Mad Catz Birmingham playoff preview

As only six teams remain competing for the first place prize at Mad Catz Birmingham, the time has come to preview the playoffs, kicking off at 10:00 .

Upsets took place in each of the groups, with k1ck upsetting Anexis, who then went onto defeat VeryGames. As VG defeated k1ck, and all three of them bested CRG and Infused, the predicted finishes of the teams stayed unaffected by the results.

Group B saw fnatic struggle with a loss against fm.TOXiC and a tie versus Reason Gaming, but they caught a break against Western Wolves, winning a match that had no meaning to the Danes, to advance as third. fm.TOXiC got second in group B.

CS:GO action resumes tomorrow in Birmingham 

Both VeryGames and Western Wolves advance directly to semi-finals, while fnatic will take on Anexis and k1ck will battle fm.TOXiC in the quarter-finals tomorrow morning at 10:00 .

VeryGames will then face the winner of the latter quarter-finals, while Western Wolves will take on either their countrymen fnatic or British Anexis in their semi-finals at 13:00 .

10:00 k1ck vs. fm.TOXiC

So far the best result for Portugal's pride is the 16-12 upset win over Anexis on de_dust2_se, while they looked fairly average in their other games, with two somewhat close wins over Brits Infused and CRG, and a blowout loss against VeryGames. The now mostly Danish fm.TOXiC looked much stronger so far in the tournament recording three wins over fnatic, Dignitas and Reason Gaming, and a blowout loss against Western Wolves.

On an individual level k1ck's Ricardo "fox" Pacheco's 0.92 KPR, +27 and a rating of 1.37 also do not quite match up with Søren "socN" Falke's monstrous 1.18 KPR, +47 and a rating of 1.62. Neither player has received much help from their teammates, as Pacheco has two teammates with a rating below 1.00, including Rui "emotioN" Sousa with an Ozstrik3rish KPR of 0.45, while three teammates of Falke are also below 1.00.

I think Pacheco will likely continue putting up big numbers for k1ck as long as they remain in the tournament, while Falke has elevated his level of play above what can be sustained in the long run. If Falke were to continue playing at that level or his teammates stepped up I could easily see fm.TOXiC break the top four, but k1ck are a more prepared team, and I think teamplay will prevail this time, as fm.TOXiC isn't overwhelmingly skilled as a team.

Prediction: k1ck > fm.TOXiC 2-1

socN has kept the fm.TOXiC ship afloat 

13:00 VeryGames vs. k1ck or  fm.TOXiC

VeryGames shouldn't care at all which team goes through from the first quarter-final tomorrow morning. While they lost ten rounds to Infused and got upset by Anexis, they proved they can easily take care of k1ck in their head-to-head match and fm.TOXiC shouldn't be able to beat them individually or strategically. Having already gone over both of their challengers' results in the match above, it's clear that so far in the tournament neither has played on a level they'd need to reach to compete with VG.

The Frenchmen's biggest problem, in my opinion, is that their leader Kevín "Ex6TenZ" Droolans simply doesn't use his players correctly. Double saving after a lost pistol with a score of 5-11 as terrorists on de_dust2_se against a weaker team simply doesn't make sense; his team should easily win a third round buy at least 75% of the time with the likes of Nathan "NBK Schmitt and Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom on his team. However, short of some of the all time great individual performances from k1ck or fm.TOXiC, VG will escape from the semi-final untouched.

I wouldn't be overly surprised if VeryGames wound up losing one map en route to a victory, but they should be sizable favorites on any map they play. Only advantage either team may have over them, and even that is questionable, is AWPing if Kenny "kennyS" Schrub is off and Pacheco is firing at all cylinders. Should be a walk in the park for VG, but hopefully one where they figure things out in time for a much tougher grand final if they wish to hoist the first place trophy at the end.

Prediction: VeryGames > k1ck/fm.TOXiC 2-0

fox is k1ck's best hope in this series 

10:00 Anexis vs. fnatic

Anexis suffered a loss against k1ck in group A on de_dust2_se early on, but clearly recovered as the day went on and were able to upset the top dogs VeryGames on the very same map just hours later, although you should credit that win almost entirely on Daniel "RE1EASE" Mullan. fnatic also struggled early on, although much more, as they lost against fm.TOXiC, or should I say Falke, and tied Reason Gaming. They also managed to turn it around however, as they defeated Joshua "steel" Nissan's Dignitas and then heavy favorites Western Wolves, albeit in a match that only mattered for one of the two teams.

This is much more interesting out of the two quarter-finals, at least to me personally. Both come into the match with the expectation of making it to the semi-final, and a loss would surely be a disappointment to either side regardless of what the Brits might say due to having a stand-in playing for their newly recruited fifth member. I don't see either team beating Western Wolves later on, but this match is still huge for either team's confidence heading into next week's RaidCall EMS One and reputation in general. 

Both teams have a very realistic chance to win and one might think Anexis has some advantage from playing in the UK, but realistically I doubt that matters. fnatic are still very happy about the Western Wolves win today while Anexis have had a day off, and I think the Danes will be able to overcome the Brits tomorrow. I don't see Anexis being able to remain calm and focused in a close, potentially three maps long series, while that is the kind of setting where the old and experienced fnatic members will prevail. Not to say Anexis aren't old or experienced, but there won't be much calmness in their camp at that point.

Prediction: fnatic > Anexis 2-1

RattlesnK not looking happy, as usual 

13:00 Western Wolves vs. Anexis or  fnatic

Western Wolves played as well as you would expect them to play up until the fnatic match. They secured easy wins versus Dignitas, Reason Gaming and fm.TOXiC, and never looked any weaker than a top three team in the world should look. That all changed against fnatic of course, as all of a sudden the Danes were shut down and they could only muster eight rounds. Now I won't say I know they weren't trying, but based on Jacob "Pimp" Winneche's interview answers on our site, it would make sense if their hearts weren't fully in it.

Interestingly enough I think Anexis has a much better chance of upsetting Western Wolves, although I don't think they will even get a chance to try, than fnatic does in a best-of-three series. I think Sam "RattlesnK" Gawn's experience of playing against other CS:S minded teams will give his squads a slight advantage, while it may be tougher for fnatic, led by a fragger in Andreas "MODDII" Fridh, to adjust to all the things WW does well. If fnatic or Anexis can make WW play CS their way, they have a shot, but if they are playing their own game, it should be fairly easy for the Wolves to come out on top.

Both Nicolaj "Nico" Jensen and Winneche have been playing well individually so far for WW, while fnatic's leading fraggers have been the young Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth and AWPer Michael "Friis" Jørgensen. I expect the two AWPers to go head-to-head on some of the maps at least, but with the way rest of fnatic has been playing, it's hard to give them an advantage individaully, while strategically I think WW are one of the strongest, if not the strongest team currently in CS:GO.

Prediction: Western Wolves > fnatic 2-0

cArn's fnatic have a tough task ahead of them 

16:00 Third place decider

Assuming the teams I predicted to win their quarter-finals make it here by losing to the semi-finalists in the following round, fnatic and k1ck would go head-to-head for a sum of £1,000 and some prestige over a podium finish. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal to either team, but fnatic has not only been struggling but could use some extra confidence, and k1ck obviously hasn't been to an event in months and are generally much more likely to appreciate a third place finish than some of the more seasoned players wearing black and orange.

I think k1ck are however going to be more motivated as they probably wouldn't truly expect a win over VeryGames in the semi-finals (as Pacheco said in our pre-event interview with him), so they will still have their heads in the game in this match. fnatic will definitely be more bummed out about not making the grand final, assuming they don't, and will have a tougher time putting all they have into it. However, they are the stronger team, and although they might struggle enough to lose one map, I think they will come out on top in the end and clinch a top three finish.

Prediction: fnatic > k1ck 2-1

Pimp's Western Wolves should make the grand final 

16:00 Grand final

The ones who listened to episode #5 of [POD]Cast know I previously predicted Western Wolves to win the event, and while I do stand by that prediction in the sense that it makes much more sense on paper, I think my gut says VeryGames will finally come around, Droolans will let Benrlitom run wild and shoot down some heads, and they will knock WW down to another second place finish. It's probably half because it would just be an interesting storyline if Western Wolves would once again fail in the grand final, even without NiP present.

Western Wolves are the favorites going into this final, and they surely expect to win as well. However, I think that's going to be one of their weaknesses in the match, as they are likely going to get frustrated easily if they start losing against the Frenchmen whom they've defeated the last three times they've met. I also think the Danes may not only be annoyed over the fnatic loss if they were actually giving it their all to win, as some people on-site have suggested based on how they looked after the loss, and that they might get a little nervous in the grand final because they also realize they are the favorites.

The fact is though that VeryGames have more firepower to bring to the table, led by the unprecedented 95% HSP of Benrlitom, and while they have yet to win an international event in CS:GO, they have certainly been there more often, and being considered underdogs by the general public has never hurt anyone's performance. I'm going to go against my own prediction from [POD]Cast, and say VeryGames will win 2-1. I don't see them winning on de_inferno_se, but they are very competitive on others, especially de_train_se, where WW's recent terrorist halves haven't impressed anyone.

Prediction: VeryGames > Western Wolves 2-1

Will ScreaM finally win his first international CS:GO tournament? 

Who do you think will stand on the highest podium tomorrow? Will anyone surprise or will the favorites prevail in Birmingham? Leave your predictions in the comments below.