ECS Season 4 Finals has gathered three of the top-five teams in the world, FaZe, Astralis, and Cloud9, as well as top-10 sides fnatic and Liquid. Group B will see four of the aforementioned teams in play, while OpTic, MOUZ, and Luminosity are situated in Group A:

Group A	Group B
fnatic	Cloud9
MOUZ	Liquid
OpTic	FaZe
Luminosity	Astralis

The group stage will use the GSL format, in which the upper part will be played in best-of-one matches, and elimination and deciding matches in best-of-three series. On the last day of competition, a single-elimination bracket will follow with top two sides from each group.

Group A

fnatic (#8) (EGB Rate: 17.2)	Age	Rating
Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist	24	1.18
Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson	24	1.08
Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson	23	1.08
Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell	22	1.03
Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim	23	0.93
Jimmy "⁠Jumpy⁠" Berndtsson (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
3rd-4th	ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals
4th	WESG 2017 EU & CIS Regional Finals (4/5 of the lineup)
5-8th	ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier

fnatic travel to Mexico boosted by their recent campaign at the ESL Pro League Finals, where they finished second of their group after winning four out of five in the group stage, beating FaZe and making light work of Astralis. In the playoffs, the Swedish team edged past OpTic on three maps before falling short against FaZe in a one-sided match.

It was reassuring to see fnatic perform at a high level once again and finally translate their online form into some LAN results. But it was not all good news: Golden maintained his streak of below-average tournament ratings (0.84), and his sub-par performances really cost his team sometimes, especially on the CT side. This was particularly noticeable in the match against OpTic, who ruthlessly exploited fnatic's weak B defense on Inferno.

fnatic broke into the top 10 after reaching the semis in Odense

As fnatic attend more events, Golden's shot-calling will only improve, as will the other players' integration into his system. However, the fact that the team's big stars need to work very hard to make up for the in-game leader's poor fragging output is one cause for concern. In Cancun, that should only be an issue in the playoffs as the Swedes are expected to fend off the threat posed by their group opponents - two of whom they beat in Odense.

OpTic (#12) (EGB Rate:  17.8)	Age	Rating
Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif	19	1.13
Oscar "⁠mixwell⁠" Cañellas	22	1.10
Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli	25	1.03
Kevin "⁠HS⁠" Tarn	20	1.02
Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg	26	0.90
Chet "ImAPet" Singh (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
5th-6th	ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals
5th-6th	IEM Oakland
3rd-4th	iBUYPOWER Masters
3rd	Europe Minor - ELEAGUE Major 2018

For the second time in a row, OpTic have managed to survive a six-team group, only to collapse in the quarter-finals. In Odense, the European mixture pulled off victories over eventual winners SK and over Misfits but came up short against Ninjas in Pyjamas and North, two teams who were eliminated, which speaks volumes about them being a hot and cold team. In the knockout rounds, OpTic took the lead against fnatic following a convincing victory on Inferno, but let the Swedes turn the series around.

Magisk was the brightest light for an OpTic side lacking individual brilliance, which could be seen from mixwell's underwhelming stats against fnatic. At one point on Train, the AWP was switched to allu, who put it to much better use. This shows that the players are still coming to terms with their new roles, with the communication having improved from IEM Oakland, according to team coach Chet "⁠Chet⁠" Singh.

No excuses for OpTic - they will need to deliver in Cancun

Getting out of Group A will not be easy for OpTic, who will have a tough opening match against MOUZ. But the time has come for friberg's men to finally live up to the hype surrounding the team when it was created. With no Major on the horizon for OpTic, anything less than a semi-final run in Mexico could make heads roll in the off-season.

MOUZ (#15) (EGB Rate:  21.3)	Age	Rating
Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool	17	1.25
Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný	26	1.17
Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi	23	1.11
Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk	21	1.06
Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong	27	1.03
Sergey "⁠lmbt⁠" Bezhanov (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
2nd	DreamHack Open Winter
3rd-4th	DreamHack Open Denver
1st	ROG Masters EMEA Finals
13th-16th	ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier

MOUZ are one of just two teams who will be in Cancun after missing out on spots at the Pro League Season 6 Finals. The European mixture travel to Mexico on the back of a convincing campaign at DreamHack Open Winter, where they soundly beat BIG and Gambit before falling short against Natus Vincere in the title decider.

ropz is looking better by the week and had in Jönköping his third-highest tournament rating on LAN (1.32) since joining MOUZ. But oskar had a particularly disappointing event, failing to impress in the matches against North Academy, Envy and especially Natus Vincere.

Will oskar bounce back after failing to impress at DH Winter?

MOUZ will be hoping that the Czech star rediscovers his form to have realistic chances of making it out of the group. The fact that they did not attend the Pro League Finals has given them more time to prepare for this tournament and for the match-ups against OpTic and Luminosity - two teams they have not yet faced.

Luminosity (#24) (EGB Rate: 24.5)	Age	Rating
Marcelo "⁠chelo⁠" Cespedes	19	1.13
Gustavo "⁠yel⁠" Knittel	25	1.03
Gustavo "⁠SHOOWTiME⁠" Gonçalves	20	0.99
Vinicios "⁠PKL⁠" Coelho	23	0.95
Gabriel "⁠NEKIZ⁠" Schenato	22	0.94
Alessandro "Apoka" Marcucci (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
7th-8th	ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals
7th-8th	iBUYPOWER Masters 2017
5-6th	Americas Minor - ELEAGUE Major 2018

Luminosity were one of the big surprises of the ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals, despite not progressing from the groups. Going into the event, no-one really expected much from the Brazilians, who had a rather unimpressive LAN record, but they proved that they can indeed measure up with the best as they beat HellRaisers and Liquid, and had close defeats to FaZe, Astralis and fnatic.

Perhaps it was the fact that Luminosity played without pressure that allowed them to show their true colours; chelo, who has long been regarded as one of Brazil's hottest prospects, finally played to his true potential and boasted the highest average Rating of the tournament (1.34) after an indifferent start to his spell with the team.

chelo was a joy to watch in Odense

It is worrying, however, that Luminosity's fragging output relied so heavily on chelo in Odense; yel, the team's AWPer, was the only other player to finish the tournament with an above-average Rating as SHOOWTiME, PKL and NEKIZ all came up short. This means that, if by some chance one of the two star players is not performing, the team's level will drop considerably as the remaining members do not seem to be able to carry the team forward.

Luminosity will not have an easy task in Cancun; other teams will be wary of their capabilities, so they will be given very little room for manoeuvre. But in a group that seems to be wide open and without a clear-cut favourite, the Brazilians may still fancy their chances of reaching the knockout stages.

Group B

FaZe (#2) (EGB Rate: 1.53)	Age	Rating
Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač	20	1.25
Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard	23	1.23
Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács	26	1.19
Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer	25	1.11
Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen	27	1.01
Robert "⁠RobbaN⁠" Dahlström (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
2nd	ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals
3rd	BLAST Pro Series
2nd	IEM Oakland
5th-6th	EPICENTER
1st-2nd	EPICENTER Wild Card Qualifier
1st	ELEAGUE Premier
1st	ESL One New York

FaZe's form at ESL One New York and ELEAGUE Premier was so impressive that it led fans and pundits alike to believe that we were about to enter a new era in Counter-Strike. However, it has been four events in a row without a title for karrigan's men, who know they will most likely end the year in second place in the world ranking.

At the Pro League Finals, FaZe recovered from a slow start and topped their group before beating fnatic in convincing fashion in the semi-finals to set up a mouth-watering title decider against SK. In the final, the Europeans took Inferno without too much trouble but looked off the pace on Overpass and Mirage, and on Train they had to work tirelessly to overcome an early deficit before eventually collapsing in overtime. 

Will FaZe get their hands on a trophy in Cancun?

That match showed that there is still a considerable gap between FaZe and SK, but, luckily for the Europeans, Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo's men will not be in Cancun. That gives FaZe an excellent chance to pick up their first trophy in two months and end the year on a high note, which would be a considerable boost ahead of ELEAGUE Major, where they will find themselves in the New Challengers stage.

FaZe will be fancying their chances of topping the group, having defeated Cloud9 on two maps in Oakland, and both Liquid and Astralis in one-sided games in Odense. And looking at the teams in the other group, there is not one who seems to be able to pose FaZe a threat at the moment. karrigan are firmly in control of their own destiny, and the ECS title appears to be theirs to lose.

Astralis (#3) (EGB Rate: 12.7)	Age	Rating
Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen	24	1.08
Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth	22	1.05
Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye	19	1.05
Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander	22	0.95
Ruben "⁠RUBINO⁠" Villarroel	23	0.94
Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
9th-10th	ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals
2nd	BLAST Pro Series (4/5 of current lineup)
7th-8th	IEM Oakland (4/5)
4th	EPICENTER (4/5)
2nd	ELEAGUE Premier (4/5)
5th-6th	ESL One New York (4/5)

Astralis come into Cancun with little to lose, playing their second tournament with RUBINO stepping in for star AWPer Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz, who has been grounded until at least the end of the year due to medical issues.

Despite showing great results with Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman at BLAST, the Danes' first tournament with RUBINO didn't go so well. Astralis only managed to win one out of five matches at ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals with the Norwegian, against the group's big underdogs, Luminosity.

Astralis will need Kjaerbye to keep his form and others to step up in order to advance

The only good thing to come out of that event for gla1ve & co. was Kjaerbye continuing his streak of good form despite the results, thanks to consistent performances across the board. Otherwise, no-one played up to par with the competition in the team's losses.

Considering Astralis find themselves in the much harder group of the two, pitted against the second-best team FaZe as well as two good-looking North Americans Cloud9 and Liquid, their fate seems sealed. Nonetheless, they have now gotten some experience with RUBINO and have the players to shake up the group and make life harder for the others, especially Liquid who might not be at their best with Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes just yet.

Cloud9 (#5) (EGB Rate: 8.31)	Age	Rating
Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip	19	1.17
Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik	21	1.16
Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta	21	1.09
Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham	24	1.04
William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba	23	1.02
Soham "⁠valens⁠" Chowdhury (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
3rd-4th	IEM Oakland
1st	iBUYPOWER Masters
1st	DreamHack Open Denver
3rd-4th	ELEAGUE Premier
3rd-4th	ESL One New York

It has been almost a month since Cloud9's last offline outing as the North American team played no part in the last two big international events, BLAST Pro Series and the ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals. Because of that, there are high levels of anticipation surrounding the team, who have picked up two minor titles and made three deep runs at big events in the space of three months.

Cloud9 have had plenty of time to prepare for this event, where they will be looking to cash in on the unpredictability factor. They looked to be in great shape in the $25,000 CyberPowerPC Extreme Gaming Series at the start of the month, even though the field was not very stacked.

In New York and in Oakland, Cloud9 were outplayed by FaZe, so their chances against the current No.2 team in the world look slim. But apart from that, they should still progress from a group that includes a Liquid side that they twice beat in the final week of the regular ECS season and an Astralis side who disappointed in Odense with RUBINO as a stand-in.

Liquid (#10) (EGB Rate: 17.2)	Age	Rating
Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken	18	1.19
Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski	20	1.16
Josh "⁠jdm64⁠" Marzano	27	0.98
Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes	24	0.95
Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella	22	0.94
Wilton "⁠zews⁠" Prado (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
11th-12th	ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals (4/5 of current lineup)
11th-12th	IEM Oakland
3rd-4th	iBUYPOWER Masters (4/5)
1st	Americas Minor (4/5)
7th-8th	EPICENTER (4/5)
1st-2nd	EPICENTER Wild Card Qualifier (4/5)
2nd	ESL One New York (4/5)
13th-16th	ELEAGUE Premier (4/5)

The North American side will once again be able to play with steel, who was not allowed to play alongside Liquid at ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals due to a roster lock being in place before his arrival.

His first tenure under the new banner at IEM Oakland went sour, understandably so as he only had a few days' worth of practice with the team, who went on to win two out of five matches in overtime.

Liquid should be a very different team compared to their first tournament with steel, IEM Oakland

Liquid should still be at a point where every day of practice makes a difference; they've now had about two more weeks with steel, plus some change in Odense where everyone had practice rooms. There's no doubt they've grown a lot more accustomed to each other since IEM Oakland, so we should see a very different team in Mexico.

Whether that will be enough to take down at least two of FaZe, Astralis (albeit with a stand-in), and their big rivals Cloud9, that is left to be uncovered, but they should have a good chance of doing so this weekend.