The announcement of coldzera joining FaZe comes as no surprise to the CS:GO community, seeing how the move was first rumoured soon after Berlin StarLadder Major concluded, when it was said coldzera could fill one of the spots left vacant by the departure of Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kov��cs and Filip “NEO” Kubski from FaZe.

Earlier this week, Jarek “DeKay” Lewis added some more oil on the fire by claiming the transfer of coldzera is nearing completion, making it clear there is only a matter of time before FaZe acquires coldzera.

And an official announcement from FaZe and coldzera himself followed only a day later when it was revealed that the former MIBR star has officially become a member of Faze for an undisclosed fee.

Coldzera will now join forces with H?vard “rain” Nygaard, Nikola “NiKo” Kova?, Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer and Helvijs “broky” Saukants, who just recently joined FaZe as a trial, to create a juggernaut team, who will look to reclaim their former glory as one of the most fearsome teams in CS:GO competitive scene.

This move sees the two-time player of the year fulfilling his dream of playing alongside NiKo, who is expected to once again take over the IGL role, claiming he is ready to do so “if that is what the team needs”.

In an Instagram post made by coldzera, where he announced he has officially signed with FaZe, the Brazilian star went on to thank MIBR for all the memories, to which he added, he is now ready for new challenges that await him with FaZe.

With the acquisition of coldzera and broky, FaZe look to be set to compete in the upcoming ESL One: New York, which will be coldzera’s first S-Tier tournament since July, 2019, when he competed at ESL One Cologne 2019 with MIBR and finished at a disappointing 13th-16th place.

This move opens up a new chapter in coldzera’s career, seeing how this will be his first international challenge.

Coldzera was a member of 12 teams in his career prior to his move to FaZe, yet it was not until he decided to join Luminosity in 2015 that his career took off. With the Brazilian esports organization, coldzera won a series of international titles in the two years that followed, which included two back-to-back Major titles at MLG Columbus and ESL One Cologne 2016.

During that time period, coldzera played a crucial role in his team’s success, which earned him two consecutive Player of the Year titles (2016, 2017), making him the second player in the history of CS:GO to achieve that feat.

Widely regarded as one of the best CS:GO player that ever lived, coldzera still has a lot to prove following his less than successful run at MIBR between 2018-2019.

He will, however, get a chance to prove his worth once more in ESL One: New York, where he finished third-fourth with SK Gaming (later reformed into MIBR) in 2016 and 2017.

The post Coldzera joins FaZe Clan ahead of ESL One New York 2019 appeared first on Esport Bet.

Once those matches are done, the spotlight will move to Group B for a David and Goliath fixture between Astralis and OpTic Gaming as well as an exciting clash between FaZe Clan and NRG Esports.

Both fixtures are scheduled to commence at 2:30pm EDT on Thursday, September 26 at the Barclays Center, New York City.

Without further ado, let’s look at the latest CS:GO odds and the best bets for the afternoon matches.

Astralis vs OpTic Gaming

Astralis – -1250 at BetOnline

Astralis impressed everyone in Berlin, where they cruised through all opponents to claim their fourth CS:GO Major title and their third in a row.

The Danes are starting to look like their old selves after an early-year slump, which might suggest another ‘Astralis era’ is upon us.

There is, however, still a lot catching up to do, and they can start by winning in New York.

OpTic Gaming – +581 at BetOnline

There is close to no chance OpTic can get anything from this match.

Besides the obvious issues that come with facing a team like Astralis, the decision to let go of Ismail “refrezh” Ali might be the biggest mistake OpTic have made in their CS:GO history.

They are huge underdogs for their opener and, taking into the account their inability to form a proper team, should be considered long shots for all their matches in NYC.

Prediction: Astralis -1.5 at -322.58 with BetOnline

While it would be foolish to dismiss the possibility of an upset, it is hard to see that happening in this case.

Astralis are clearly the superior team here and should have no issues claiming a W.

Expect the Berlin Major champions to end this one in two swift rounds, leaving OpTic no chance of walking away with anything.

FaZe Clan vs NRG Esports

FaZe Clan – +174 at BetOnline

FaZe enter ESL One: New York as the fourth-favourites to win the title, but they are dealing with too many issues to compete with the top dogs right now.

The recent departure of Filip “NEO” Kubski and Ladislav “Guardian” Kov��cs has robbed FaZe of a lot of firepower and overall quality, which makes us believe they will struggle to perform in New York.

Their only realistic shot at entering the playoffs is to defeat NRG, which is no easy task.

NRG Esports – -238.1 at BetOnline

It’s hard not to be impressed with how NRG performed in Berlin.

They crushed everyone that stood in their way in the New Legends stage and even went on to defeat NaVi 2-0 in the quarter-finals.

Although they lost to eventual champions Astralis in the semis, NRG showed enough quality in Germany to suggest they can compete for a finals spot in New York.

Prediction: NRG to win – -238.1 at BetOnline

If recent results are any indicator, NRG are a far better team than FaZe.

While NRG cruised through the New Legends stage in Berlin, FaZe struggled and finished with a 1-3 record, with their only win coming against mousesports.

Do not count on FaZe to produce any miracles here. Back NRG to continue their superb form and go one step closer to the finals.

The post ESL One New York Group B odds and betting predictions appeared first on Esport Bet.

The Electronic Sports League announced yesterday that ESL one will return to the Barclays Center for the fourth time, pitting the best CS:GO players in the world against each other from September 26-29 for $200,000 in prizes on offer.

After the announcement of the ESL One: Cologne 2019, which is set to take place in the “Cathedral of Counter-Strike” from July 2nd until July 7th, ESL confirmed the much-anticipated return to New York.

ESL One New York 2019 will be the second ESL One event of 2019, and will take place barely two months after Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Chicago, which is going to take place from July 18-21.

The tournament will feature 8 teams, 6 of which will be invited, with the remaining two earning their spot via qualifiers. One qualified team will come from European qualifiers, while the other will have to fight their way through the North American qualifiers. Both European qualifiers and North American qualifiers will be played on June 27th-29th.

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The qualification slots will be up for grabs in closed qualifiers, where we will get to see 4 invited sides and 4 qualified teams. Qualifications will be played in double-elimination brackets, with all matches played in Bo3 format, with the exception of Grand Finals, which will be played in Bo5 format. The same format will be used for both European as well as North American qualifiers.

Once the qualifiers end and we get the 8 teams that will participate in the ESL One: New York 2019, the teams will be put in two groups of 4 teams. The group stage will be seeded based on the ESL CS: GO World Rankings.

See the full ESL world rankings here

The format for the group stage will be double-elimination format with teams playing Bo3 matches. Once the group stage ends, only the top two teams will get to advance into the playoffs.

Playoffs, unlike the group stage, will be single-elimination bracket with Bo3 format. The 1st team from group A will get paired with the 2nd placed team from group B, while the 1st team from group B will get to face off against the 2nd placed team from group A.

While the prize distribution is yet to be announced, the prize pool is set to be at $200,000, which bear in mind is less than the last 3 instalments of ESL One: New York, when the prize pool was $250,000.

This while still being a huge amount of money seems a bit low for an event of such magnitude. All tier one events, such as ESL One tend to have at least $250,000 in the prize pool. Nonetheless, this is one of the most prestigious events, which will have no problem attracting big teams, especially as it does count towards the Grand Slam which offers $1 million in prize money to the winner.

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