The preview of ECS Season 6 - Finals

The final of the sixth season of Esports Championship Series will start soon. We will tell you about the details of the event in this material and also will analyze the chances for a success.

The general information

Esports Championship Series Season 6 — Finals will be hosted at Arlington, Minnesota, the USA on November 22-25. Esports Stadium will be a venue and the prize pool will amount $660,000. Eight teams, which have held leading positions at preliminary leagues in Europe and North America, will take part in the event: Astralis, North, mousesports, Ninjas in Pyjamas, NRG eSports, MIBR, Team Liquid, and Cloud9.

The format

The competitions will be hosted in a classic format: the group stage with a GSL system and bo3 matches and the playoffs with the rest four participants of the tournament, a Single Elimination bracket and bo3 matches too.

The prize pool

Teams, which will manage to make it to the LAN final and place 7th-8th, will earn $35,000 as a reward. Teams to finish their participation in the third place in the group stage will grab $45,000. Teams, which will fight their way to the playoffs and finish their match for the title of the champion, having stopped on the 3rd-4th place, will earn a good money prize in the sum of $65,000. The champion and the vice-champion of ECS 6 Finals will earn $250,000 ad $120,000, respectively.

The teams-favorites

Astralis (a place in the rate by HLTV — #1)

Astralis has been holding a leading position in the world rate by HLTV for a long time. This team has recently achieved victory at Intel Extreme Masters XIII — Chicago once again, having beaten Team Liquid in the final.

The majority of viewers think that the team will become the champion of ECS Season 6. Considering the fact that the prize pool of the LAN final will amount $660,000 and the main money prize will be $250,000, the Danes’ motivation is undoubtful. It’s possible that the players have been able to get tired from their successful performances for such a long time but the clear fact is that Astralis is the most obvious favorite for the victory.

The roster of Astralis and the players’ rate:

Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz — 1.22
Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen — 1.16
Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth — 1.19
Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander — 1.11
Emil “Magisk” Reif — 1.16
Danny “zonic” Sorensen — a coach

Team Liquid (a place in the rate by HLTV — #3)

The players from Team Liquid can be called the second favorite of the tournament for sure. Liquid advances to the final at many large championships but is not able to achieve the final victory. In 2018, Liquid made it to the final of cs_summit 2, EPL 7 Finals, ECS 5 Finals, ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018, ESL One New York 2018, and IEM XIII - Chicago. They have become the champions only at cs_summit 2 but they have lost the final matches against Astralis at all other tournaments, except ESL New York. If Astralis somehow leaves the competition before the final and Liquid advances to the grand final, they will probably become the champions of ECS Season 6 - Finals.

The roster of Team Liquid and the players’ rate:

Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella — 1.11
Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski — 1.13
Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken — 1.22
Keith “NAF” Markovic — 1.14
Epitacio “TACO” de Melo — 1.01
Wilton “zews” Prado — a coach

The rest of the teams

MIBR (a place in the rate by HLTV — #6)

MIBR is in a good gaming shape. They finished their participation in the North American league, having placed third, and were one victory away from higher-ranking opponents. Considering this result, the Brazilians might be called one of the favorites of the tournament, however, this team was unlucky at all last LAN events. At BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2018, they held the last place and placed 9th-12th at IEM XIII — Chicago. An online-league and a LAN final are different things, so it will be not so objective to talk about their results at the upcoming championship by their results at leagues/.

The roster of MIBR and the players’ rate:

Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo — 1.13
Fernando “fer” Alvarenga — 1.18
Marcelo “coldzera” David — 1.21
Jacky “Stewie2K” Yip — 1.12
Tarik “tarik” Celik — 1.08
Janko “YNk” Paunovic — a coach

North (a place in the rate by HLTV — #10)

The North’s situation is similar to MIBR’s state of things. The team plays well at online leagues but can’t show good results at LAN events. They placed 2nd and 4th at ECS and EPL, respectively. IEM XIII — Chicago and StarSeries Season 6 were the last offline tournaments for the Danes where they held the 9th-12th and 5th-8th place, respectively. It’s worth to notice the fact that North made replacements on the roster at the end of September, having released MSL and merts from duties and signed cadiaN and gade. If the Danish team prepares hard for the tournament, it will have all chances to advance to the playoffs.

The roster of North and the players’ rate:

Philip “aizy” Aistrup — 1.06
Valdemar “valde” Bjorn — 1.16
Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjaerbye — 1.14
Casper “cadiaN” Moller — 1.02
Nicklas “gade” Gade — 1.00
Alexander “ave” Holdt — a coach

mousesports (a place in the rate by HLTV — #5)

In the middle of October, the head of mousesports decided that it would be much better to change Snax on STYKO to achieve good results and benched the Polish esportsman, having moved the Slovak to the main roster. If you have a look at the recent results of matches, you will see that the team is in a good gaming shape. The team, just like the majority of other participants of the tournament, has very good chances to get to the playoffs. If mousesports prepares fundamentally for the participation in ECS Season 6 Finals, they will enter the top four, at least.

The roster of mousesports and the players’ rate:

Chris “chrisJ” de Jong — 1.05
Tomas “oskar” Stastny — 1.11
Robin “ropz” Kool — 1.08
Miikka “suNny” Kemppi — 1.11
Martin “STYKO” Styk — 1.01
Сергей “lmbt” Бежанов — a coach

Ninjas in Pyjamas (a place in the rate by HLTV — #7)

Ninjas in Pyjamas have been playing with an unstable success recently, however, their results are better than some participants of ECS 6 Finals. They placed 2nd at the recently finished BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2018 and held the 12th and 4th place at the leagues EPL and ECS, respectively. The Swedes will be able to beat such opponents as Cloud9, NRG eSports, and North with a great possibility, however, they will have to work hard to achieve victory over Astralis, mousesports, and Team Liquid. Because NiP’s success at the tournament depends on a preparation for the event and a moral state for each match.

The roster of Ninjas in Pyjamas and the players’ rate:

Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg — 1.10
Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund — 0.98
Fredrik “REZ” Sterner — 1.05
Dennis “dennis” Edman — 1.01
Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson — 1.01
Faruk “pita” Pita — a coach

NRG eSports (a place in the rate by HLTV — #8)

IEM XIII — Chicago was the last LAN tournament for NRG. There, NRG placed 7th-8th, having lost to LDLC, and the Americans held the first place at the recent cs_summit, having defeated OpTic Gaming in the final. NRG placed 4th and 1st at the finished leagues EPL and ECS, respectively. It’s clear from their results that NRG plays with an unstable success and this means that their success at the tournament might be very unpredictable. In general, NRG is as strong as the majority of participants of the event, however, considering such opponents as Astralis and Liquid, NRG is unlikely to advance to the final.

The roster of NRG eSports and the players’ rate:

Jacob “FugLy” Medina — 1.02
Damian “daps” Steele — 0.91
Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte — 1.22
Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov — 1.13
Ethan “nahtE” Arnold — 1.19
Chet “ImAPet” Singh — a coach

Cloud9 (a place in the rate by HLTV — #25)

Cloud9 can be confidently called the only underdog team. Its place in the world rate compared to other participants makes doubt about the Cloud9’s success. At the end of September, C9 bought Flusha from Fnatic and benched Skadooodle later. KioShiMa will play instead of him at the championship as a stand-in. The French has been playing for Cloud9 for some time and considering the last matches, the team has worked on the improvement of its gaming shape. We do not exclude the fact that Cloud9 might become “the dark horse”, which will be able to exceed all viewers’ expectations and to enter the top four.

The roster of Cloud9 and the players’ rate:

Timothy “autimatic” Ta — 1.06
Will “RUSH” Wierzba — 0.99
Maikil “Golden” Selim — 1.02
Robin “flusha” Ronnquist — 1.02
Fabien “kioShiMa” Fiey — 1.12
Soham “valens” Chowdhury — a coach