After their outstanding success at last weekend’s ESL One Cologne 2019 tournament, which also secured the $1,000,000 bonus prize available for the Intel Grand Slam Season 2, Team Liquid is most definitely the team to beat in CSGO.
Originally, Liquid wasn’t even slated to play in Cologne because they were on deck a week later in Los Angeles. The controversial BLAST Pro Series, which has faced criticism from gamers for watering down the quality of competition in some previously top-level CS:GO events, takes place this weekend at the HD Buttercup Building, with a $250,000 prize pool on offer.
BLAST Pro Series – Los Angeles 2019
Six teams will compete in Los Angeles this year, but the previously dominant Astralis will not be one of them. Team Liquid will start as the undeniable favorites to lift the trophy after their stunning success last weekend and over 2019 in general. The North American team will also be playing on home soil, which should give their chances a further boost.
However, they will be facing off against FaZe Clan, an expensively assembled team that has been a consistent name in the top three or four teams in CS:GO for a good while now. FaZe has also won one BLAST Pro Series event previously. That win came on American soil earlier this year when they took home the top prize in Miami.
Moving down the ranks, Cloud9 have been regular attendees at top events over the past couple of years but have not won a tournament since ELEAGUE Major Boston in January 2018. MiBR’s only victory of 2019 came in the lesser Esports Championship Series Season 7 – North American event back in May.
Joining these teams in the tournament are two Wild Card invitees in NRG Esports and Renegades.
NRG Esports is another American team with some success this season in Minor championship events. They won the Americas Minor Championship in Katowice. That said, they do have some big tournament success behind them with wins at the cs_summit 3 and Intel Extreme Masters Shanghai 2018 on their resume.
Renegades is a North American/Australian team with, once again, some Minor success. They are yet to really make an impact with a statement win at a big tournament.
Current odds
If you fancy a flutter on who will win the BLAST Pro Series in Los Angeles, the bookmakers Betway have odds available. It is clear who they believe in:
- Team Liquid – 13/20 favourites
- NRG – 4/1
- FaZe Clan – 6/1
- MiBR – 10/1
- Renegades – 15/1
- Cloud9 – 25/1
Few would back against Team Liquid claiming their first BLAST Pro Series win in Los Angeles this weekend. But will their hectic schedule of the past few weeks eventually catch up with them?
Find out when you catch all the action from Los Angeles on Twitch TV.
