My personal favorites for PSL Season 8
What to expect this week-end during PSL final…
PSL Season 8 finally comes to an end this week-end after 6 weeks of competition.
This season, happening during PGI.S, is the opportunity for some teams to prove their strength and claim a notable trophy. It will also be the opportunity for some other players to get exposure and hopefully opportunities for the year to come. Europe is a really talented region overall, and we’re lucky to have such a tournament at this time of the year.
Even if one can say that season of PSL isn’t as appealing as it used to, I have to disagree. Both upper and lower brackets have been the opportunity to watch excellent quality games, with strong promises for the final.
Some teams have shown their ability to consistently come on top, and should be strong contenders this year in Europe if they manage to keep up with their current form.
Favorites
Formerly known as Omaken, Heroic should have been invited to PGI.S according to many observers. So it’s no surprise to see them as one of the favorites of this tournament.
Invited directly to round 5, they qualified to upper bracket where they ended up 2nd after back to back chicken dinner in games 3 and 4. The experienced squad has shown rigor and discipline during late-game situations, and managed to recover from rough first games.
After Naylup during Dreamhack Winter, it’s now up to HoneyBadger, NA PCS 3 runner-up’s IGL, to operate as a substitute. The British player influence is already visible through Heroic flexible playstyle and new loot spots, and even if the team is obviously still adapting, they should be able to get the maximum out of it this week-end.
Player to watch: Teabone. Despite up and down personal performances during 2020, he now has the opportunity to confirm his good performance so far in PSL. Often seen as a support player, his role is crucial when it comes to enabling his team’s decisions and an even stronger performance from him will be mandatory to take over the very stacked finals lobby.
Even if Grinders path to grand final could have come to an end during round 2 where they qualified with a 2 points margin, they have been stronger every round ever since :
- Round 3: Top 3–51 points,
- Round 4: Top 3–50 points,
- Round 5: Top 2–56 points,
- Round 6: top 1–73 points.
The roster, formed for the tournament, consists in a good mix of veterans and rookies.
The team has developed a very aggressive playstyle, and is now willing to force fights against every team between them and chicken dinners, with the confidence of a well-established and renowned team.
If they can carry on this behavior during final, and doesn’t suffer too much from their lack of play time as a team, they have definitely a fair shot to win the tournament.
Player to watch: Silerzz. After a disappointing first experience with RYE during Dreamhack Winter, it sounds like he finally managed to find some kind of maturity in his playstyle. Being a scary fragger isn’t only about your ability to shot, but also about your positioning and your overall teamplay, and this tournament could be an excellent opportunity for him to confirm he’s up to the expectations.
Raise Your Edge Gaming picked up former Tornado Energy following their excellent performances in 2020 where they ended up 4th in Europe PCS 3 and won the last European tournament to date: Dreamhack Winter after an impressive 66 points series during the last day.
PSL has been really rough so far for the team: they managed to qualify to upper bracket thanks to very aggressive gameplay (only 4 placement points in 6 matches). However, things didn’t go well during upper bracket where they came up short ending up 9th and couldn’t find solutions in late game situations. The team finally managed to qualify to finals through lower bracket thanks mostly, once again, to its fighting skills.
Even if RYE doesn’t seem in a position to win it all so far, I wouldn’t count them out so fast. The squad is certainly testing their fighting abilities and we can hopefully expect a more balanced mix of macro and micro during final. They have proven to be PCS champion material before, and they’ll certainly do what’s necessary to win PSL.
Player to watch: Alyagg. He had consistenly one of the best Twire score in any lobby he has played since PCS 2, along with Xmpl, and has certainly a lot of confidence entering final as well. He should deliver once again and you don’t want to be on his way.
Outsiders
My personal outsiders would be both SKADE and Bystanders. Both teams had a similar performance last year, with really good days from time to time, but too much mistakes overall to pretend to a really good ranking in a major tournament so far. If they manage to become more consistent, they could certainly become real threats in the next few months.
The final will be played on twitch.tv/elisaviihdesport, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 18 PM CET, during what we can expect to be a memorable best of 18.
Maxime “Znooper” GONY
Resources : twire.gg
