The Austin Major is about to enter its 4th and final stage. Between June 19 – 22, the eight remaining competitors will play for a prize pool of $1,01 million. The winner receives almost half of it.
As usual, all of the playoffs stage matches are eliminatory and best-of-three. For the teams that were unfortunate enough to encounter formidable opponents right from the start, such as Natus Vincere (who will have to play against Team Vitality), this isn’t the best format. But it’s certainly the most spectacular.
The Remaining Teams
Here are the eight teams that will compete in the 4th stage of the Austin Major:
- Team Spirit
- MOUZ
- Team Vitality
- Natus Vincere
- FaZe Clan
- The MongolZ
- PaiN Gaming
- FURIA
Based on the brackets and everything we’ve seen so far, the three biggest favorites are Vitality, Spirit, and FaZe. For Finn “karrigan” Andersen and his squad, the path to the Grand Final could not have been easier.
In the quarterfinals, FaZe will have to defeat The MongolZ, a team they’ve already encountered and defeated with ease in stage 3. If they can repeat that performance, they will then encounter either paiN Gaming or FURIA. Historically, neither of these teams has been a formidable competitor.
Of course, it remains to be seen what FURIA can do with their new and improved roster, but they’ve already lost against paiN in stage 2. Even if they win this best-of-three, they do not seem capable of beating Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev in his current form.
In the top half of the bracket, Vitality and Spirit look destined to win their opening matches against NAVI and MOUZ respectively. Danil “donk” Kryshkovets will then need to play the best CS of his career for his team to have a chance against Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut’s.
For maximum cinema, many CS2 fans would probably want to see a battle between s1mple and NAVI in the Grand Final. But that’s not likely to happen.
