ESL One New York 2017ESL One New York preview
ESL One New York begins tomorrow, September 15, so it's time for us to take a deeper look at the eight teams competing for $250,000 in the Big Apple and their chances to grab the shiny trophy come Sunday.
The post-off-season period full of LAN events hasn't stopped just yet. With the return of ESL One to New York, we have the next international tournament right at our door, alongside ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier's Group B.
The $250,000 event will gather eight teams, five of whom are in the top ten as per our ranking, plus the new-look Natus Vincere and Cloud9, as well as Envy.
| Group A | Group B |
 SK |
 FaZe |
 Natus Vincere |
 Astralis |
 Cloud9 |
Liquid |
 Envy |
 Virtus.pro |
For ESL One New York's format, on-air talent, schedule, and prize distribution, head over to our viewer's guide, which has all the information you need to follow the event. As always, we have also put together an in-depth preview to get you fully prepped up for the next three days of play in the Big Apple:
| * Ratings used are from the past three months on LAN |
Group A
| SK (#1) | Age | Rating |
| Fernando "fer" Alvarenga |
25 | 1.18 |
| Marcelo "coldzera" David |
22 | 1.18 |
| Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo |
26 | 1.13 |
| João "felps" Vasconcellos |
20 | 1.10 |
| Epitacio "TACO" de Melo |
22 | 0.97 |
Offline placings in the past three months |
|
| 3rd |  ESG Tour Mykonos |
| 5th-8th |  DreamHack Masters Malmö |
| 5th-8th | PGL Major Krakow |
| 1st |  ESL One Cologne |
| 1st |  ECS Season 3 Finals |
| 1st | DreamHack Open Summer |
SK's efforts of getting their confidence back came to no fruition last week at ESG Tour Mykonos. With many top teams missing, the Brazilians aimed to get back to winning ways, but a 2-0 defeat against Liquid in the semi-finals crushed their hopes.
With DreamHack Masters Malmö having gone awry at the beginning of September as well, when SK fell to their nemesis G2 despite looking fantastic for a 2-0 sweep, FalleN's side have failed to live up to the billing as clear favorites in both tournaments they have attended since the break.
They should naturally be considered title contenders all the same, and still one of the main favorites, mainly because no other team has shown the consistency to snatch the No.1 spot away from the Brazilian side just yet.
For a team like SK, Group A should be more or less a formality. Envy have shown little improvement in an offline setting as we saw in Mykonos, and Cloud9 and Natus Vincere have yet to prove themselves.
To go further than the semis, which are bound to yield a tough match-up, SK will be looking at fer, who was a no-show in the aforementioned series with Liquid. If he and coldzera fire up as we know them to do, the sky is the limit.
| Natus Vincere (#11) | Age | Rating |
| Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev |
19 | 1.23 |
 Egor "flamie" Vasilyev |
20 | 1.07 |
| Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko |
29 | 1.01 |
| Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev |
29 | 0.99 |
| Denis "seized" Kostin |
23 | 0.91 |
| Mikhaylo "Kane" Blagin (coach) |
||
Offline placings in the past three months |
|
| 9th-12th | ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier |
| 5th-8th | DreamHack Masters Malmö |
| 12th-14th | PGL Major Krakow (4/5 of the current lineup) |
| 3rd-4th | ESL One Cologne (4/5) |
| 2nd | Adrenaline Cyber League (4/5) |
After the Zeus-led squad finished in a respectable 5th-8th place at DreamHack Masters Malmö, losing a narrow series to Ninjas in Pyjamas in the quarter-finals, Natus Vincere faced a tough group in ELEAGUE Premier and went out following losses to FaZe and G2.
ESL One New York will be Na`Vi's third event within a little over two weeks, which means they'll still be rough on the edges this weekend, unsure about their map pool as much as about everything else.
Nonetheless, they're looking quite good in Group A. As mentioned before, Cloud9 are in a similar position, and it's likely the two will duke it out for the second spot in the group. Odds are the match-up is as 50-50 as it can get, so it'll largely depend on individual form.
s1mple remains the team's superstar, but everyone else is up and down; first and foremost it'll be up to flamie to step it up if Na`Vi are to advance to the playoffs. Anything further than that would be a bonus, considering Astralis and FaZe are the teams most likely to make it out on the other side.
| Cloud9 (#13) | Age | Rating |
| Jake "Stewie2K" Yip |
19 | 1.11 |
| Timothy "autimatic" Ta |
21 | 1.11 |
| Tarik "tarik" Celik |
21 | 1.10 |
| Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham |
24 | 1.02 |
| William "RUSH" Wierzba |
23 | 1.01 |
| Soham "valens" Chowdhury (coach) |
||
Offline placings in the past three months |
|
| 3rd-4th |  DreamHack Open Montreal |
| 9th-12th | DreamHack Masters Malmö |
| 9th-11th | PGL Major Krakow (3/5) |
| 2nd | ESL One Cologne (3/5) |
| 3rd-5th |  PGL Major Krakow Main Qualifier (3/5) |
| 3rd-4th | ECS Season 3 Finals (3/5) |
| 7th-8th | DreamHack Open Summer (3/5) |
Cloud9's new lineup's beginnings have not yielded the greatest results as of yet, with a group stage exit at DreamHack Masters Malmö being followed by a semi-final run at DreamHack Open Montreal.
That was to be expected from the new lineup, especially looking at the teams Stewie2K's men lost to at their first two events: North and SK in Sweden, Immortals and North again in Canada.
Unless things changed again ahead of ESL One New York, tarik still holds the leadership duties, which in theory should have freed up Stewie2K, but the opposite seems to be the case right now.
With Stewie2K's role changed, he might need a bit more time to adjust; so far, he hasn't had much success against the better teams. Instead, it's tarik who seems to have profited from the swap, at least so far.
| Envy (#16) | Age | Rating |
| Cédric "RpK" Guipouy |
28 | 1.12 |
 Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom |
23 | 1.11 |
| Vincent "Happy" Schopenhauer |
25 | 1.02 |
| Alexandre "xms" Forté |
20 | 1.02 |
| Christophe "SIXER" Xia |
26 | 0.98 |
| Damien "maLeK" Marcel (coach) |
||
Offline placings in the past three months |
|
| 7th-8th | ESG Tour Mykonos |
| 13th-16th | DreamHack Masters Malmö |
| 1st | DreamHack Open Atlanta |
| 3rd-4th |  DreamHack Open Valencia |
| 4th | Europe Minor - PGL Major Krakow |
Envy were seemingly on the upswing when they made their way to three events via online qualifiers during the latter half of August, but their first two offline showings since then have resulted in early exits and disappointing performances.
The Frenchmen at least made things look competitive in Malmö, where they went out after close matches with G2 and fnatic; at ESG Tour Mykonos, they only showed up on one map against BIG.
nV's chances at ESL One New York are thus slim at best. The one thing going for them is that they will have a clearer idea of what their strengths are in the map pool than Natus Vincere or Cloud9, but having a more defined style than those two teams can just as well work against Happy's squad.
Both of those teams will have scouted what Envy like to do, but the same cannot be said from the Frenchmen, as Cloud9 and Natus Vincere are both new teams with new leadership. ScreaM & co. facing SK up first is most likely to end in tears, and beating both Cloud9 and Natus Vincere in best-of-threes is something a betting man wouldn't put money on.
Group B
| Astralis (#4) | Age | Rating |
| Nicolai "device" Reedtz |
22 | 1.17 |
| Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen |
24 | 1.14 |
| Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjærbye |
19 | 1.09 |
| Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth |
22 | 1.05 |
| Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander |
22 | 1.00 |
| Danny "zonic" Sørensen (coach) |
||
Offline placings in the past three months |
|
| 5th-8th | DreamHack Masters Malmö |
| 3rd-4th | PGL Major Krakow |
| 3rd-4th | ECS Season 3 Finals |
| 1st | ELEAGUE Clash for Cash |
Astralis haven't looked fantastic themselves after the off-season, finishing 5th-8th at DreamHack Masters Malmö with their second loss in a row to Gambit, who caught the Danes off-guard with a quick 2-0 series.
Luckily for them, Gambit won't be present in New York, but their group is a tough one, nonetheless. Everyone will pose a threat to Astralis, starting with Liquid who proved they can take on the best last weekend.
If the Danes pass that test, they could meet either Virtus.pro, who are still a tough opponent on a good day, or FaZe, a somewhat unknown entity with a roster whose majority has a great track record against gla1ve & co.
Astralis should still be seen as favorites to make it out of the group, but it's by no means a formality as is the case with SK; expect the Danes to have to fight for their place in the playoffs.
Beyond that, device's team has a lot to prove. They lost their streak of top four finishes with their current lineup in Malmö and haven't won anything aside from the Clash for Cash since IEM Katowice, in March. ESL One New York could be a great opportunity for Astralis to get back in contention for the No.1 team in the world, with SK in shaky form and many of the others still trying to prove their worth.
| FaZe (#8) | Age | Rating |
 Nikola "NiKo" Kovač |
20 | 1.21 |
 Håvard "rain" Nygaard |
23 | 1.13 |
 Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács |
26 | 1.13 |
| Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer |
25 | 1.03 |
| Finn "karrigan" Andersen |
27 | 0.89 |
| Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström (coach) |
||
Offline placings in the past three months |
|
| 9th-12th | DreamHack Masters Malmö |
| 15th-16th | PGL Major Krakow (3/5) |
| 3rd-4th | ESL One Cologne (3/5) |
| 2nd | ECS Season 3 Finals (3/5) |
The first month of FaZe's new lineup's existence has yielded a group stage exit at DreamHack Masters Malmö, where Gambit claimed their scalp, and a playoff spot at ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier thus far.
If we've learned anything from their first two events, it's that GuardiaN is in great shape (olofmeister isn't doing badly himself), and that the European squad still likes Mirage, which FaZe have played three times and won them all.
karrigan's team's playstyle is a bit all over the place as predicted, but that might work to their advantage for the time being, as long as the players perform and their opponents can't scout much of their tendencies from the few matches FaZe have played.
Nothing suggests the individuals won't perform, which makes a playoff run likely for the star-studded lineup. Whether they place first or second in the group should come down to the Astralis match-up, which has historically been favorable for karrigan, and that should determine whether they'll play SK in the semis or not. If not, FaZe have a good shot at making it all the way to the final, come Sunday.
| Liquid (#9) | Age | Rating |
| Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski |
20 | 1.12 |
| Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken |
17 | 1.10 |
| Josh "jdm64" Marzano |
27 | 1.05 |
| Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz |
23 | 1.05 |
| Nick "nitr0" Cannella |
22 | 0.96 |
| Wilton "zews" Prado (coach) |
||
Offline placings in the past three months |
|
| 2nd | ESG Tour Mykonos |
| 5th-8th | ESL One Cologne |
| 9th-11th | PGL Major Krakow Main Qualifier |
| 5th-6th | ECS Season 3 Finals |
After fairly uneventful several months following the addition of stanislaw and later Twistzz, Liquid finally lived up to their potential last weekend, at ESG Tour Mykonos.
Despite being praised for his leadership, stanislaw took a step back from the role and it instantly paid off. nitr0 has taken it upon himself to call the shots after the off-season, leaving the Canadian with a more comfortable position as a lurker.
A series win over SK is no easy feat, let alone a 2-0 sweep, but Liquid did it and it'll bring loads of confidence their way despite the loss to MOUZ in the ESG Tour grand final. Now they have another tough challenge ahead of them in the form of Group B in New York, where they'll have to beat two of three giants, Astralis, FaZe, and Virtus.pro.
None of the match-ups is particularly favorable for the North American team, especially after they lost to Virtus.pro in Greece, but Liquid will not be fighting a lost cause; expect an exciting battle with EliGE at the helm.
| Virtus.pro (#10) | Age | Rating |
| Jarosław "pashaBiceps" Jarząbkowski |
29 | 1.08 |
| Paweł "byali" Bieliński |
23 | 1.08 |
| Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski |
24 | 1.05 |
| Filip "NEO" Kubski |
30 | 0.98 |
| Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas |
31 | 0.92 |
| Jakub "kuben" Gurczyński (coach) |
||
Offline placings in the past three months |
|
| 4th | ESG Tour Mykonos |
| 13th-16th | DreamHack Masters Malmö |
| 3th-4th | PGL Major Krakow |
| 15th-16th | ESL One Cologne |
| 1st | Adrenaline Cyber League |
| 2nd | ELEAGUE Clash for Cash |
Virtus.pro's struggles continue. There isn't much to be said about their performance at ESG Tour Mykonos, where the Poles lost the semi-final series to MOUZ, other than it being yet another sign of the team's baffling issues.
It turns out that Snax's short period as the team's in-game leader has come to an end as TaZ has taken the reins. Having the star call the shots was a questionable decision in the first place, and, to be fair, Snax's numbers at the last several events had dropped significantly.
The 24-year-old needs to be a superstar for Virtus.pro to come back from the grave, and freeing him up from the shackles of leadership is the first step towards bringing him back - and the team along with him.
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jarząbkowski
Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastný
Chris 'chrisJ' de Jong
Miikka 'suNny' Kemppi
Robin 'ropz' Kool
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