Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca Group Stage Predictions

This is going to be a great tournament. Usually, the groups aren’t worth watching, but these games will be good. You will want to watch out for Groups C and D.

Group A:

1. Fnatic is a lock to get number one in this group. They crushed Luminosity at the last major, and Cloud 9 is no longer a match for them.
2. Luminosity is my choice, but it isn’t an easy one. They have done well at the tournaments they go to, especially majors, and Cloud 9, well, they haven’t done so well. Cloud 9 has fallen off since the summer.

Group B:

1. TSM is just out of the world compared to these teams in their current state. If everyone but device died, he could win the game all by himself. They don’t even have to think about these games.
2. Mousesports is coming out next. Flipside only has wins against trash teams. Mousesports has a slightly weaker online record, but that’s against good teams. Mouz also has much better LAN experience going for them too. G2 has also done poorly online, like F3. Since losing ScreaM, G2 has gotten worse, and since losing S1mple, F3 have been worse.

Group C:

1. In this Group of death, Virtus Pro will prevail. They have gotten better and have been on a streak of good performances. There are good teams in their group, but none of them will be contesting Virtus Pro’s dominance.
2. Titan will take number two out of this group. NiP had that weird power last major to make it out of groups. NiP’s legacy is just not enough for me to chose them as second in the group. Titan, on the other hand, has a legacy from VeryGames and a great team. Team Liquid, well, they have previously admitted that they aren’t making it out. Honesty and perspective is a good trait to have; NiP doesn’t have it but Liquid does.

Group D:

1. This is a hard group to predict for the order of who is coming out. Na’Vi and NV are coming out, and of those two, the best bet is NV. They are a good team and have a better record than Na’Vi. Since the Cologne boot camp, Na’Vi hasn’t seemed the same. On EnVyUs’ side, there was a boost with KennyS and apex added to the roster. These new players did very well just weeks after the change at the last major, and they have gotten even better, as shown by the Gfinity Champion of Champions victory.
2. Na’Vi will be my second pick though, but they aren’t quite a lock. CLG could make a good run, depending on how well Na’Vi are doing. CLG hasn’t been doing so good from what they have told of their practice. It all seems to depend on how good Na’Vi is right now.