Austin Major Pick’em Challenge - Playoffs Predictions
After 3 grueling stages of CS, we are down to the top 8 teams in the Austin Major and we have had some upsets throughout the whole major. With many favorites missing out on the playoffs and some surprise picks actually making it to the playoffs, this can be a pretty exciting and unpredictable major.
Since the playoffs are single-elimination matches, you need to predict which team will win the Quarter-finals, Semi finals and the grand finals. You get a point for correctly guessing 2 quarter-final winners, 1 semi final winner and the grand final winner; essentially obtaining 3 points if you correctly guess the winner of the entire major (along with another winner of a quarter final match).
Austin Major Playoffs Pickem Predictions
This will be a tough bracket to predict as the teams would be playing on the stage in front of the crowd for the first time in the major, which can affect a team's performance especially the ones that are not on stage frequently. There is also a few days break before the playoffs start so this will give teams time to study their upcoming opponents and relax from the previous stage.
I will be going with the following picks along with a brief reasoning behind my pick. Please make sure to do your pickems after doing your own research as well. Some of my predictions may be really off or will be risky as most of these games are 50/50.
Team Spirit vs MOUZ - This is a match that could go either way, Spirit looked good in the major while MOUZ had a rough start to the major with some pretty close games. However, mouz had a much better year than spirit and they have looked like a top 3 team for most of the year and one of the teams that were actually pretty close to actually defeating Vitality. If mouz do not leave their shaky performance from the previous stage behind then Spirit can get away with the win.
Prediction: 65% chance for Team Spirit to win.
Team Vitality vs Navi - Navi has not been the same team that they were last year and have had some pretty average or bad results. Vitality have been the best team this whole year and despite the shocking BO1 upset by Legacy in the opening game of the last stage, they quickly recovered from that and started to look like the team that they were before the start of the major. This should be Vitality winning the match and most likely the major as well.
Prediction: 80% chance for Vitality to win.
Furia vs PaiN Gaming - A Brazilian derby that no one expected in the playoffs of the major, Furia had been looking sharp since the transition to an international roster after bringing in Yekindar and Molodoy, Pain gaming had been through their ups and downs as they had recently signed dgt but only played one and a half event with their full roster.
Both teams already faced off against each other in the second stage of the major where Pain Gaming barely won with a 13-11 scoreline; however, this will now be an arena game and a BO3. Furia is more likely to win this matchup as they have the much better players and have more experience playing in front of a large audience.
Prediction: 75% chance for Furia to win.
Mongolz vs FaZe Clan - This could be one of the most unpredictable game in the playoffs, Mongolz could be considered a top 5 team heading into the major however, they looked pretty shaky in the previous stage and they barely made it to the playoffs with a 3-2 scoreline suffering losses to Furia in a BO1 and Faze in a BO3.
Meanwhile, Faze has been a team that could be up one moment and then down the next. They had a 3-2 score in stage 2 and a 3-1 score in stage 3, there were games where they looked pretty dominant and then in the other games they looked pretty shaky.
Considering how Faze has already got the better of The Mongolz previously and the mongolz always somehow choking in the playoffs when there’s a live audience watching them; I would be siding with Faze to actually take the win unless they are not in form which could result in the mongolz sneaking a win against them.
Prediction: 60% chance for Faze to win.
Here is how I believe that the entire playoffs would end up:
On a closing note, do remember that these are just my predictions based on the teams results, make sure to do your own research before making your picks.
