As FACEIT Major London 2018 draws closer, Valve finally enabled the Pick’em mini-game for fans earlier this week. As always, the main goal is to get the gold badge and for this we’ve made this handy guide.
For newbies, we not only have our favorite pickups but also an introduction to the Pick’Em challenge. So, let’s discover what this mini-game is about, and who are our picks for this edition. Remembering that we will be covering the following phases of the tournament at a later date in following articles.
The Pick’em Challenge is an official minigame created by Valve for CS:GO Majors. The objective is simple: guess who will be advancing through the stages of the competition. Easier said than done, the gold medal has been a headache to most players.
Before we go any further, let’s check out how it works:
To join the game, you will need to buy this Major’s stickers. You can go to the Steam Market or purchase them in-game. Valve has also has made available a package containing all teams stickers in Steam for convenience.
After purchasing stickers from the teams that you think that are going to proceed, just open CS:GO and make your picks. If you earned enough points, your badge will be delivered after the Major. Also, you can re-utilize stickers after the phase you decided to use it comes to an end.
Enough said, who are our picks for the New Challengers Stage?
First-round #FACEITMajor matchups! 🏆@SpaceSoldiersTR vs @GoingRogueGG @virtuspro vs @NiPGaming @GambitEsports vs @tyloogaming @BIGCLANgg vs @Renegades @VegaSquadron vs @Team__Spirit @TheNorthIsHere vs @HELLRAISERSgg @TeamLiquid vs @OpTicGaming @astralisgg vs @compLexity pic.twitter.com/vwveJ9WjMZ
— FACEIT (@FACEIT) August 30, 2018
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The 3–0 pick is a tricky one. Astralis, the current number one team in the world, are favorites but just as any team, they are susceptible to upsets.
Astralis will be facing compLexity in their first match which shouldn’t be a problem. At the same time, it should be the perfect warmup for them to avoid the aforementioned upsets later.
We have no doubts that Astralis will make to the next stage, and a 3–0 is completely possible. Thus, especially considering who they will be facing in their opening match, we recommend them as your 3–0 pick.
With two teams advancing to the next stage with a 3–0 record, our secondary pick is Liquid. The North Americans are showing to be a strong enough opponent to the likes of Na’Vi. More importantly, they had one extra week to prepare to the tournament.
Although Liquid seems to have found their kryptonite as Astralis, they’re the second-best team in the Challengers stage. Both teams are going to have reasonable initial match-ups and are good picks for the 3–0 category.
Three teams will follow with a 3–1 record. Below it’s our predictions for this category:
Another three teams will be advancing to the next stage. Although those will have to go through more disputed, BO3 matches. Here’s our list:
As a quick PSA to clear any confusion, there’s no separation in the mini-game about teams going 3 – 1 or 3 – 2. You can see a preview screen of the Pick’em Challenge below to clear any possible doubt:
As previous iterations of the Major circuit, we will be seeing two teams getting eliminated with a 0 – 3 score. And just like previous Pick’em challenges we have to pick one of those as our 0 – 3 squad.
For this category, we have three favorites: Virtus.Pro and Vega Squadron. The first one will be starting their run with a classic matchup between them and NiP. Almost an impossible challenge, VP will be falling to the lower bracket and could face an early elimination.
Team Spirit in the other hand will be opening their first Major ever against Vega Squadron. Both teams are competing for the weakest challenger in this stage along VP. Although Vega has the experience, it has been months since they last played an official match.
Spirit in the other hand has already won over Vega in the past and managed to book decent results lately. Since Spirit will be opening the tournament against Vega, we believe that them will get one win. Thus, Vega will instantly fall to the lower bracket.
Thus, Vega will be our pick for the 0 – 3 category. As we said above though, VP wouldn’t be a bad pick too.
This Challengers Stage certainly is more competitive than the previous one and the same could be said for the Pick’Em Challenge. There’s a couple of observations and tips by seasoned players that you may follow or not.
Some players prefer to put the stronger teams in the advancing teams instead of as the 3 – 0 winners. This guarantee them one point regardless if the team get a surprise loss in a possible upset. We have seen this happen in the past Majors.
So, you might put Astralis and Liquid amongst the 7 ones that are advancing regardless of the score. This will guarantee you the score that could be lost thanks to the upset potential.
It’s always a shot in the dark for the 3 – 0 category, so you might want to work out on what is the best tactic in your opinion. Picking the strongest team available like Astralis for the 3 – 0 can work out well, or not.
Ready up your preparations because the next Major is already knocking on the door. September 5th will be the day where the Major will be starting and the Pick’em Challenge for the opening stage will be closing. So, make sure to make your predictions in-game sooner than later. Once the first match start, you can’t make any adjustment to your picks.
Don’t worry if you can’t make the picks for this stage though! You can still get points in the upcoming phases even if you didn’t enter in the first one. Although obvious, this diminish your chances to the gold medal.
And remember to follow us for the next stage predictions!