Group A: <\/strong>Astralis, Team Liquid, MIBR, Cloud9. Both of these groups will be played in a double-elimination bracket format (GSL). All matches will be Bo3. The top 2 teams from each group advance to the Playoffs, which consist of 2 Semifinals (Bo3) and a Grand Final (Bo5).<\/p>\n In spite of playing with various stand-ins for the past 4 months, FaZe Clan managed to keep up its level of Counter-Strike and get a top 4 finish at almost every single event. FaZe Clan\u2019s results this year have been impressive, as the team achieved multiple top 2 and top 4 finishes: 2nd place at ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, 2nd place at Intel Extreme Masters XII World Championship, 1st place at Intel Extreme Masters XIII Sydney, 1st place at ESL One: Belo Horizonte 2018 and 5 other 3rd \u2013 4th place results.<\/p>\n ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 is an important moment for FaZe Clan because it marks their reunion with olofmeister, who\u2019s just returned after a 4-month absence. Presumably, he\u2019s still a beast and perfectly able to play at the highest level of Counter-Strike, but little is known about the personal problems that kept him away for so long. Still, until the contrary is proven, my assumption is that FaZe Clan can certainly perform with olof as well or even better than it did with Xizt and cromen. So a top 4 result should be a perfectly realistic target for the team.<\/p>\n After winning ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 back in January, Cloud9 went on a steady decline, eventually losing Stewie2K a few months ago and more recently, tarik. Both players were acquired by MIBR (former SK Gaming roster), who were having problems of their own and needed to change something. At the moment, Cloud9 is playing with a former Fnatic player (Golden) and a former mousesports player (STYKO), alongside its core trio: Skadoodle, autimatic and RUSH. This roster has decent potential but is probably a long way away from where it should be in terms of cohesion and team strats.<\/p>\n Overall, Cloud9 has had a decent year so far, getting the following results: 1st place at ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, 2nd place at WESG 2017 North American Finals, 2nd place at cs_summit 2, 9th \u2013 11th place at StarLadder & i-League StarSeries Season 4, 5th \u2013 6th place at Intel Extreme Masters XII World Championship, 5th \u2013 8th place at World Electronic Sports Games 2017, 5th \u2013 8th place at DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018, 7th \u2013 8th place at Intel Extreme Masters XIII Sydney, 9th \u2013 12th place at ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals, 7th \u2013 8th place at Esports Championship Series Season 5 Finals and 9th \u2013 12th place finish at ESL One: Cologne 2018.<\/p>\n Cloud9\u2019s recent form has been poor. In its last 30 maps, C9 got around 10 victories and 20 defeats. Combine that with its recent roster changes and the fact that ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 is filled to the brim with champions and superstar teams, and you\u2019ll have a hard time believing in Cloud9\u2019s chances at this event.<\/p>\n In spite of losing against Na\u2019Vi in the Semifinals of ESL One: Cologne 2018, Astralis is arguably still the best team in the world and its results in the past 6 months have been exceptional: 3rd \u2013 4th place at Intel Extreme Masters XII World Championship, 1st place at DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018, 2nd place at Intel Extreme Masters XIII Sydney, 1st place at Esports Championship Series Season 5 Finals, 1st place at ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals and 3rd \u2013 4th place at ESL One: Cologne 2018.<\/p>\n Few teams in the history of CS:GO managed to have such an impressive streak of results over a 6 months period. The Danish organization is no doubt at the peak of its powers right now, having won 25 out of its last 27 maps, and will definitely get at least a 3rd \u2013 4th place finish at ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018. Unless it encounters and gets defeated again by Na\u2019Vi, it should actually make it all the way to the Grand Final.<\/p>\n Fnatic recently went through two roster changes, saying farewell to Lekr0 and Golden and bringing in Xizt and draken. The swedes are a pretty strong team at the moment, but definitely not strong enough to stand much of a chance against the world\u2019s CS:GO giants.<\/p>\n Fnatic\u2019s run in 2018 has been very good. The team got numerous top 6 results in important competitions, including two championships wins: one at Intel Extreme Masters XII World Championship and one at World Electronic Sports Games 2017.<\/p>\n Going into ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018, Fnatic will likely be eliminated in the groups and exit the competition in 5th \u2013 6th place.<\/p>\n Along with Cloud9, Fnatic and MIBR, mousesports is yet another team that\u2019s sitting at a crossroads. Mousesports recently changed one of its core players (STYKO) and then made a very questionable decision by bringing in Snax from Virtus.pro. The effects of this change were immediate. Mousesports went from 2nd place at ESL One: Belo Horizonte 2018 to 9th \u2013 12th place at ESL One: Cologne 2018. Without a doubt, this is one of the teams you should be betting against at ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018.<\/p>\n This is a team with a lot of potential and some very good results in recent months, but its main problem is its lack of consistency. It can lose easy matches and it can also win difficult ones. And the difference between a good day and a bad day is often caused by unknown factors.<\/p>\n After the acquisition of NAF and TACO earlier this year, Team Liquid went on to get some pretty spectacular results. But the team has had good performances throughout the season. It finished 1st at cs_summit 2, 3rd at StarLadder & i-League StarSeries Season 4, 3rd \u2013 4th at Intel Extreme Masters XII World Championship, 2nd at ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals, 2nd at Esports Championship Series Season 5 Finals and 3rd -4th at ESL One: Belo Horizonte 2018.<\/p>\n In recent weeks, Team Liquid showed signs of weakness, finishing 13th \u2013 16th at ESL One: Cologne 2018. The team most likely ironed out its mistakes since that event, but it will still have a rough time advancing to the Playoffs of ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018.<\/p>\n MIBR (former SK Gaming) is at a crossroads again. The team recently parted ways with boltz and brought in tarik from Cloud9. Along with Stewie2K, his former Cloud9 teammate, the two could make a powerful duo once more. But nothing is certain at this point. In fact, given the high caliber of every participant at ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018, MIBR has at best a 25-30% chance of making it out of the groups.<\/p>\n Fallen, coldzera and fer, the team\u2019s core trio, are all formidable players. But at this level of Counter-Strike the overall team cohesion is usually even more important than individual skill. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, such as s1mple hard carrying Na\u2019Vi match after match. But in the vast majority of cases, superior teamplay wins over raw individual skill that isn\u2019t backed up by flawless team strats and cohesion.<\/p>\n MIBR had barely started to be fluent with Stewie2K as their 5th when they added tarik, another member that needs to be taught and integrated into its system of play. But what if the new cog won\u2019t fit? It really doesn\u2019t matter how good tarik is as a player. If communication is suffers due to the language barrier or if the player simply doesn\u2019t suit MIBR\u2019s way of approaching the game, it could all end up in disaster.<\/p>\n And finally, we have the mighty Na\u2019Vi, a team that won no less than 3 tournaments in the last 7 weeks: StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 5, CS:GO Asia Championships 2018 and ESL One: Cologne 2018. Arguably, the entire roster has gone through a massive upgrade and its matches are no longer a one man show. S1mple is still the best CS:GO player to have ever played the game, performing out of his mind in every single match. But the rest of the team is with him now, doing much of the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n Going into ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018, I expect at least a top 4 finish for Na\u2019Vi. It\u2019s only real rivals are Astralis and FaZe Clan. Everyone else should be nothing more than target practice for s1mple and his squad.<\/p>\n Unless Na\u2019Vi messes up, this match should be in the bag for them. Betway puts the odds at 1.40 \u2013 2.75 in their favor, and I think these odds are congruent with the level of skill displayed by these two teams in recent months.<\/p>\n Betting prediction:<\/strong> Natus Vincere to win at BetOnline<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is a total mismatch between a top 3 team and a team that\u2019s a mere shadow of its former self. FaZe Clan should absolutely mop the floor with mousesports in this match, unless olofmeister is less than half the player he used to be. Under normal circumstances, this will be an easy win for FaZe.<\/p>\n Betway puts the odds at 1.45 \u2013 2.55 in FaZe Clan\u2019s favor, anticipating a fairly easy victory for this team.
\nGroup B:<\/strong> Natus Vincere, FaZe Clan, mousesports, Fnatic.<\/p>\nTeam analysis<\/h2>\n
FaZe Clan<\/p>\n
\n
Cloud9<\/h3>\n
Astralis<\/h3>\n
Fnatic<\/h3>\n
mousesports<\/h3>\n
Team Liquid<\/h3>\n
MIBR<\/h3>\n
Natus Vincere<\/h3>\n
Betting predictions<\/h2>\n
Natus Vincere vs. Fnatic<\/h3>\n
FaZe Clan vs. mousesports<\/h3>\n
\nBetting prediction:<\/strong> FaZe Clan to win at BetOnline<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Betway](\"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/betway_esb_banner.png\" "\\"Betway")