Liquid vs Vitality Prediction: Grand final, fight for the cup

ESL Pro League Season 16 is a historically important event for the international community. Its importance is almost impossible to overestimate. The title is more important than the massive CS:GO prize pool of 823,000 bucks. The tournament is unique in its system and its duration. Over a month, the participating teams will defend their organization. The tournament features 24 teams divided into 4 groups of 6 teams. The first-place team in the group will receive a slot in the quarterfinals. Second and third-place teams will go on to the first leg of the playoffs.

The group stage will be played in a round-robin system (everybody plays everybody for points in the group). The group stage matches will be played in a BO3 format. Playoffs will be a single elimination

Few people expected to see these teams in the finals. But both Liquid and Vitality proved to be the strongest in this tournament, and will now fight for the coveted trophy. The Grand Final will be a B5 format, where the game will be a battle of endurance. Fortunately, both Liquid and Vitality are extremely experienced teams and they will definitely be able to show incredible CS in this format.

Liquid: they made it

On their local scene in America, Liquid showed themselves very well and established their game as the only strong one. However, playing European CS:GO didn't work out for the guys right away. A series of defeats and a revelation of a strong lag from the European market led the team to the decision to change the coach, whose vision of the game would be different from Liquid's usual "run-and-gun" style. And now under the new coach daps, the team began to move in a better direction. There is no doubt in the individual skills of most players, and even oSee started to give good stats in the last matches. It should also be noted separately YEKINDAR, who has gained an incredible form and won several matches in solo for his team.

In this tournament, Liquid is not very confident. Of course there were some problems in the group stage which they had to deal with in the course of the tournament, but their goal to make the playoffs was achieved. Already in the elimination stage they were very lucky with the bracket, in which there were the weakest participants of this stage, namely fnatic and MOUZ, not posing any threat to Liquid. They ran over both teams in experience. The first serious opponent for Liquid was Cloud9. The match was of equal importance for both teams, but again Liquid managed to defeat Cloud9 in the battle for the final. Before that match one could talk about any luck, but now, after defeating such a strong opponent, it's safe to say that Liquid deserved to be in this final. There are never any random teams in the finals of such tournaments with a very complicated system, the match will be equal. Today, against Vitality, bookmakers again highlight Liquid as the underdogs. Let's see if that's really the case.

The latest change in the lineup was the arrival of Damian daps Steele as the main coach. Mareks YEKINDAR Gaļinskis has been helping the team as a stand in for two months.

The best hltv ranking: #1 in the world. Now it’s #3.

The best map: mirage, with a 83% win rate in 6 maps.

Vitality: finally good results

At the beginning of the new season, Vitality team made a replacement to strengthen the team. ENCE star Spinx joined the squad. As expected, he blended in well and gave everyone the firepower they needed to compete with their opponents from the top of the world. In the previous tournament, the Vitality team performed well and performed confidently. They were able to get used to the new player quite quickly and proved that they could compete with the best teams.

They are off to a perfect start in this tournament. The bright performance from the beginning of the game showed that the players were in good shape and motivated to win. They realized all their chances perfectly and took the lead in the group. Their four wins allowed them to advance quickly to the playoffs. Even when the last group stage game didn't mean much to Vitality, they didn't let up and played it to the best of their ability. Despite the last match meaning literally nothing, they still played their best, which shows their great game ethics and discipline combined with an aim to snatch the title.

Since they played in the first group, they had a break of just under a month. They did not play any other tournaments or official matches. Nevertheless, they didn't rest or waste time training, developing tactics, and watching potential opponents. In their first match against the Outsiders, the Bees beat the team with confidence, but we cannot say that the match was easy. All the same, individually strong Outsiders players were able to strain the "old guys".

 But the Vitality showed their character time after time and were stronger in the decisive moments. They deserve to fight for the title like no other. In the last match of this tournament Vitality will be the favorites, according to bookmakers' odds. However, no match has ever been easy, and this one is no exception. Whether Vitality will be able to take their first title in this lineup, we will find out very soon.

The latest change in the lineup was the arrival of Lotan Spinx Giladi.

The best hltv ranking: #3 in the world. Now it’s #10.

The best map: Dust2, with a 80% win rate in 5 maps.

Expert Betting Tips

We suggest betting on Total Over (26.5) Rounds On Map 1 for 1.77 at 1xbet. Another great options is Total Over (26.5) Rounds on Map 2 for 1.72 at Bet365. The same amount of rounds on Map 3 for 1.85 at Betway is also a great option.