Europe: Mid-Season Predictions
With the mid-season break in full effect, pro teams are being given a full month to reload before the second half of games. As a fan, this fucking sucks. Every sport has a mid-season stop in play for the all-star game, or holidays, or just because it’s a bye-week, and every fan can admit it’s the worst part of the season. So to help get through this break, I will be posting my mid-season breakdown and predictions for the second half. This week I’m starting with the Euro division, will do Latin America next week, and North America the last week before play starts back up. So here are my thoughts on the European Pro-League division.
The EU is a wild division to breakdown. At the top end, there are 4 teams all within a 3 points of each other, while at the bottom end there are 3 teams that seem to be lost, and BDS sits right in the middle of all that. They are competitive, only two wins away from league leader Rogue, but also only a game up from being in that bottom 3. But lets open up with talking about the unlikely second place, Team Empire.
Empire is a powerhouse club. They have won a World Championship, and always perform very very well at LAN events. But a week 4 loss to LAST PLACE forZe and week 7 loss to G2 have them chasing Rogue. Is this cause for concern? Yes. It’s hard to tell with Empire because they crush teams on an almost weekly basis, but those two off weeks are huge. Rogue haven’t lost once, and with the 6-6 draw between the two teams earlier in the year Empire is waaaaaaay behind the 8-ball. Now, it doesn't really matter, as long as Empire stays in the top three they get to keep their tickets to the Sao Palo Major, and I’m pretty sure Brazil is much nicer than Russia in April. But retaining that second seed is going to take a lot with G2 and Vitality nipping at their heels, and a dark horse looming in 5th.
G2 and Vitality are currently tied with 12 points a piece, sitting only a point behind Team Empire. With all respect to Vitality, this is not the year they make a push. They won their first matchup with G2, narrowly escaping with a 7-5 win, but have been crushed by both Empire and Rogue, winning only 2 of 16 rounds through those games. G2 on the other hand, has beaten Empire, and gave Rogue a very tough match on Clubhouse week 6. They have had stumbles along the way, but where Vitality has been a middle of the road team, G2 has great matchups and pushes will toward the top of the leaderboards. If any team can upset Team Empire, this is the team to do it.
Vitality will likely finish around the same spot as BDS. BDS has made some interesting games, drawing against Rogue and stunning Vitality with a 7-2 win. As a fan this is a great team to watch. They always have a chance, they respond very well to adversity, but they sit on the very edge of being able to finish top three. At the break BDS has 10 points on a 3-1-3 record. In order for them to rally to a top 3 finish they will basically need to win out, and steal at least one game against Rogue or Empire. That Said they are my dark horse. Not only would it be a lot of fun to watch, but they have great matchups with the two teams that stand in their way.
Honestly, the bottom 3 suck. forZe, Chaos, and Natus are not fun to watch, and have each only won two games. It sucks that all three can’t be sent down to Challenger League, but my guess is Natus will keep their spot this year, leaving forZe and Chaos to fight in the Relegation Tournament.
Current: Predicted Finish:
1. Rogue 1. Rogue
2. Empire 2. G2
3. Vitality 3. BDS
4. G2 4. Empire
5. BDS 5. Vitality
6. Natus 6. Natus
7. Chaos. 7. Chaos
8. forZe 8. forZe