ELEAGUE Major playoffs preview

The first four days of the Major saw 16 teams fight in the Swiss group stage, where teams essentially had three lives and needed three wins to secure a spot in the quarter-finals.

Friday, January 27th
16:00	Natus Vincere	vs. Astralis
18:30	fnatic	vs. Gambit
21:00	Virtus.pro	vs. North
Saturday, January 28th
16:00	FaZe	vs. SK
18:30	Semi-final #1
21:00	Semi-final #2
Sunday, January 29th
16:00	Grand final

Natus Vincere and Virtus.pro finished the group with a perfect 3-0 score, while SK, Gambit, and fnatic followed closely with three wins and one loss. In the fifth round, North, FaZe, and Astralis secured the last three spots to finalize the bracket.

We have prepared a preview of the quarter-finals, in which we take a look at each team (with their Major Ratings so far), analyze the match-ups, possible maps, and best players. Without further ado:

Natus Vincere			Astralis
Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev	1.70		Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz	1.40
Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev	1.45		Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander	1.16
Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev	1.35	vs.	Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye	1.10
Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin	1.17		Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen	0.98
Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács	1.08		Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth	0.78
Sergey "⁠starix⁠" Ischuk (coach)			Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen (coach)
Group stage results
16-3 vs. SK on Dust2 16-6 vs. Envy on Cobblestone 16-3 vs. MOUZ on Cobblestone			16-3 vs. Liquid on Mirage 17-19 vs. SK on Dust2 16-5 vs. G2 on Train 16-12 vs. OpTic on Train 6-16 vs. GODSENT on Train

The ELEAGUE Major playoffs will kick off in style, with a match between two of the main contenders for the title, Astralis and Natus Vincere.

As one of the best-prepared teams attending the Major, s1mple and company ran over all three opponents in the Swiss group stage. On the other hand, the Danish side had a bumpy road to the playoffs, securing their place in the quarter-finals with three wins and two losses.

The biggest worry for Na`Vi at the end of 2016 was their shallow map pool. So far they've shown they can play Cobblestone, which they were previously awful on, and Dust2, where they destroyed SK. They've kept the remainder of their map pool a secret, although it looks like they are ready on all maps except Cache.

Astralis continued to show their strength on Train despite the initial loss to GODSENT, and also played Dust2 and Mirage. Overall, they seem to be ready on all maps, or at least that's what they have us believe; they altered their vetoes based on opponents, but Cobblestone is their constant ban and they didn't look particularly keen on keeping Cache in either.

Natus Vincere have a big advantage in the element of surprise, as the Danes have very little to go off of in terms of information. Astralis chose not to practice against starix's five, and Na`Vi have only played three maps so far, a total of 60 rounds, of which the majority was on the CT side.

It's all but confirmed Astralis will pick Train, although it's unclear which way Natus Vincere will want to go, as Cobblestone most likely won't be an option. A good possibility is Dust2, where Astralis are very good as well, although we don't have much information about their Nuke or Mirage. The two share a great map in Overpass, which is a solid contender for the decider.

Players to watch

flamie has so far been the Major's best player, garnering tournament-high statistics such as 1.70 rating, 122 ADR, and 93.3% KAST (rounds in which he got a kill, assisted, survived or was traded).

On the other side it's all about device, who powered Astralis through a tough battle on Train against OpTic and had a beastly performance in the one-sided affair versus Liquid to secure playoffs.

The 21-year-old had the most impact thanks to his ability to open up rounds, recording 0.19 opening kills per round (the most out of everyone), nearly twice as many as any one of his teammates, with a solid 65.5% success rate in opening duels.

fnatic			Gambit
Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer	1.10		Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev	1.42
Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson	1.01		Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko	1.04
Simon "⁠twist⁠" Eliasson	0.93	vs.	Mihail "⁠Dosia⁠" Stolyarov	1.00
Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman	0.92		Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov	0.94
Joakim "⁠disco doplan⁠" Gidetun	0.80		Rustem "⁠mou⁠" Telepov	0.89
Jimmy "⁠Jumpy⁠" Berndtsson (coach)			Mikhaylo "⁠Kane⁠" Blagin (coach)
Group stage results
16-11 vs. Envy on Cobblestone 16-11 vs. MOUZ on Dust2 16-13 vs. North on Cobblestone 10-16 vs. G2 on Cache			16-14 vs. FaZe on Overpass 10-16 vs. Virtus.pro on Train 16-9 vs. GODSENT on Overpass 16-8 vs. North on Cobblestone

Quarter-final number two will bring us fnatic and Gambit, both of whom secured their Legends status with a 3-1 record in the group stage.

The Swedes went into the tournament as a fairly unknown force, having skipped every event after ELEAGUE Season 2 groups, where fnatic played with Jumpy instead of dennis. As such, the Major's group stage was their debut with the full lineup, and they beat the odds after four double-digit matches.

A lot was expected from Gambit at the beginning of the tournament, especially the Kazakhstani trio of AdreN, mou, and HObbit, who had been the playmakers at DreamHack Winter. AdreN continued to be the star of the team, while the other two players have yet to reach their best form.

Objectively, fnatic had the easier route in groups, having met only one other playoffs team, North, while Gambit fought three and thus were tested significantly more. dennis still has a lot of room to improve; if he steps up for playoffs, we might begin to see fnatic's true strength.

So far Gambit have removed Mirage each time and remain undefeated on Cobblestone with their comfortable win over North. fnatic stayed away from Nuke and also played Cobblestone well, but they'll most likely pick Dust2, another one of Gambit's favorite maps. We should be in for a good series with Gambit having a chance to go 2-0 thanks to their immaculate Cobble, but if fnatic take Dust2 we'll have a somewhat up-in-the-air decider like Train.

Players to watch

olofmeister showed solid form in the groups, where he was especially impactful on the Terrorist side. Overall, his ability to open up rounds was supreme, with third-highest 0.17 opening kills per round and a 71% success rate in opening duels.

Gambit's player to watch is AdreN, who has been one of the best players of the tournament due to good numbers all-around: fourth-highest 1.42 rating, and second-highest 103 ADR, 0.98 kills per round, and 1.64 impact rating (a value based on opening kills, clutches and multi-kill rounds).

Another interesting thing to watch out for is Gambit's ability to trade frags; at least 26% of each of their player's deaths were traded.

Virtus.pro			North
Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski	1.44		Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif	1.16
Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas	1.26		Ruben "⁠RUBINO⁠" Villarroel	1.08
Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński	1.00	vs.	René "⁠cajunb⁠" Borg	1.05
Jarosław "pasha" Jarząbkowski	0.91		Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke	0.91
Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski	0.73		Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen	0.65
Jakub "⁠kuben⁠" Gurczynski (coach)			Casper "⁠ruggah⁠" Due (coach)
Group stage results
16-10 vs. Gambit on Train 16-14 vs. G2 on Nuke 16-13 vs. OpTic on Cobblestone			19-17 vs. GODSENT on Overpass 16-9 vs. G2 on Overpass 19-15 vs. HellRaisers on Mirage 13-16 vs. fnatic on Cobblestone 8-16 vs. Gambit on Cobblestone

Tomorrow's last quarter-final features Virtus.pro, who remained perfect throughout the groups with three wins in a row, and North, who started out with two losses but ended up advancing to playoffs with a 3-2 record.

First and foremost, Virtus.pro proved once again that they can quickly regroup after one poor tournament, which in this case was the WESG World Finals.

On the other hand, North started out with two losses on one of their trademark maps, Cobblestone, and had a tough time overcoming HellRaisers on Mirage and GODSENT on Overpass. That's not a good sign heading into the quarter-finals against Virtus.pro, who are good on all three.

There's a fair share of history between the two teams from the last three months of 2016, as they met in two series, at DreamHack ZOWIE Open Bucharest and EPICENTER: Moscow. VP barely escaped the first one with their lives, while MSL's team prevailed in comfortable fashion in the EPICENTER final.

Virtus.pro don't play Dust2, and North dislike Train and Cache. The Poles aren't great on Cache either, which will probably once again sway them away from picking the map, and it'll come down to three of the four maps both teams are good on. That means we should be in for another fantastic series between the two teams, as long as North shake off some of the tough matches in the groups.

Players to watch

Snax shone in many ways throughout the group stage, perhaps most importantly picking up six clutches over the three maps, including a game-changing 1v2 at 12-13 against OpTic.

Snax has often opened up the rounds for his team, and his clutching ability played a big part in his 1.60 impact rating. He also holds a 1.44 rating so far, the third highest of all players.

After a slow start to the tournament in the losses, Magisk was North's propeller in the wins, especially in the two overtime battles (1.40+ rating in each). Another player to keep a close eye on is RUBINO, who put up good numbers in North's wins, most notably in the deciding match with GODSENT.

FaZe			SK
Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli	1.17		Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David	1.42
Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard	1.09		Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga	1.16
Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen	1.07	vs.	Ricardo "⁠fox⁠" Pacheco	0.91
Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup	1.00		Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo	0.81
Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey	0.95		Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo	0.77
Robert "⁠RobbaN⁠" Dahlström (coach)
Group stage results
16-11 vs. Envy on Nuke 14-16 vs. Gambit on Overpass 22-18 vs. Liquid on Nuke 17-19 vs. SK on Mirage 16-9 vs. FlipSid3 on Nuke			19-17 vs. Astralis on Dust2 3-16 vs. Natus Vincere on Dust2 19-17 vs. FaZe on Mirage 16-7 vs. HellRaisers on Mirage

The fourth quarter-final, which will take place on Saturday, has FaZe and SK in store, teams who advanced with a 3-2 and 3-1 record, respectively. Both teams had a turbulent group stage, especially the European mixture, who lost two narrow matches and had to play overtimes twice.

Prior to the Major, it was unclear how SK would look at the Major with fox, who is standing in for the team, but a month of preparation seems to have done the job for the Brazilians.

FalleN's showing hasn't been up to par with his usual star form, which could have to do with him having to pay extra attention to fox, who didn't have the time to match the chemistry the remaining players have built over the last year. It seems he also changed his role at least on Mirage, where fox was AWPing over him as CT while he played the rifle on the A bombsite.

He will need to step it up for playoffs if SK want to grab their third Major title in a row, or even pass FaZe in the quarter-finals. We've seen the match-up at the Major once before, on Mirage, where SK got the edge in overtime thanks to a few decisive plays. 

FaZe have vetoed Cobblestone every time, a map SK didn't want to play in groups anyway, while the Brazilians will likely remove Nuke, a very good map for karrigan's team. We could see FaZe picking Cache if they feel confident enough on it and Dust2 going the way of SK, with the decider being between Overpass and Mirage.

Players to watch

For FaZe the group stage was very much a team effort, with allu putting up the most consistent numbers no matter which side he played on, while karrigan mostly excelled on the Terrorist side.

In SK's case, coldzera excelled during the first four days, as he always does at Majors, with a 1.42 rating over the group stage as well as 97 ADR and three clutches.

You can follow HLTV.org's Milan "Striker" Švejda on Twitter