Bold predictions for 2016.
2015, arguably the best year for the ever evolving game that is Counter-Strike:Global Offensive had many storylines, surprises, and changes this past year. We had a rise of dominance from the Fnatic team, a short reign of the ex-TSM team (Now ?), Envy’s ups and downs, the C9 changes that led them to three straight international finals, and Luminosity Gaming’s cinderella story. I firmly believe that 2016 will be the best year this game and its professional scene has ever had with the higher amounts of money being invested into the game & the teams themselves.
Note: These are bold predictions for a reason. In no way are all, or any of these confirmed or likely, but they are plausible and are good food for thought.
Bold Predictions:
- IBP(IBuyPower) will be unbanned
After AZK said he had “confirmation” that they will not be unbanned on his twitch stream, everyone considered that it was set in stone. This, however, is not completely true, as Dazed has said that it “Wasn’t an official confirmation, but it was strongly suggested.” Now it is highly likely that the banned IBP players will never be able to play in Valve supported tournaments again, but the fact that there has been no official confirmation brings up two possibilities in my eyes.
- Valve are lazy, and will confirm the permanent ban by the end of the year.
- They will be unbanned in the early stages of this next year.
I know many “experts” such as “Thoorin” and “Richard Lewis” have had extensive talks on this issue, and I agree with most of what they have said. It’s quite clear that all Valve is doing by not addressing this issue at all, is doing harm. Whether they are going to be banned permanently, or unbanned in the future, should have already been confirmed ages ago, when the bans themselves occurred. All this is doing is creating a sense of false hope for the players and fans alike.
- NA CS:GO will have better international results.
2015, was a terrible year for NA CS:GO in terms of performance, with not much to look back on to be happy about. Other than the Cloud-9 miracle run of 3 finals with skadoodle in god-mode, NA CS:GO did not achieve much. This is due directly to players attitude and philosophy of the game. Even though EU has more firepower, that is not the reason NA CS:GO fails to perform in international tournaments. It’s the fact that they are miles behind EU teams in teamwork, and just overall understanding of the game. When C9 was playing exceptionally well at EU tournaments, it was not due to just out-aiming their opponents, but rather having a clear tactical advantage over most of the teams they played. Until NA teams can have as good, or almost as good of an understanding of the game, it will be impossible to consistently win over top EU teams.
Now I understand that with the current roster changes that have been made in the NA scene, there is nothing to suggest that the consistent terrible performances will change. That being said, NA definitely has the talent to do this, but the great individual players are locked in by contracts. Recent news has been released about S1mple, a huge Ukrainian talent will be going to Liquid. This has not been fully confirmed, but if it does happen, it’s a huge step in the right direction, and personally they should import more EU talent to help them fill the gaps in their teams.North America (Without EU) as a region have the players to compete for a top 6 spot in the world, it’s whether they can get the right players together on one team, and have a winning mindset.
- The Fnatic era will officially end.
2015 was one of the most dominant years in CS:GO history, with Fnatic being the best team 9 out of the 12 months, with 17 1st place titles, and 7 second place titles, with 2 of the 3 majors in the bag.
In the past 2 months, Fnatic has definitely fallen off, but after they made the change of -Pronax and +Dennis, they immediately went back to their winning ways with 3/3 international titles against top tier teams. That being said, they have looked a lot more shaky and a couple of their players have been slumping, with Flusha having a poor performance since taking the IGL role, JW throughout the last couple of months, and Dennis with his consistency issues. Unless olofmeister can continue to carry Fnatic, I feel that they will fall off from their consistent title winning performances. They will still be a top 5 team without a doubt, but the dominance of 2015, will be gone.
- EX-TSM’s struggles will continue, thus leading to a roster change early in the year
In 2015, EX-TSM had a short rise of dominance where they were deemed the best team in the world, with Fnatic having struggles prior to Pronax’s departure. This, however, was an extremely short rise to the top, as they lost to NiP, which ruined their confidence, in turn leading to a downswing of performance, and multiple final loses. TSM’s issues can’t be put on any one man, but the team as a whole. They have all the pieces to the puzzle, but can’t seem to make it fit in a way where they have consistent lasting top tier performances. They can still easily make it top 3 of most tournaments, but that is not what is expected of a team that is TSM’s caliber. They will struggle to win tournaments, which will lead to a roster change in the first 3-4 months of the year.
A little about myself and this article: I am a CSGO bettor who has made over 40,000 dollars in profit, and also run an analysis website and betting group with over 3,000 users. I am looking to do something more than just write analysis for CSGO games, and am now writing articles. This article could not have been completed without the help u3povan, an employ for my website.
