CS:GO GG.Bet ICE Challenge

Betting operator GG.Bet has previously organized tournaments in CS:GO, but this time they are striking a decent prize pool that has attracted several teams of really high class. Natus Vincere and mousesports are favorites to take home the buck, but there are teams like OG and ENCE lurking behind. Below you can see our rankings of the teams and a preview of the information regarding the first major tournaments of the year.

Currently Qualified

• ENCE
• godsent
• Heroic
• MAD Lions
• Natus Vincere
• OG
• Virtus.Pro
• Mousesports

Prize Pool

1st $125,000

2nd $50,000

3rd-4th $25,000

5th-6th $10,000

7th-8th $2,500

GG. Bet Ice Format

Group stage

• Two groups of four teams each.
• Double elimination with GSL format.
• All matches are best played by three.
• The top three teams per team go to the playoffs.
• The group winners go directly to the semi-finals
• The group fools go to the quarterfinals as high seed
• The group trips go to the quarter finals as low seed

Playoffs

• Single elimination.
• Quarter and semifinals are best played by three.
• The finals are best played by five.

GG.Bet ICE Expectations

Below is a review of all teams in the tournament and we list them in order with the greatest chance of winning the tournament first.

Mouse Sports

Finished 2019 in the best possible way and went to the final in four consecutive tournaments, three of which ended with mousesports lifting the buck. Finn "Karrigan" Andersen has really got this team to new heights and the team's two star players Özgür "woxic" Eker and Robin "ropz" Kool seem to enjoy themselves perfectly under the Danish leadership. The team is to the surprise of many in the world ranking second place, which is a fantastic achievement. It is difficult to see a world where this team would totally fail and in a tournament of this caliber there is no talk about who the favorite is. On paper, only Na'Vi should be able to challenge for the title, but it is also debatable at present.

Natus Vincere

The team that doesn't ever seem to be able to reach their full potential. The hyped transition when Ladislav "Guardian" Kovács once again came "home" to Na'Vi has not led to the results the team is looking for, on the contrary. The Guardian has been very difficult to find right in their game and at least some of the team's problems the latest can be burdened on the Guardian's individual performance, which was under all criticism. It is time for this team to wake up once and for all if they are to reach the top of the world again. However, the fact that the team has Denis "electronic" Sharipov and Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev in the team means that on a good day the team can win against just anyone. In this tournament, the team should be able to go a long way, with the potential to win, but then the big stars are required to be big on the chop.

Virtus.Pro

After a very long period of bad results in Virtus.Pro, the decision was made to replace the entire team at the end of 2019. Instead came the full five from AVANGAR who during the autumn managed to come second in Berlin Major and besides it also win BLAST Moscow. Great results that could not be followed up later in the year. Now the team plays under Virtus.Pro's classic and legendary flags. That this team could challenge the world top again is extremely incredible, but in this tournament they have good chances against everyone except the two giants above them.

OG

This incredible new lineup has got a head start that goes in line with expectations. Dey has mixed gains against teams such as G2, MIBR and FURIA with also losing to less naming resistance. All in all, it has looked relatively good for such a fresh team and perhaps the only surprise has been that Mateusz "mantuu" Wilczewski looked like the team's best player, even though it turned upside down. Not bad for the player who was clearly least known to the public when the team was created.

MAD Lions

There are probably few people who expect the MAD Lions to be able to make a lot of fuss, but lately the nice results have been rolling in one by one. Only during 2020 did the team manage to win against North, Heroic and in addition a real scalp against ENCE to qualify for IEM Katowice 2020. Really impressive start to the year and probably it will give incredible motivation to continue for Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen and his men. In this tournament, the team will have to confess properly with color, but that they would be no punching bag is no longer on the board.

ENCE

As mentioned above, ENCE had to take a really heavy loss in qualifying for IEM Katowice. Last year's second in that tournament has, to say the least, been on a decent roller coaster in 2019, but now there just seems to be a road and it's down. Heavy results have been collected ever since Aleksi “AleksiB” Virolainen left the team. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? It doesn't look like it right now.

Heroic

Not every team is worth the time. Their games online have offered expected wins against weak teams, but also with losses against teams that they should traditionally be able to beat. It doesn't look very promising for Heroic right now, but it's tough to put them last on this list.

godsent

Interesting team with Martin “STYKO” Styk and Mikail “Maikelele” Bill as their best known names. Most stick to online and play against teams of significantly lower quality than in this tournament. Freight is currently a project that can blossom into something in the future, but right now it is impossible to put them in any place other than the last in this tournament.