ESL One New York kicks off tomorrow and all is to play for in this year’s New York tournament. Like last year, ESL One New York came in mere weeks after the Faceit London Major. Likewise, this year’s New York showdown is no different. ESL One New York is one of the largest Autumn tournaments on the calendar. A strong showing here will bolster any of the eight teams attending the event for the remainder of the year. With the importance set, let’s take a closer look at what’s on the line.
The format:
ESL One New York is set to take place on Thursday 26th September – Sunday 29th September. On Thursday and Friday, the group stages will play out, with two groups sending two teams each to the semi-finals on Saturday. On Sunday, the grand finals will take place, with the revamped cache show match opening the finals.
Group A – ENCE Esports, eUnited, G2 Esports and Team Liquid will play in the first group.
Group B – Astralis, FaZe Clan, NRG Esports, OpTic Gaming
Both of these groups are stacked in terms of talent. Astralis, Team Liquid are the two clear favourites in their respective groups. On the other hand, no one can count out G2 Esports, FaZe Clan, ENCE and NRG. These four teams are quality teams, even if they are going through some struggles at the moment. Each one of these teams has great talent signed, and we should not underestimate them. Finally, OpTic and eUnited have proven in the past that tier 2 teams can pull out great wins. It will truly be a battle of who has improved the most since the Berlin Major/player break.
Is Astralis back?
Astralis is easily the biggest narrative heading into ESL One New York. The Danes had a fantastic 2018, with their efforts culminating with their IEM Katowice Major victory in February 2019. Although, Astralis dipped in performance post-Katowice, and struggled to get meaningful wins at important events. This dive in performance continued throughout the Berlin Major Legends Stage until their flare reignited in the on-stage playoffs. Astralis then took their 3rd consecutive major title, breaking world record. The question now is if this Astralis can continue this newfound form? The Danes have lots to prove still, even if they are the all-time greatest team in CSGO history.
Can Team Liquid recover?
Team Liquid equally has as much to prove at ESL One New York. Team Liquid was easily number two in 2018, trailing ever so shortly behind Astralis. When Astralis dip in performance came around, Team Liquid found themselves improving, Naturally, Team Liquid was the best team in the world from April 2019. Heading into the Berlin Major, the NA roster was shaken, losing to unexpected teams in the Berlin Major Legend stage. Finally, their on-stage playoffs ended with a defeat from Astralis in the quarter-finals.
The Team Liquid story needs to improve at this event on their own continent. Winning ESL One New York is not only important to revive Team Liquid’s hype, but to say that their Berlin Major defeat was only a fluke. An early exit here given their expectations will only hurt their confidence. Last year, they failed to win the ESL One New York 2018 event after being the favourite.
You can watch the tournament starting at 4pm BST over at https://www.twitch.tv/esl_csgo.
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