The break after the Major is finally over. Everyone has gotten back to business and ESL One New York is their next destination. The CS:GO Berlin Major 2019 has put too much weight on Team Liquid where they were the favorite to win. However, what is done is done. Astralis has managed to lift the 4th Major trophy in their entire career.

The ESL One New York will begin this September 26

ESL One New York will take place in Brooklyn this September 26 – 29. The event gathers 8 teams from Europe and North America in a $200,000 prize pool tournament. The archrivals Liquid – Astralis were the first to accept the invite. They are in a close contest for the #1 after Astralis claimed the Berlin Major 2019 trophy. This will be an acid test for both squads to see who deserves the best.

The red-hot NRG and OpTic Gaming

NRG has been hot lately due to their performance

NRG has been hot lately. With the latest addition of Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz in June 2019, the roster solidified their tactics and firepower. The team looked promising in the Berlin Major 2019 with 3-0 in the New Legends Stage. They also beat Natus Vincere handily 2-0. However, Astralis at the Major was too hot to handle for NRG.

NRG currently sits at the #4 in position, just right behind Team Liquid, Astralis, and the Major finalist AVANGAR. Coming to the ESL New York this time, NRG looks to assert their power in the world of CS:GO against some of the best teams.

OpTic Gaming has gone through various roster changes and is now under the leadership of MSL

OpTic Gaming currently sits at #35 in the world. But don’t let the number fool you. OpTic Gaming qualified for the event through GG.BET New York Invitational - ESL One New York 2019 Qualifier over Forze. OpTic Gaming gathers some of the best Danish players aside from Astralis and North. Under the leadership of Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen, the squad will continue to progress far.

ENCE

Recently, ENCE has kicked their IGL Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and decided to go for the ex-star of mousesports Miikka “sunNy” Kemppi.

sunNy has played with ENCE before joining mousesports

sunNy is the sole defending champion of ESL One New York as the whole mousesports roster is missing out the event. Last year, with the shining moments of Chris de “chrisJ” Jong, mousesports defeated Team Liquid 3-2 in the grand final.

sunNy joined ENCE earlier this August after the Berlin Major 2019. He has been out of the scene for quite a long time and needed to get back to business more than anyone.

G2

The French powerhouse had a bad time in Berlin Major where they failed to qualify for the playoffs over Renegades. The French CS:GO scene would then see a drastic roster change when G2 decided to bench Richard 'shox' Papillon. G2 would then field another icon of French CS:GO – Fabien “kioShiMa” Fiey as a stand-in.

His stint with C9 was promising but it fell short

kioShiMa is a long-time member of the French CS:GO scene as he has played for the best French rosters like Epsilon, LDLC, Envy. After a short stint with C9, he went inactive and waited for new offers to come. Now that G2 is in need of another star player, it is time kioShiMa came back. He will make his debut with G2 in this ESL One New York.

FaZe Clan

The all-star European mix has been shaky recently. With disappointing results in the Berlin Major 2019, they decided to part ways with Filip 'NEO' Kubski and brought in an up and coming talent Helvijs “broky” Saukants. However, they also sold out their AWPer Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács to Natus Vincere and has yet to announce their fifth player.

Guardian came back to wear the yellow jersey

The ESL One New York is only one day ahead, who will FaZe Clan brings in to complete their roster? There have been many ongoing rumors stating that it will be either ex-IGL of ENCE – Aleksib or the Brazilian star Marcelo 'coldzera' David. In the recent interview, Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač discarded the possibility of Aleksib. So the most likely candidate is coldzera.

If successful, this will be the biggest transfer in the world of CS:GO

According to many news sources, coldzera and FaZe Clan is entering the final stages of negotiation. With money from selling out Guardian, FaZe Clan would have the resource to pay the buyout for coldzera. The buyout is expected to go around $1 million, making it the highest buyout in the history of CS:GO if things go into places.

Team Liquid

The North American powerhouse is currently the world’s best. However, they are closely contested by Astralis at the moment as Liquid’s ranking points are declining. The CS:GO world ranking update on September 23 left Liquid with 866 points, just 107 points above Astralis.

Team Liquid, with so much pressure on their shoulder, crumbled before Astralis in the quarter-final

Their maximum 1000 points resulted from their consistent placings on top since ESL One Cologne 2019. This was where they asserted dominance by defeating Astralis in a Bo3 and managed to lift the trophy. The event was where they truly became the #1 by defeating anyone, not just by the low inactivity of Astralis.

However, the Berlin Major 2019 turned out a disaster for Liquid as they crumbled before Astralis in the quarter-final. Could it be that Liquid’s era was just a “fluke” as many people doubted? This ESL One New York would be the best answer Team Liquid can give to fans.

Astralis

Astralis will look to dethrone Liquid in this very tournament

The Danish giant has made a blast with their 4th Major victory in Berlin Major 2019. However, one event could not singlehandedly help Astralis claim back their throne. That is why this very ESL One New York would be the acid test for both Astralis and Team Liquid. Will Astralis become the #1 again or Liquid get to keep their throne for an extended amount of time? Only time will tell.