All my choices for the Pick'em challenge will be posted in this section. I'm not a wizard so don't expect me to get every single pick correct so please don't blame me if you get a pick wrong, it is you own choice to pick who you think is going to win. I recommend you go down to the tabs / sections below called "Group Stage - Analysis / Reasoning To My Picks" and read all the information I have given behind my picks and maybe you can change / do some picks yourself from going off of the information I have provided.

❌ = Incorrect Pick ✔️️ = Correct Pick



Undefeated Team (Team to go 3-0): Astralis ❌

Team Without A Win (Team to go 0-3): Team Liquid ❌

7 Other Teams To Make It Out Of Group Stage:
Natus Vincere ✔️️
SK Gaming ✔️️
Virtus.pro ✔️️
FaZe Clan ✔️️
North ✔️️
Optic Gaming ❌
Fnatic ✔️️



Safest Pick (Who you should go for based off of statistics and facts):

My Personal Playoff Picks (This match is pretty much 50/50 and after looking deeper into this match such as Navi starting CT side in all 3 of their group stage maps, as well as only playing 2 different maps in their 3 group stage games. So due to this match being a 50/50 and after looking deeper into it, I'm going to go with Astralis becasue I support them):

In the group stage, there are up to 9 games being played each day for 4 days. They are all best of 1 map where the winning team gains 1 win and the losing team gains a loss. Depending on if they win or lose will determine who they play against the next day in the tournament. When a team gets 3 wins, they move onto the quarterfinals and when a team gets 3 losses, they get knocked out of the tournament. For the Pick'em Challenge itself for the group stage, we have to pick 1 of the 2 teams that we think will get to the quarterfinals going 3 - 0 (winning 3 games and losing 0) as well as picking a team we think will get knocked out by going 0 - 3 (winning 0 games and losing 3). Then we have to pick the 7 other teams we think will get to the quarterfinals through getting 3 wins. Each pick you get correctly will grant you 3 points, this means there is a total of 27 points up for grabs for the group stage.


Due to this being the first stage of the tournament, obviously all the teams are still in the tournament. So we have to pick from the total 16 teams, which are:

Astralis | #1 on HLTV - Astralis is the best team in the world right now and it is debatable from some people if they deserve it or not. Astralis won ECS Season 2 and got 2nd place at E-League Season 2, beating top 10 teams such as OpTic Gaming, SK Gaming, FaZe Clan, Ninjas In Pyjamas, G2 Esports and Virtus.pro. The only match they have lost from the last 2 tournaments has been against OpTIc Gaming but Astralis went on a week later to beat them twice. I personally think that Astralis are favorites to win this major, they've been playing amazingly recently as well as they are currently having a 2 week bootcamp.

OpTic Gaming | #2 on HLTV - In the last 3 tournaments OpTic Gaming have played in, they have done really well, beating HellRaisers, Ninjas In Pyjamas, Tyloo, Team EnVyUs, Cloud 9 and Mousesports. They have also been going back and forth in wins against FaZe Clan and Astralis. Even though they are rated 2nd in the world, I personally don't think their skill level and experience show that. The main reason why they are 2nd is because all the top teams have dropped off and they haven't had a real challenge other than Astralis. I think they will do well this Major as long as they play like they have in their last 3 tournaments.

SK Gaming | #3 on HLTV - SK Gaming have been looking very shakey recently, hence the reason why they removed fnx from their lineup and are using fox as a stand in until they find a new player. The change in players has still left them inconsistent, losing matches to Astralis, Ninjas In Pyjamas, FaZe Clan and Heroic. Most of the teams SK Gaming are losing to are top tier teams but normally they are winning those matches, especially in high tier tournaments like they are playing in. They are winning and having close matches against North, Immortals, G2 Esports and Cloud 9, which is a good thing, showing that they can still beat the teams they should be beating.

Virtus.pro | #4 on HLTV - Virtus.Pro have been doing pretty average recently, losing to Space Soldiers, FaZe Clan, Astralis, Team EnVyUs and G2 Esports. Recently only winning matches to tier 2 and 3 teams but as we all know, Virtus.pro don't do well online or at small tournaments but when it comes to big high tier tournaments like the major, they show up. Even though they have been doing average recently, I still think they will do well this major like they normally do at most tournaments.

North | #6 on HLTV - For people who don't know, North is ex-Team Dignitas who consist of Rubino, cajunb, MSL, MagiskboY and k0nfig. The players just recently left Team Dignitas to join North, as of why their team name is different. Whilst playing for Team Dignitas recently, they achieved a lot of good results in the last few months, beating teams such as G2 Esports, Counter Logic Gaming, Fnatic and Astralis, as well as having back and forth wins and loses with SK Gaming, Godsent, Team EnVyUs and Ninjas In Pyjamas. Back in October they were in tremendous form, beating teams such as Virtus.pro and Natus Vincere to win Epicenter Moscow.


FaZe Clan | #7 on HLTV - FaZe Clan have been doing quite well, beating Immortals, Cloud 9, Virtus.pro, G2 Esports, Mousesports and SK Gaming. As well as they have drawn in maps against OpTic Gaming, Godsent and Ninjas In Pyjamas. So they have been doing really well, only losing 2 matches, 1 against Astralis and the other against OpTic Gaming.

Team EnVyUs | #8 on HLTV - Team EnVyUs is coming into this major just after winning WESG which was a $1.5 million tournament which is a bigger prize pool than the major but unfortunately there were only tier 2 and 3 teams at the event other than Virtus.pro who also attended. So really it's not a huge win for Team EnVyUs but it will give them some momentum coming into this major. At the major they beat Kinguinn, Space Soldiers, Tyloo, TeamOne, Russia and Subtle. As well as drawing with Virtus.pro and Epsilon. So nothing really special, they just beat the teams they should be beating and drew with Virtus.pro who statistically they should have lost to so they did well to draw with them. Personally I don't see Team EnVyUs doing well this major, they could beat the low tier teams in this major and get out of the group stage but I think a few other teams have more of a chance over them.

Natus Vincere | #9 on HLTV - A few months ago, just after Natus Vincere picked up one of the best players in the world, s1mple, they went on to beat Virtus.pro, Team Liquid and SK Gaming to win ESL One New York. This was a big win for them as it was just after they made their roster change. After winning ESL One New York, Natus Vincere went on to draw 1-1 in maps against Ninjas In Pyjamas, G2 Esports, North, Heroic, FaZe Clan and Team EnVyUs as well as losing against Immortals, Astralis, Team Liquid and SK Gaming. For some reason, they went from winning ESL One New York to drawing and losing against a lot of teams. I would say they are a bit inconsistent right now but to be fair, they only just got s1mple and still need to figure out a lot of things with him. I feel as though the bootcamp before the major is a big deal for them and they need to use it wisely and if they do, they will have a good chance at winning this major.

G2 Esports | #11 on HLTV - G2 Esports are fairly inconsistent at the moment, going back and forth in maps maps against Immortals, Team EnVyUs, Ninjas In Pyjamas, Mousesports, Virtus.pro and Fnatic. They are similar in the sense of Fnatic where I can't tell if they are going to win or lose a match as well as I don't know how well they will do at this major.

Mousesports | #12 on HLTV - During the month of November, Mousesports only won very few matches and had a 8 match loss streak where they didn't win a single map. But late in December and recently in January, they did surprisingly well, winning 5 out of 6 of their matches against HellRaisers, BIG, Immortals, Tyloo and Spirit. I personally don't know how Mousesports will perform at this major, they could do pretty good against the tier 2 teams and get through to the quarterfinals or they could get hard matches and get overrun.

GODSENT | #14 on HLTV - Godsent have been doing pretty average recently, beating HellRaisers, North, G2 Esports, Fnatic, Mousesports and Flipsid3 Tactics but losing to PRIDE, Rogue, LDLC and Gambit Gaming in best of 3's. If Godsent can't win best of 3's against tier 3 teams then I don't think they will do that great in this tournament. They are getting some good results against tier 2 teams but those recent tier 3 team loses have thrown me off a bit, making me think they will struggle a bit at this major.

Gambit Gaming | #16 on HLTV - Since Gambit Gaming picked up Zeus from Natus Vincere, they have been tearing up tier 3 teams, as well as beating Renegades, Godsent, Cloud 9 and OpTic Gaming to win Dreamhack Winter. In the last two months, they have only lost two matches, one best of three to Renegades and one random loss to IGameCom. Honestly Gambit Gaming could upset North in this match as well as go further and potentially get out of the group stage to the quarterfinals.

Team Liquid | #17 on HLTV - Team Liquid is a very inconsistent team, recently losing to G2 Esports, Immortals and Astralis, Having close matches against CompLexity, Renegades and Luminosity and some how winning against Natus Vincere. Team Liquid always tend to show up at majors and get further then people expect but with Team Liquid's recent performance and with how stacked this tournament is, I don't see them getting far. If they play against the right teams on the right maps then they could make it out of groups but honestly, that's like any team in this tournament, anything could happen.

HellRaisers | #18 on HLTV - Hellraisers have been playing surprisingly decent, beating Cloud 9 and Ninjas In Pyjamas as well as having back and forth wins and loses against Mousesports and Godsent. They haven't played a huge variety of teams, nor have they played that many matches but from the matches they have played, they have been playing pretty well and could beat quite a few teams at this major

Flipsid3 Tactics | #19 on HLTV - They have been doing fairly inconsistent recently, beating BIG, LDLC, Vega Squadron, Heroic, North, ENCE and Epsilon with most of those teams being tier 2 or 3, so nothing really special. Also, they have been losing to K1nguin, Godsent, Echo Fox and Cloud 9. Even though they got top 8 last major to receive legend status, I feel as though they won't do so well and won't get very far but they are an underdog team and anything could happen.

Fnatic | #20 on HLTV - Fnatic in my opinion are pretty inconsistent these last few months. They've been able to win matches and maps against FaZe Clan, G2 Esports, North, Virtus.pro and SK Gaming but they've been losing to Astralis, OpTic Gaming, Godsent and Team EnVyUs. It's very hard to tell when they are going to win or lose a match due to this. I personally think they will be able to do well against some of these low tier teams at this major and could make it out of groups.


Information: For one of your picks, you need to choose a team you think will get out of the group stage and make it to the quarterfinals by going 3-0 (winning 3 matches and losing 0). It's only possible for 2 teams to do this in the group stage and you have to pick one of them. Obviously this means it's best to pick a team that is consistent right now and has the potential to win the major.

Overview: The best team in the world right now is Astralis, not only that but they are also very consistent. They have been in the final of the last 2 big tournaments and have only lost 1 from both of them. Honestly Astralis is your safest pick. All the other teams are inconsistent or aren't capable of beating most other teams where as Astralis ticks all the boxes. I personally am going to choose Astralis but you are other good options at getting this pick correct would be choosing another top team that you feel could win 3 in a row. A team such as SK Gaming, Natus Vincere or Virtus.pro could also be a good pick.

My Choice: Astralis


Information For one of your picks, you need to choose a team you think will get knocked out of the tournament by going 0-3 (winning 0 games and losing 3). It's only possibly for 2 teams to do this in the group stage and you have to pick one of them. Obviously this means you pick a low skilled team.

Overview: For my consideration of this pick, I've chosen 2 teams I don't see being able to beat a majority of the teams at this major and those 2 teams are Team Liquid and Flipsid3 Tactics. We haven't seen much from Team Liquid and I just don't see them beating any of the top or middle skilled teams at this tournament. The same with Flipsid3 Tactics, both teams are coming into this major as underdogs with barely any wins against top tier teams. Obviously both of these team could show up at this tournament but I am going off the teams with the most chance of going 0-3 and I think these 2 teams are very capable of doing it. Due to Flipsid3 Tactics winning DreamHack Leipzig and showing they are capable of beating tier 2 and 3 teams, I think it is safer to say that Team Liquid will go 0-3 due to their inconsistency and lack of wins against average teams. Other than Flipsid3 Tactics, some other good choices for teams going 0-3 could be HellRaisers or G2 Esports. Just any team you think isn't skilled enough or will fumble at this major.

My Choice: Team Liquid


Information: For 7 of you picks, you need to choose the teams you think will get through to the quarterfinal stage. You've already chosen 1 team to get through to the quarterfinal stage (that team being the team you chose will go 3-0), now you need to chose the other 7 teams. For a team to go through to the quarterfinal stage, they need to win 3 games before they lose 3. So the teams you think will go 3-0, 3-1 or 3-2. Obviously you will pick the teams you think are the most skilled and most consistent out of the 16 teams.

Overview: Alright, this is all about picking the teams that are most likely to get to the quarterfinals, so let's narrow this down a bit. Let's start with the team I think should / most likely will get out of group stage, those teams being Astralis, Natus Vincere, SK Gaming and Virtus.pro. The reasons why I am confident with these teams making it through to the next stage is because they are all very highly skilled teams with a lot of experience. It will be a huge upset if one of these legendary and skilled teams doesn't make it past the other teams to the next stage. That's 4 out of the 8 teams we need to choose for making it to the next stage. North, Optic Gaming and FaZe Clan are my next choices from the rest of the teams. They are all highly skilled teams with quite a bit of experience at the majors. OpTic Gaming and FaZe Clan are very consistent at the moment and if they keep it up at the major, then they will make it through to the next stage. North aren't very consistent at the moment but they are a very skilled team and if they play like they have in recent months then they should make it out of group stage as well. That leave us with 1 more team to choose to go through to the next stage. In my opinion, that spot could go to any of the teams. I am fairly confident about the first 7 teams I have chosen but I'm finding it hard to make a decision on my last choice. If Gambit Gaming play like they have in the last few months then they will have a good chance of making it through. Fnatic have been doing pretty good as well, even though they are inconsistent, they are beating and coming close some games with some top teams. Team EnVyUs and GODSENT also have a good chance of making it through but I just don't believe their lineups are strong enough to beat some of these top tier teams or underdogs. For my final pick I'm going to have to go with Fnatic, even though Gambit Gaming are more consistent, Fnatic have had to play against pretty much all tier 1 teams where as Gambit has had a mix between tier 1, 2 and 3 and the tier 1 teams only being Renegades, GODSENT, Cloud 9 and OpTic. I still think Gambit Gaming will do well but statistically Fnatic should have a better chance of making it through.

My Choices: Natus Vincere, SK Gaming, Virtus.pro, North, OpTic Gaming, FaZe Clan and Fnatic

For the Play Offs, the 1st day consists of 3 quarter-final matches with the 4 quarter-final match being played with the 2 semi-finals on day 2 and the grand-final being played on the 3rd and last day. They are all best of 3 map's where the winning team advances to the next stage in the play offs and the losing team get eliminated from the tournament. For the Pick'em Challenge itself for the playoffs, we have to predict how the whole bracket / play off matches will turn out. Meaning if the team you pick to win the tournament get's knocked out in the quarterfinals, then you will mist out on a lot of points. Choosing the correct quarterfinal winners grants you 12 points, correct semifinal picks grants you 10 points and a correct grand final pick grants you 7 points.


Due to this being the playoff stage of the major, there are only 8 teams left to choose from. Those teams being:

Virtus.pro | 3-0 in Group Stage - They played very well during their 3 matches in the group stage. Beating OpTic Gaming, G2 Esports and Gambit Gaming in close matches. They seemed fairly consistent and dominant in all their matches but they did make quite a few mistakes in my opinion. Another reason for their sucess is that they didn't play against any of the top tier teams in this tournament who are predicited to win this major. Yes, the 3 teams that they beat are really good teams and much better then other teams in this tournament but they didn't have to play against Natus Vincere, SK Gaming or Astralis which means I don't know how they will handle these top tier tams in the play offs further down the line.

Natus Vincere | 3-0 in Group Stage - Probably the most outstanding team in the group stage. Destroying Mousesports, Team EnVyUs and SK Gaming. If they hadn't of destroyed SK Gaming 16 - 3 then I would have said they were lucky to vs some of the low tier teams in this tournament to get through but due to their smashing against SK Gaming, it shows they are definetely contenders for champions of this major. SK Gaming's in game leader, FalleN, in an interview said that they weren't prepared for Natus Vincere and how they played and was intending that Natus Vincere mainly destroyed them because of SK Gaming's mistakes of not being prepared or warmed up. Moses the analyst made a good point in saying that Natus Vincere only played Cobblestone and Dust 2 in the group stage and he makes a good point. The 2 low tier teams they played against were on Cobblestone and they destroyed SK Gaming on dust 2. This could mean that Natus Vincere only did extremely well because they got their 2 best maps in all 3 matches and if the teams they play against in the play offs veto them, those teams could have a very good chance at beating them.

Fnatic | 3-1 in Group Stage - Fnatic did suprisigly well being able to get out of the group stage, let alone going 3-1 but to be honest, it was nothing special as they only had to beat Mousesports, Team EnVyUs and North in a best of 1. I think that Fnatic would have lost to North if had of been a best of 3 and the other 2 teams just aren't at the tier of Fnatic and the other teams in this tournament. Something not to satisfying was there loss to G2 Esports in their first match. They just didn't seem to get in control of the match. I don't see Fnatic winning this major, let alone making it out of the semifinals.

SK Gaming | 3-1 in Group Stage - Even with a stand in, SK Gaming were able to show that they are competors at this major. They domintated HellRaisers on Mirage and kept their composure to beat FaZe Clan and Astralis in overtime in their other 2 matches. They did get dominated by Natus Vincere 16-3 but FalleN in a post match interview explained that it wasn't Natus Vincere playing good to make them get dominated, instead it was SK Gaming not preparing before the game such as understanding what they were doing or warming up. Even with a stand in I feel that SK Gaming have potential to make it far in this major but I don't think they will be able to win it, but the chance is still there.

Gambit Gaming | 3-1 in Group Stage - For some people Gambit Gaming making it out of groups was a shock, for me it wasn't that surprising, but them to make it out 3-1 was a surprise to me. They played amazingly, beating North, GODSENT and FaZe Clan. Due to North not showing up, Gambit Gaming had an easier match agaisnst them but they did really well beating GODSENT who just beat Astralis as well as FaZe Clan.

North | 3-2 in Group Stage - North didn't play up to people's expectations in the group stage, losing to Gambit Gaming and Fnatic in their first 2 games. Yes, both those team did make it to the play offs but North were expected to do better then that and probably beat Fnatic. They did end up beating G2 esports pretty convincingly and winning against HellRaisers and GODSENT in overtime but those 3 teams aren't up to the level that the rest of the teams in play offs are. I don't expect them to beat Virtus.pro in their first match but if they do, I don't see them winning any other games after that.

FaZe Clan | 3-2 in Group Stage - FaZe Clan have suprised me so far this major. I knew they were great going into this tournament but I didn't expect them to almost beat SK Gaming. Unfortunately they were up 15-8 on Mirage and SK Gaming made a comeback, taking FaZe Clan to overtime to then beat them. Other than losing to SK Gaming, they also lost 16-14 to Gambit Gaming. Beating Flipsid3 Tactics, Team Liquid and Team EnVyUs. Even though FaZe Clan played really good in the group stage, due to their loses to 2 top tier teams, I don't see them beating SK Gaming in the quarterfinal and if they do, I don't see them getting further then the semifinal after that.

Astralis | 3-2 in Group Stage - With everyone expecting Astralis to dominate in the group stage, people's expectations have dropped for Astralis after losing to GODSENT as well as SK Gaming in overtime. Even though Astralis are great on Train, I don't see why they chose it considering they knew GODSENT were going to start CT side. Their match against SK Gaming was really good, showing what they can play like if most of the team shows up, unfortunately slipping away the win in overtime, making it their first loss to SK Gaming in a while. They did beat OpTic gaming 16-12 as well as G2 Esports and Team Liquid in a close match. I feel that Astralis' match up against Navi is a 50/50, as I explained in the Navi analysis. If Astralis can overcome Navi in the first game then they could easily make it to the grand final and win, the same goes for Navi.

The Team Pick'em Challenge is a challenge that is added to CS:GO when a major tournament is on. You buy in-game stickers for teams you think will win their matches at the major. You then place those team stickers on the Pick'em Challenge to gain points. The more the points, the better the prize you receive at the end. The prize is a 'E-League Major 2017 Badge' which is used and seen on your in-game CS:GO profile and steam inventory. The Pick'em Challenge Coin has three different tiers which are rewarded depending on the amount of points you gain throughout the Pick'em Challenge:

0 to 24 points = No Badge
25 to 49 points = Bronze Badge
50 to 74 points = Silver Badge
75 + points = Gold Badge

(Due to this Major using the swiss format rather than the group stage, it may change the ammount of points you gain and need for a badge but I will update this section as soon as the Pick'em Challenge is released).


In this guide I will be going into deep detail and explanation about which teams will win their matches and give you the best chance to receive points in the Team Pick'em Challenge. I will be looking at each team's recent matches from over the last few days, weeks and months to determine which team has the best chance of winning their games. I personally have a lot of experience within Counter Strike, having 2450+ hours on the game alone. I am also a huge fan of the Counter Strike pro scene, analysing the results of every match from every tournament, as well as watching as many matches as I can. I have participated in all the Pick'em Challenges so far with the end results being:

ESL One Cologne 2014 - Gold Badge | 78 points
DreamHack Winter 2014 - Silver Badge | 61 points
ESL One Katowice 2015 - Gold Badge | 82 points
ESL One Cologne 2015 - Gold Badge | 90 points
DreamHack Cluj Napoca Team Pick'em - Silver Badge | 61 points
DreamHack Cluj Napoca Fantasy Pick'em - Gold Badge | 1864 points (4% Global Ranking)
MLG Columbus 2016 Team Pick'em - Silver Badge | 57 points
MLG Columbus 2016 Fantasy Pick'em - Silver Badge | 1689 points (7% Global Ranking)
ESL One Cologne 2016 Team Pick'em - Silver Badge | 74 points
ESL One Cologne 2016 Fantasy Pick'em - Silver Badge | 1770 points (7% Global Ranking)

If you would like to donate to me in anyway, feel free to do so by clicking here. Every single donation will be appreciated and thanked on this guide as well as on my profile.

If you want any information and / or have any questions about the E-League Major itself. Such wanting to know the schedule or results of the matches, then please refer to this amazing guide: http://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=846484689