FACEIT Major New Legends Stage preview: Returning Legends

The New Challengers stage is in the rearview mirror now, and if you want to know how the eight teams who made it through fared last week, check out the 'What now?' feature by HLTV's Milan "Striker" Švejda.

The leading teams of this initial stage will join eight other teams, determined by their placing at the previous Major, hosted by ELEAGUE in Boston. The format remains the same as the 16 teams will face off in a five-round Swiss stage, with the 2-2 matches being best-of-three series.

The FACEIT Major continues on Wednesday

Natus Vincere, current No.2 in the world, headline the list of returning Legends, which also features two teams outside the top 20: Cloud9, the defending Major champions (23rd) and Winstrike (46th). The full list looks as follows:

Cloud9	FaZe
Natus Vincere	MIBR
MOUZ	Winstrike
G2	fnatic

Natus Vincere (#2) (EGB Rate: 7.719)	Age	Rating
Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev	20	1.30
Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov	20	1.22
Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev	21	1.06
Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev	30	1.00
Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko	30	0.94

Offline placings in the last three months
5th-8th	DreamHack Masters Stockholm
3rd-4th	ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018
1st	ESL One Cologne 2018
1st	CS:GO Asia Championships 2018

Na`Vi are the highest-ranked returning Legend and only have Astralis ahead of them at the moment, but, all of a sudden, expectation surrounding Zeus's men has morphed into apathy. Ahead of DreamHack Masters Stockholm, rumours began spreading about flamie potentially missing the event, and while the Russian eventually made the trip, his availablity for the tournament was indeed at doubt.

Speculation that all may not be well in the team has only grown louder after they gave an appalling account of themselves in the Swedish capital. They lost to Ghost in their opening match and then had to fight extremely hard in the lower bracket to beat NRG and Joshua "⁠steel⁠" Nissan's men. But the worse had yet to come as they would be dismantled by eventual winners North in a one-sided series in which they scraped just 12 rounds.

Stockholm trip was a nightmare for Na`Vi

It is impossible to know what exactly went wrong for Na`Vi, but the truth is that in Stockholm they were a far cry from the side who had won three international events in a row earlier in the summer and who seemed to be the biggest threat to Astralis' hegemony. And, to make matters worse, they have been paired with the Danes in what will be the standout match of the first round in London. The last time these two sides met, Na`Vi ran out 2-1 victors in the semi-finals at ESL One Cologne, but the Ukrainians are looking extremely fragile at the moment, so they certainly cursed their luck after watching the draw.

DreamHack Masters Stockholm was the first international event where Na`Vi did not even reach the semi-finals since picking electroNic up. Talk of crisis within the Na`Vi camp may be a bit premature at the moment, and if they get their act together this could turn out to be a redemption event for them as they will among the favourites to win the title. Otherwise, another disappointing campaign could plunge the team into chaos - just six months after they nearly lost s1mple and flamie to the now MIBR squad.

MOUZ (#4) (EGB Rate: 17.375)	Age	Rating
Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi	24	1.12
Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool	18	1.10
Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong	28	1.08
Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný	27	1.07
Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski	25	0.99

Offline placings in the last three months
3rd-4th	DreamHack Masters Stockholm
3rd-4th	ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018
9th-12th	ESL One Cologne 2018
2nd	ESL One Belo Horizonte (3/5 of the line-up)

The European mixture now has two consecutive semi-final appearances under its belt after an underwhelming debut event with Snax, at ELEAGUE Premier. At those two events, they beat FaZe (twice), Gambit, fnatic and HellRaisers, while they gave Stockholm champions North a run for their money, even humiliating them 16-0 on Dust2, which has been their best map with this roster, with an 80% winrate after five games.

MOUZ' playbook is still a bit rough around the edges, and star player oskar has looked particularly uninspired, averaging a 1.07 rating since Snax was brought on board. That puts more pressure on the other players to perform, something that ropz took to heart in Stockholm, where he put in a 1.18 rating - his personal best at a Big Event.

mousesports will aim for another top-four finish at the least

chrisJ's side have been handed a tricky opening tie in the form of Ninjas in Pyjamas - who went 3-0 in the New Legends Stage, but they will be confident in their chances of navigating through the best-of-one clashes to reach the playoffs. Their biggest issue right now is their relatively small map pool - they tend to outright ban Overpass and try to avoid Inferno, the most popular map of the previous stage of the Major, as much as possible.

MOUZ will be under pressure to improve on the 5th-8th place from Boston - anything less than a playoff appearance would be disastrous. If the team does not soon go back to challenging for titles they might think about shaking things up a little bit - especially now that Snax's former teammate Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński is up for the taking. 

FaZe (#5) (EGB Rate: 5.412)	Age	Rating
Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač	21	1.32
Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács	27	1.17
Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer	26	1.09
Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard	24	1.09
Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen	28	0.93

Offline placings in the last three months
5th-8th	DreamHack Masters Stockholm
7th-8th	ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018
3rd-4th	ESL One Cologne 2018
1st	ESL One Belo Horizonte 2018

Life has been hard for FaZe's fans in recent months. After rejoicing at olofmeister's long-awaited return, reality struck as the team continued to look somewhat bland, with the disappointing runs in Atlanta and Stockholm throwing them out of the top 5 in the ranking for the first time in a year. To make matters worse, they also missed out on landing the $1 million prize from Intel Grand Slam Season 1 after placing top four at ESL One Cologne and top eight in Stockholm.

In the Swedish capital, FaZe edged past Heroic in a surprisingly close contest and thrashed OpTic before locking horns with MOUZ in the quarter-finals. Beating chrisJ's side proved to be a tall order despite winning the first map 16-1, ultimately losing their second consecutive series to mouz. And while olofmeister had impressed on his return at ELEAGUE Premier, the Swede looked out of shape in his hometown, barely ending the tournament with a 1+ rating.

FaZe will be out for revenge against BIG

Like olofmeister, rain has also tended to blow hot and cold this year, and his current 1.09 rating on LAN over the last three months is a long distance from the sort of contribution he used to make in 2017, when he earned the fourth spot in the top 20. All this puts an enormous amount of pressure on NiKo and GuardiaN, who continue to perform no matter what, but without that translating into collective success.

After two disappointing outings and little over a week to prepare for the Major, it is hard to be optimistic about FaZe's title chances in London. They look to be as safe a bet for the playoffs as there is, but they seem to be stuck in a rut. An opening victory against BIG - whom they have never defeated on LAN - could be just what they need to rediscover their groove and get some confidence back before the knockout matches.

MIBR (#7) (EGB Rate: 6.721)	Age	Rating
Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David	23	1.23
Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo	27	1.12
Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik	22	1.11
Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga	26	1.10
Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip	20	1.08

Offline placings in the last three months
5th-8th	DreamHack Masters Stockholm
1st	ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018 Finals
5th-6th	ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018
7th-8th	ESL One Cologne 2018
3rd-4th	ESL One Belo Horizonte

MIBR will compete at the Major on the back of a quarter-final run at DreamHack Masters Stockholm, where they drew the short straw in the form of Astralis after going 2-0 in a group that included two other teams who will also be in the New Legends Stage - MOUZ and HellRaisers.

As disappointing as the loss to Astralis was - especially considering how one-sided the first map was -, it is undeniable that the Brazilians have made great strides since the summer and that the appointment of Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović as coach has so far been paying off. The match-up against the Danes has also been very unfavourable for FalleN's men, who have lost all three series they have played against Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander's troops in 2018 without ever taking a map. 

MIBR continue to improve under YNk

The victory at the ZOTAC Cup Masters is easy to downplay when put in context - they did not beat a single team in the top 20 at the time and punished opponents for the sort of mistakes that are not usually made at the highest level. But the convincing victory over HellRaisers and the clean 2-0 triumph over MOUZ - who would go on to beat FaZe and take North to a three-map series -, were strong indicators of how the team continue to improve.

The Brazilians will be out for vengeance against TYLOO after losing to the Chinese side at IEM Sydney, when Ricardo "⁠boltz⁠" Prass was still on the roster. A 1-0 start is more than likely and could set them up for a deep run, though the Major may still come a bit too soon for MIBR to have realistic chances of lifting their first Big Event trophy of the year at this point.

fnatic (#11) (EGB Rate: 14.803)	Age	Rating
Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson	24	1.05
Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell	23	1.05
Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist	25	0.99
William "⁠draken⁠" Sundin	22	0.95
Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström	27	0.85

Offline placings in the last three months
13th-16th	DreamHack Masters Stockholm
5th-6th	ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018
5th-6th	ESL One Cologne 2018

It is impossible not to feel that the Major comes at the worst possible moment for fnatic, who find themselves outside of the top 10 for the first time this year following some lacklustre campaigns on LAN, the most recent of which saw them bow out of DreamHack Masters Stockholm, on home soil, after just two matches.

The fact is that fnatic look much worse now, with an experienced in-game leader and a fully-committed AWPer, than they did when Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim was calling the shots and JW was being forced into an AWPing role. Even star player KRIMZ seems to be struggling, averaging a 1.05 rating on LAN since June when he was sitting on a 1.20 rating in the previous three months. 

fnatic have looked way off the pace recently

Xizt may still need more time to get his system in place and make everyone comfortable in their respective roles, but time is a luxury that fnatic cannot afford as they have three international events knocking at the door. A victory against Complexity - who were a one-trick pony in the New Challengers Stage - could provide them with the start they need to be able to reach the playoffs, which is what they can realistically aim for at this moment, and they should be to accomplish it, also given their impressive track record at Majors.

G2 (#20) (EGB Rate: 20.000)	Age	Rating
Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub	23	1.15
Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon	26	1.13
Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro	21	1.02
Kévin "⁠Ex6TenZ⁠" Droolans	28	0.97
Edouard "⁠SmithZz⁠" Dubourdeaux	29	0.90

Offline placings in the last three months
5th-6th	DreamHack Open Valencia
5th-6th	ESL One Cologne 2018

G2 are one of the least active teams among returning Legends, with just two LAN events since June, both of which took place more than two months ago. That has given Ex6TenZ plenty of time to prepare a strategy for this event, with the Belgian tactician admitting to being "satisfied with the progress" made by his troops.

The French team raised eyebrows with a playoff appearance at ESL One Cologne, but those heroics were soon forgotten as the team crashed out of DreamHack Open Valencia in the groups after twice losing to Luminosity. Since the Spanish event, G2 have stayed away from competition, only taking part in the closed qualifier for EPICENTER, in which they lost to Windigo in the semi-finals.

G2 return to offline action after a two-month hiatus

A curious aspect about G2's preparation for the Major is that they have been practicing every map, something that, according to Ex6TenZ, they could not do before. That could prove to be important should the vetos throw a curve ball their way, even if they historically tend to stay away from Train.

'Should we start expecting results from G2?', is the question many are probably asking at this moment. After two months on the sidelines, the French team will be hungry to prove their worth and reach the playoffs - which, for Ex6TenZ, would be his first appearance at this stage since DreamHack Winter 2013 after six failed attempts. After the questionable decision to sacrifice a bit of firepower to have a more structured squad, the time has come for them to deliver. 

Cloud9 (#23) (EGB Rate: 25.281)	Age	Rating
Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta	22	1.05
William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba	24	0.97
Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk	22	0.85
Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham	25	0.82
Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim	24	0.73

Offline placings in the last three months
7th-8th	ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018
9th-12th	ESL One Cologne 2018 (4/5 of the line-up)

It would have been hard to imagine a fall from grace from a Major champion in the space of just one cycle of Valve-sponsored events, but that's the situation in which Cloud9 find themselves as they travel to London, after struggling to adapt to life following the departures of influential duo Stewie2K and tarik.

After a short-lived experiment with Pujan "⁠FNS⁠" Mehta, the North American side turned to Europe to find a solution, but so far they have just recruited one player permanently, Golden, as STYKO continues to be a stand-in for the team, at least until the end of this month. 

With the European duo on the roster, Cloud9 crashed out of ELEAGUE Premier following back-to-back 0-2 defeats, against Astralis and MIBR, though it must be pointed out that they were able to force overtime once in both series. Perhaps more surprising was the team's failure to qualify for IEM Chicago despite having a one-map advantage heading into the final against eUnited.

Golden prepares for his toughest challenge yet with Cloud9

Cloud9 have spent the last three weeks preparing for the Major, and the fact that they did not attend DreamHack Masters Stockholm and skipped the New Legends Stage will make them somewhat unpredictable as Golden has had plenty of time to prepare a battle plan for London. However, it is incredibly hard to look past the team's glaring lack of firepower, with autimatic and RUSH being the only two players averaging ratings higher than 1.00 on LAN in the last six months.

An opening match-up against Vega Squadron, who played two extremely close matches against North American duo Liquid and Complexity in the previous stage and continue to puzzle opponents and pundits alike, could be the start of a painful journey for the Boston Major champions. It is hard not to see Cloud9 take at least one win here - which would earn them a spot at the Katowice Major -, but their chances of reaching the playoffs look extremely slim.

Winstrike (#46) (EGB Rate: 90.909)	Age	Rating
Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov	19	1.06
Nikita "⁠waterfaLLZ⁠" Matveyev	23	1.04
Aurimas "⁠Kvik⁠" Kvakšys	22	1.03
Gregory "⁠balblna⁠" Oleinick	22	1.01
Savelii "⁠jmqa⁠" Bragin	21	0.91

Offline placings in the last three months
3rd-4th	MID.TV Cyber Cup
1st	M.Game League 2 Finals
7th-8th	ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018 Europe Regional Finals

Winstrike are without a doubt the biggest question mark of this lot. The former Quantum Bellator Fire team, who switched organisations in June, raised eyebrows in Boston after finishing top eight - an incredible journey depicted by HLTV's Lucas Aznar Miles while at the event. But they have been unable to live up to the status as a Major Legend, with a third-place finish at the WCA Finals being their biggest achievement in the last six months.

Unlike Vega Squadron, who have slipped under the radar since the last Major and are now reaping the rewards, balblna's men remained active after Boston, to mixed results. Their most recent LAN appearance came at the CIS-based MID.TV Cyber Cup, where they placed top-four after losing to eventual champions DreamEaters. 

Will Winstrike rise to the challenge once again?

Before Moche XL Esports, jmqa admitted that the team had been going through some issues but ruled out making roster changes. The Russians travel to London on the back of a long bootcamp hoping that it upped their game ahead of the Major, just like it had at the start of the year. 

Winstrike will be in most people's picks for a 0-3 run, but if there is something that this Major has shown is that CIS teams can never be written off. The Russian team have certainly prepared something special for this tournament, knowing that a bottom-two finish could be the end of the roster as we know it.