ECS Season 8 brings together some of the best CS:GO teams from around the world to compete over five weeks to win the lion-share of $500,000. Read our Europe preview to find out more.
What is the Esports Championship Series (ECS) Season 8?
The Esports Championship Series, also known as ECS, begins its eighth season this Autumn 2019. ECS8 is split into two regions, North America and Europe, and is played in a best-of-three (Bo3) knockout bracket over five weeks of online play.
Each week will feature a $25,000 prize pool, with the highest-earning teams in the first two weeks of online play claiming a qualification spot to the ECS8 Finals. For the last three weeks of the Regular Season, qualification spots to the Finals will be awarded to the winners of each week.
ECS Season 8 Europe - Week 5 odds
The odds below represent the opening matches in ECS Season 8 Europe Week 5. For a complete list of odds for ECS Season 8, head over to our CS:GO section.
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Follow Pinnacle EsportsWho will qualify for the ECS Season 8 Finals?
It’s a battle of the titans in the last week of play in the ECS Season 8 Regular season, as there’s one last spot on the line to play at the Finals at the Esports Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
Fnatic (FNC, 1.90*) join the ECS in its final week of the regular season. FNC looks to be in competitive form following the return of star rifler “Flusha” to the lineup, achieving a first place finish at DreamHack Masters Malmo. The Swedish team face off against BIG in their first matchup in week 5, who have been difficult opponents for those in the ECS reaching the week 4 Grand Finals against Astralis, where they brought the match to the third game.
Fnatic are a favourite to reach the Finals in Dallas after a string of wins on the circuit.
The veteran-led team of mousesports (Mouz, *) make their second appearance in ECS Season 8 following a surprise defeat in week 3 to Pinnacle Cup challenger m1x. While the team have achieved positive results leading to a 7th place ranking on HLTV, the team is still in search of consistency as they continue to lose games in the opening matches of a tournament. Mouz will definitely be a wildcard for fans to watch throughout the Final week of the ECS Season 8 Regular season, and may be the catalyst for potential upsets.
FaZe (1.78*) have been on the decline since the end of summer following the loss of AWPer “guardian” and rifler “NEO” in favour of Brazilian superstar “coldzera” and rookie “broky”. The team have made multiple attempts to qualify for the ECS Season 8 Finals with attempts in week 3 and week 4 to earn a spot, being stopped by BIG and Astralis respectively. Their match against Heroic shouldn’t pose a problem for the team in a best of three (Bo3) but an underestimation of the opponent could result in a surprise.
Is it going to be a BIG (1.90*) week? The mixed German squad seeks to cause an upset against FNC in their opening match of week 5. The team have had a bare schedule recently, only participating in the ECS and ESL Pro League, making research on their current strategy difficult to read. Mirage, Dust2 and Inferno look to be the team’s map preference over the past three months which matches well against FNC’s own map pool.
The uphill battle, can the challengers cause an upset in week 5?
North (NRT, 1.59*) join the last week of the ECS following a string of tough losses at ESL Pro League and the Starseries i-League. The Danes have been struggling to find consistency in their performances after in-game leader “valde” left the team to join OG, with former player “cajunB” returning to the organisation to fill in the gap in the roster. The schedule doesn’t get easier for North in the final week of the regular season as they face a determined Tricked, hungry for wins.
North hope for positive results in ECS week 5 following a drought that has seen the team fail to win a number of recent matches.
Tricked (TRK, 2.37*) search for success after a disappointing performance in week 3 resulted in an early exit for the team. On paper the team have been on the rise, taking a handful of wins against a host of tier 2 teams like GamerLegion and virtus.pro in the ESEA MDL, however, the team have yet to break the glass ceiling to reach the next level in their play.
An opportunity presents itself to Heroic (HRC, 2.05*) as they face off against a faltering FaZe in their opening match. The Danish team have been largely successful in the ECS as the week 2 winners, however, falling short of securing a qualification spot to AVANGAR who had a higher combined prize pool over the first two weeks. Mirage, Nuke and Train are the three maps to watch for the team, which all seem to be the weak points to the current FaZe map pool.
The struggle to get to the Finals continues for virtus.pro (VP, 3.04*) after the Polish squad has fallen short of a qualification spot to Arlington three times during the regular season. By the numbers, virtus.pro’s opportunity remains slim against names like FaZe and Fnatic who are the favourites to challenge for the last spot to the Finals.
The fourth week of ECS Season 8 competition starts on Monday, October 21 running until October 24. This week will have $25,000 on offer and the winning team will secure a spot at the Dallas Finals. Catch all of the action for the ECS Season 8 Regular Season on the Official FACEIT Twitch channel. You can also find our dedicated page to the ECS here.
* Odds subject to change
