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The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Epicenter group stage is over and now it is time for the decisive phase of the tournament to start. The playoffs begin on Saturday and the winners will be determined in the Grand Final, scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
All matches are played in a best-of-three format and the winner will walk away with half of the prize pool worth $500,000. The runners-up will collect $120,000 and in the absence of a match to determine the teams in 3rd and 4th, both will receive $40,000.
Team Vitality and Mousesports Wait in the Semifinals
The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Epicenter has a structure that rewards the teams who perform well during the group stage. Team Vitality and Mousesports have won both series in Groups A and B, so they have qualified straight to the semifinals. They are patiently waiting to see who will join them at this stage of the competition, but they are certain to start with the first chance in any case.
Team Vitality lost a single match during the group stage against Natus Vincere but were, otherwise, extremely strong and won the games by a comfortable margin. Mousesports started the esports tournament at a slower pace and needed overtime to defeat Virtus.Pro in the opening game, but they steadied the ship. Unlike Team Vitality who were invited directly, Mousesports had to prove their worth through qualifiers.
Group Stage is over and we have found 6 teams, who will be fighting for the #EPICENTER trophy in the Playoffs! 4 of them play the Quarterfinals on Saturday, with@TeamVitality and @mousesports waiting for the winners in the Semifinals.https://t.co/7UgVoG9o9I#csgo #epicgg pic.twitter.com/6fmFtnVRJW
— EPICENTER (@epicentergg) December 20, 2019
Heroic and forZe Play Coin Flip Quarterfinal
The most anticipated quarterfinal of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Epicenter will pit Heroic vs forZe, in a series that is difficult to call. Heroic were only able to defeat EHOME in the group stage, but they have the advantage in the head to head series. They won both games so far, so if past performance can be used as an indicator for future results, the odds of 9/10 on their win are justified.
ArcaneBet offers identical odds on forZe to prevail, which makes a lot of sense since they have finished second in Group B. The CIS qualifier has greatly improved its performance over the last few years and it is a strong contender to qualify for the finals. Both teams have the tendency of winning and losing series to nil, so punters should also consider esports betting on the quarterfinal to end in two matches.
Read also: Our Best Bets for the CS:GO Champions Cup Finals this Weekend
Natus Vincere Should Prevail over Evil Geniuses
Natus Vincere could’ve easily won Group A, as a single match lost to Team Vitality made the difference. Evil Geniuses were never in the same situation, but they can also consider themselves lucky to finish in the third-place. Both teams were entitled to hope for better results, but what matters is that they made it to the quarterfinals. Natus Vincere are slight favorites, as reflected by the odds of 3/5 offered by Unikrn, while Evil Geniuses start with the second chance and tempting esports odds of 6/5 at the same bookmaker.
Image courtesy Epicenter.gg
