Group C of BLAST Premier Spring 2020 will see four CS:GO esports titans chasing the last two tickets to the finals. There, they will join the top teams of Group A (FaZe Clan and Team Liquid) and Group B (Natus Vincere and Complexity Gaming) in a battle for the BLAST Premier Spring crown and a direct pass to the 2020 Global Final.

Esports bookmakers have 100 Thieves priced as slight favourites over G2 Esports, which is fair. It is not so much that 100T are especially strong, but rather that their opponents look weaker than usual.

G2 have not seen any notable success on the CS:GO stage since they finished third-fourth at ESL One: New York back in September, and even there they only bested ENCE. While G2 pocketed silver at cs_summit 5 in December, the only two teams they defeated were FURIA and the old-look Virtus.pro.

G2 are a solid team on paper, yet it is clear something isn’t clicking in the squad. The team’s performance has suffered somewhat since the signing of Nemanja “nexa” Isakovi? and Nemanja “huNter-” Kova? back in September. At first, it seemed like the new squad needed time to gel, but after almost five months, it is clear that the issues lie somewhere else.

100 Thieves have yet to claim silverware since they signed the old Renegades roster. Their best result came in November, when they finished IEM Beijing in second place. That said, 100 Thieves’ roster works like a well-oiled machine with established synergy. While they might lack serious quality to contest top-tier titles, their teamwork alone gives them an edge over G2.

This bout will be a close one, so there is a good chance all three maps will be played. While 100 Thieves look the stronger team, G2 hold an advantage over them on Train and Dust II.

OG have seen fair amount of success since building their team back in December, namely the top-four finish at cs_summit 5. However, we don’t believe this squad is ready to make any serious noise on the big stage just yet.

The main concern we have with OG is that their roster consists of five players signed from five different teams, which clearly spells synergy concerns. There is no denying their cs_summit 5 run was a remarkable achievement, but since that initial hype has faded, OG have failed to deliver.

At ICE Challenge 2020, they finished fifth-sixth after dropping the ball in a 0-2 loss against MAD Lions. The European mix also finished IEM Katowice Open Qualifiers #2 fifth-eighth following a humiliating 10-16 defeat against AGO.

Evil Geniuses enter this bout fresh off a solid run at EPICENTER 2019, where they made it to the semi-finals but went down 0-2 to mousesports. Prior to that, Evil Genuises also claimed a fifth-sixth finish at the ESL Pro League S10 Finals and third-fourth at the ECS Season 8 Finals back in November.

OG might have a bright future ahead, but their results in recent weeks suggest they will struggle to keep up with Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz and his squad.