Ok so for those of you that are new to this I will do my best to explain how the system works. The StarLadder Berlin 2019 Major will be using a slightly modified version of the well known Swiss System. Basically, each team will play in BO1's (Best of Ones) until they are on the verge of moving on or being eliminated. Once teams make it to either a 2-0 / 2-1 / 2-2 / 1-2 / 2-2 / 0-2 standing, they will then have to play in BO3's (Best of Three) to either advance or be eliminated.

In addition, this major will also have us picking teams for the Prelims. Basically, its the exact same thing as what was stated above, but for the teams that are yet to secure their spot in the major.

Once the prelims and group stage are over, the matches will be played in a normal bracket, meaning quarterfinals, semifinals and the finals.

In the old pick'em challenge, you would pick the winner of each individual match (which is what you do in the bracket stage of this tournament) but for the group stage, you pick seven teams you think will go through, one team that will go undefeated and one team that will be knocked out without winning a single game (just a side note there will be 2 teams that are undefeated and 2 teams that are completely wiped out).

With the Summer player break recently ending, and the top 10 HLTV ranked teams being in a somewhat surprising order, the major will be a great kickoff for the remainder of the 2019 Counter-Strike season. Like always, we see a few new faces around but lets start off with some of the big hitters:

First We Have Our 8 Legendary Teams:

- Team Liquid
- Astralis
- ENCE
- NAVI
- Faze
- MIBR
- Renegades
- NIP

Next Up We Have Our 5* Returning Challengers:

- Team Vitality
- G2
- Avangar
- HellRaisers
- Complexity


And Lastly We Have Our 11* Minor Challengers:

- Mousesports
- NRG
- Forze
- Grayhound Gaming
- CR4ZY
- Furia
- Syman Gaming
- TYLOO
- NORTH
- DreamEaters
- INTZ eSports

***Since C9 forfeited their major slot, there are only 5 returning challengers instead of 6. This being the reason that there are 11 minor challengers instead of 10.

My Picks:

3-0 (Undefeated Team) - CR4ZY
0-3 (Eliminated Without a Win) - DreamEaters

7 Remaining Teams That Will Advance:

- Team Vitality

- G2

- Mousesports

- Forze

- NRG

- Furia

- Complexity (Darkhorse for the stage) **North and Grayhound would be my other substitutes

Now that I have shown my picks for the Prelim Stage, I thought it might be a good idea to discuss some of my reasoning on who I picked.

CR4ZY for 3-0:

CR4ZY is a team that I believe will make it out of the prelim stage but they aren’t my top pick for getting out undefeated. Obviously, Vitality is the favorite to go 3-0 but if you know me, I never pick the clear-cut candidate for these 3-0 spots. It is a waste of a point if Vitality drops a map when we almost know for certain that they will make it to the group stage. CR4ZY is a middle ground good team that has the potential to go 3-0 but if they don’t we still secure points by not picking teams like Vitality or NRG if they still make it through.

DreamEaters for 0-3:

Ok, like always my 0-3 pick is going to be more based on my gut instinct than anything else. I’ve looked into all these teams and none of them really present a “safe” option. I am going with DreamEaters because I think they have a tough first match vs NRG and the teams that they have been recently beating aren’t that impressive. I fear that they will vs Syman at some point leading too a lot of picks being broken one way or the other. I am still on the fence about this one but if I make a change, I will update the guide.

Vitality:

Not much to say, they are the 2nd best team in the world and its hard to see any of these teams pose a significant threat to them.

G2:

Nowhere near as powerful as the Frenchmen listed above them but I do believe G2 are also a great team at the moment and I don’t think they will have a problem making out of this stage.

Mousesports:

Mouse is such a fun team to watch. I think Karrigan has amazing potential as IGL and with 4 extremely capable teammates under his lead, I think they will make a deep run into this major.

Forze:

Forze is a bit of a darkhorse at the major for me. I think they have a lot of raw firepower and they performed very well against other CIS opponents. Looking forward to seeing how they play against some of the top tier opponents.

NRG:

NRG is probably one of the safer picks for this stage. Along with Vitality, G2, and Mouse, NRG should have no problem making their way through this stage of the tournament.

Furia:

Furia is somewhat of a wild card for me. At their core, Furia is a great team that have proven time and time again that they can fight with the top dogs. However, in my opinion, they haven’t looked as sharp in recent tournaments. Even with being said, I think they are more than capable to pass this stage.

Complexity:

When I first drafted my picks, Complexity was not on my list. I originally had North to go through but after sitting on it for a while, I decided to change it up. North hasn’t really impressed me in recent matches (neither has Complexity for that matter) but I felt that I needed a complete wild card for my final pick. If Complexity has a good bootcamp and wins their opening match against Avangar, I think they stand a very good chance at being able to clear this stage. If you don’t go with Complexity, I would recommend choosing North or Grayhound as a replacement.

So the Prelims were disappointing to say the least. Sorry for anyone that followed my exact picks because we only got 4 points out of the 5 needed to advance the coin. Forze, CR4ZY, Furia, and Complexity were all extreme let downs for me. Complexity and Furia were wild cards so I expected them to be 50/50. However, Forze should have been able to take their Bo3 against DreamEaters to advance and CR4ZY was sooo close to going 3-0 against North, even going into quadruple overtime, so although I am extremely sad that they didn't get me the point, I can't blame them, they played great and I think they're an amazing team.

So with Diamond already gone, I just have to carry on. Here are my picks for the group stage:

My Picks:

3-0 (Undefeated Team) - Faze (This is a complete wildcard pick)
0-3 (Eliminated Without a Win) - MIBR

7 Remaining Teams That Will Advance:

- Liquid

- NRG

- G2

- Vitality

- NAVI

- Mousesports

- Astralis

These are super standard picks, I do think CR4ZY and North have a good chance to progress as well.