BLAST.tv Paris Major Champions Stage preview

BLAST.tv Paris Major has been one of the most bizarre CS:GO Majors we’ve seen in a long time. Usually, we get to see a lot of legendary teams competing in the Champions Stage. But this time, many of the favorites got eliminated in the first two rounds.

Teams like G2 Esports, Natus Vincere, MOUZ, FURIA Esports, Ninjas in Pyjamas, ENCE, and Fnatic will not compete in front of the Parisian crowd. In their place, the audience will get to watch teams like Into The Breach, Apeks, Monte, and Gamer Legion. This is not nearly as exciting but maybe it will turn out to be a great show.

Most likely outcome

What is likely to happen is this: the top teams, namely Team Vitality, Heroic, FaZe Clan, and Team Liquid will either win their matches or lose against another one of the top teams. This will guarantee that at least one of the semifinals and the Grand Final will be very important from a dramatic perspective.

Every match is important from a competitive perspective, because we’re at a Major that offers $1.25 million in prize money and these are the last seven matches that will determine the champion. But from a storytelling perspective, if Into The Breach were to win, almost everyone would feel that the villain won.

People can still remember what a letdown the Game of Thrones finale was. BLAST.tv Paris Major could end the same way. The only thing that can prevent that is a solid performance from Heroic, Vitality, or Liquid. FaZe Clan are also on the list but their chances of advancing to the semifinals are minimal because their opponent is Heroic.

The initial matches

The four initial matches of the Champions Stage of the Paris Major are these:

• Heroic vs. FaZe
• GamerLegion vs. Monte
• Team Liquid vs. Apeks
• Into The Breach vs. Vitality

The favorites are not hard to spot: Heroic, Monte, Liquid, and Vitality. In particular, Heroic and Vitality are in such formidable shape right now that it will be hard for them to miss the Grand Final. It would take an amazing performance from their opponents to eliminate them after everything we’ve seen not only here but at IEM Rio too.

Schedule

The playoffs of the tournament will start with Heroic vs. FaZe and ITB vs. Vitality. On the second day, the remaining two quarterfinals will be played. The Grand Final takes place on May 21 and is a best-of-three.

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