#HSH Week 8: Group D Preview
The last group of #HomeSweetHomes final week is upon us and as always we preview the teams. AGF Esport, Complexity Gaming, Hard Legion ...
#HomeSweetHome has reached its first playoff stage, as the four groups have ended play. This means only 8 teams remains of the 16 we began with. Looking back at the groups we didn't see much of a surprise in the teams that have moved on to the quarter finals, but with that said we have quite clear favorites in these matchups. Can there be any big upsets? That's the question we will try to answer below as we predict each series. On Sunday evening a champion for week 1 will be crowned and as such bring home the $30,000 that is awarded to the winner. If you want to know more about #HomeSweetHome you can head over to our event page! BIG comes to the first quarterfinal as a decently sized favorite after winning group A, but it's worth noting the only teams BIG had to play was SMASH Esports and Syman Gaming. The wins were definitely convincing, but the caliber of opposition goes up a notch here. Virtus.Pro stumbled their way to playoffs after losing their opening game against Gambit Youngsters, but then getting their revenge towards them in the decider match. We believe BIG has what it takes to win this match and even go to the Grand Final as they will face SKADE/Sprout in the semifinal. Make no mistake though, that is not purely based on BIGs own ability, but more the draw they have gotten for both games. SKADE came into #HomeSweetHome with hopes of making the playoffs and they managed to do so after wins against Team Singularity and AGO. Alex “Rainwaker” Petrov played extremely well to bring him and his Bulgarian squad to a surprising group win, but it's fair to say the group draw did them a favour here. Sprout ended up in a tough spot with facing North, the tournament favorite, straight in the first game of the tournament. After facing a loss they managed to grab three straight 2-0 wins. One against Movistar Riders and Japaleno two times over. Sprout making the playoffs seemed imminent from the start and they managed to do so in a respectable fashion. In our opinion Sprout enters this quarterfinal as a favorite despite being the lower seed. North entered #HomeSweetHome and its first week as a main favorite to win the whole thing. Without too much of an issue they managed to win group group C after wins against Sprout and Japaleno. Even if the danes dropped one map against Japaleno the group win was rather convincing and North remains one, if not the biggest, favorite to go all the way. Philip “aizy” Aistrup and Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye have been in great shape for North this far and that makes them to a huge favorite in this matchup. Endpoint has done well to reach a semifinal that came through wins against Team Singularity and AGO, however the level of CS:GO goes up magnitudes here and we cannot see the this ending with anything else than a win for the danes in North. forZe went through their group with ease as Nordavind and Gambit Youngsters were dismantled. The team seems to be on full throttle right now and impressive results in ESL Pro League together with a great start in #HomeSweetHome makes them our main favorite together with North, who unfortunately however can't face in the final due to being on the same side of the bracket. Team Spirit shouldn't be counted of this series at all with that said as they have very respectable results behind them, especially against world class opposition in ESL Pro League. Their start in #HomeSweetHome was far from optimal however and they barely scraped by as SMASH Esports and Syman Gaming fell short. This CIS derby has the potential to be a great game, but we have a hard time to see anything else than a forZe win considering their form, which looks great. We don't see any big upsets happening from these quarter finals and the favorites are quite clear. That story will definitely change in the semifinals and if we get to see North going up against forZe it would be the match of the tournament thus far. We will return tomorrow with a recap of these games and of course we will also preview the semifinals, so make sure to come back for more news about #HomeSweetHome! If you wish to read about the latest news from us and from the esports world make sure to check out our Twitter! If you wish to read about betting tips, we deliver them through our esports betting Twitter! Janne Kouva
#HomeSweetHome Week 1: Quarterfinals Preview
Quarterfinals
BIG - Virtus.Pro
SKADE - Sprout
North - Endpoint
forZe - Team Spirit
Conclusion
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