Looking at BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles

Team Liquid’s CS:GO team looks to continue their winning ways at this weekend’s BLAST Pro Series. Known as the best Counter-Strike team for their dominance jaw-dropping plays, Team Liquid is undoubtedly the heavy favorites going into the tournament.

However, as great as Team Liquid’s cast is, upcoming tournaments are not decided by hype or past accolades, but by how each team performs on game day. Team Liquid knows they’ll have their work cut out for them if they want to stay on top.

Los Angeles will play host to the two-day BLAST Pro Series CS:GO event on July 13-14.  Held at the Galen Center at the University of Southern California, the teams will be competing for prize pool of $250k USD.

The tournament will have six teams competing – Cloud9, FaZe Clan, MIBR, NRG, Renegades, and Team Liquid. What makes this event intense is the thrilling group stage BO1 matches, making each match even more important.

Here is a brief breakdown of each team:

Team Liquid (US): Let’s start with the heavy favorites. Known as the dominant super team in the Counter-Strike scene, they have met all the hype thrown at them. They are fresh off a huge victory at ESL One Cologne and the Intel Grand Slam. The US team is also regarded as the best team over Danish team, Astralis.

Many are saying if this team keeps dominating, the CS:GO scene may be entering the Team Liquid era. Only time will tell.

Cloud9 (US): Since winning the Boston Major last year, Cloud9 has been reshuffling their roster. They would lose Stewie2k to MIBR, then tarik later on. With only Autimatic being the sole holdover from the previous roster, Cloud9 had to rebuild from the bottom. With this complete overhaul of their roster, many don’t know what to expect, since it takes time to get to the same wavelength among teammates.

This total revamp could go one of two ways: the team unexpectedly does well with potential to grow even further. Or the team fails to mesh, morale is low, and another change is underway. Let’s hope it’s the former.

FaZe Clan (EU): Like Cloud9, FaZe Clan has also undergone some roster changes recently. Veteran player Filip “NEO” Fubski, the best-ranked player in the world back in 2011, will serve as In-Game Leader. Yet, with a slew of some of the most skilled players in the game, FaZe could be a big challenge to any team and perhaps, pull off an upset.

MIBR (Brazil): The long-storied franchise of MIBR has been tinkering with their lineup. The team has been mired in a huge slump and disappointing finishes on ECS and ESL Pro League Finals. Something had to change and that it did.

To mix things up, they relegated longtime starter felps to the bench. The team would bring in LUCAS1 from Luminosity to give them a boost. If things don’t improve, the team may be shaken up further, including hints of Coldzera possibly moving to FaZe Clan.

Renegades (Australia): For much of their time, the team has always been good, yet never truly hit their potential. For instance, the team has won the Asia Minor Championship, yet had some rough outings at cs_summit 4, DH Masters Dallas, and IEM XIV Sydney.  They recently fell out of the top 10 rankings in May, but a strong finish at BLAST will surely get them pointed in the right direction. Speaking of BLAST, the LA tourney will be the team’s debut.

NRG (US): NRG has been a player in esports for some time, having major talent especially in the Rocket League scene. However, NRG also has some serious talent in Counter-Strike, as they placed very high in recent tournaments. The team is ranked in fifth place in the HLTV CS:GO world rankings and is expected to place second in the tournament.

Like Renegades, NRG will be making their BLAST debut in LA.