natus Vincere (7.12*) come into the tournament in fantastic form after a powerful showing at ESL One Cologne where they were crowned champions. They recovered from an opening round stumble to G2 to go on and defeat fellow ELEAGUE competitors Cloud 9 (18.31*), Fnatic (13.39*) and favourites Astralis (2.44*) before convincingly defeating the outsiders BIG in the final. Team member Aleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev was MVP at ESL One and will be looking to carry his form into this tournament.
The defeat to Natus Vincere was Astralis’ first defeat in 15 competitive matches, with the one previous loss coming against FaZe (5.26* to win the ELEAGUE Premier). They will be looking to re-assert their status as the number one CS:GO team and take home the championship.
Astralis were actually unlucky to go out to Natus Vincere in the semis of ESL One, their players put up some good stats with more positive KD ratios than their opponents but they couldn’t do enough to get the win.
FaZe fell victim to the incredible outsiders BIG who went on to make the final at ESL One. Like Astralis, FaZe will be looking to make amends at this year’s ELEAGUE with a strong showing. If they want to progress deep into the tournament however, they will most likely need to overcome Astralis who they haven’t beaten in their last two competitive matches.
Outsiders to strike again?
The performance of BIG who reached the final at ESL One, having been priced 80.24 to win the tournament before it kicked off, will give current outsiders Cloud 9 massive encouragement. They opened their last tournament with a 16-3 demolition of NiP but went on to consecutive defeats against Astralis and Natus Vincere in back to back 2-0 losses.
Fnatic actually beat BIG at ESL One in the group stages to make it into the playoffs before succumbing at the quarter-final stage to eventual winners Natus Vincere. They too will take encouragement and will hope to be the surprise package at the ELEAGUE.
Liquid (9.15*) had a very disappointing showing at ESL One, crashing out at the group stage after losing both their opening matches to BIG and North respectively. They will certainly be out to rectify their lacklustre display.
Similarly, mousesports (12.21*) also have some ground to make up, having had a substandard tournament at ESL One, losing to ENCE who were even bigger outsiders than the aforementioned BIG (priced at 120.97* before the tournament) to crash out in dramatic fashion.
Finally, MIBR (formally known as SK Gaming) who are currently 8.16* to win the tournament will go into the ELEAGUE believing they could pull off a minor upset. Having secured victories against Renegades and North at ESL One, the Brazilian based outfit were defeated by pre-tournament favourites FaZe and eventual finalists BIG.
Alternative betting markets to consider
The outright markets will be a popular choice for bettors, but Pinnacle also offers a wide range of betting options away from traditional markets that could offer potential value.
Betting on the map with the highest CT-side win percentage for example will appeal to those with solid CS:GO map pool knowledge and with odds on Train at (3.93*) with 54% recent record in favour of CT teams winning, this market one of the more intriguing options available.
If you are interested in reading more about CS:GO betting or want to keep up-to-date with the latest CS:GO events, go back to our eSports hub - the home of eSports betting.
