The IEM Sydney Counter-Strike: Global Offensive playoffs take place on Saturday, and we preview and predict the two CSGO semifinal matches.
It’s time for the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive playoffs at IEM Sydney. The next big CSGO tournament has carved its field down to four teams, who will meet in two semifinals on Saturday to determine who will meet in Sunday’s Grand Final.
Some of the best CSGO organizations in the world are among the semifinal contenders, ensuring that the weekend will be packed with action that eSports enthusiasts don’t want to miss. There are Major champions and fan favorites left in the field but only two teams can survive and get one step closer to that massive prize pool.
Gaming fans can watch both semifinals live on Twitch beginning at 1 a.m. ET. The talent calling the action can be found here.
Here’s how the semifinal bracket breaks down:
Semifinal 1: SK Gaming (3-0) vs. OpTic Gaming (3-2)
Here’s a semifinal that could be very one-sided. SK Gaming is the only undefeated team in the IEM Sydney bracket, and they’re coming off a victory at the cs_summit over DreamHack Austin champions Gambit, too. As far as this current tournament goes, they beat Astralis 16-12 in Groups, which is also a nice feather in the Brazilians’ caps.
Meanwhile OpTic had to go the full five rounds in Group Stage to secure their spot in the semifinals, after struggling at cs_summit as well. They’ve had a rough time in competition ever since they won Season 2 of ELEAGUE, and it’s that lack of consistency from them plus the level of their competition that makes us think they’re not going to get through the playoffs.
Our Prediction: SK Gaming 2-0
Semifinal 2: FaZe Clan (3-1) vs. Astralis (3-1)
This is a rematch of one of the better contests in recent memory. FaZe Clan and Astralis butted heads in the finals of IEM Katowice in what proved to be a four-map Grand Final slugfest. That was just two months ago, with the Danish team losing the first map and then winning the next three. You can bet that FaZe are going to want to rewrite the story at IEM Sydney.
But FaZe’s only loss in the Group Stage was to Astralis and it wasn’t close (16-7). Otherwise, both teams made short work of their competition, with the exception of North pushing FaZe pretty hard. We’d like to see FaZe capture IEM Sydney with their new and improved lineup, but they’ll have to take something up to another level because there’s something about Astralis that so far has eluded them.
Our Prediction: Astralis 2-1
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Both IEM Sydney semifinal matches can be streamed through the ESL channel on Twitch. For the latest news throughout the gaming world, visit the Gaming category at FanSided here.