The good, bad, and ugly of ICE Challenge 2020

ICE Challenge 2020 in London, United Kingdom provided a first look at two of the top teams in CS:GO for the 2020 season and some looks on Tier 2 organizations with new rosters and decent online performances. Some showed favor, while others flailed under the competition.

The good

mousesports keep their hot streak from 2019 going into this event, winning it convincingly. The competition wasn't extremely high at ICE Challenge 2020, other than Na'Vi, but even they were a very new squad with the addition of Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy. mousesports were the predicted victors of this event, and that's what they came out and did. Let's not forget about the beautiful 1v5 clutch Chris "chrisJ" de Jong blessed us with on map three of the grand finals. This clip will no doubt be a contender for play of the year, and it's only February.

Na'Vi did a little more than I was generally expecting. Overcoming mousesports was going to be hard, especially with having a new player added to their roster only a little over two weeks ago. Still, they made it enjoyable by taking it to a map four in grand finals. Perfecto seems to be meshing into his role reasonably well. He is coming from a much lower tier of CS, so him getting comfortable in Tier 1 CS:GO is going to take a little time. Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev is back on his throne with the AWP and showed off his prowess with the weapon with several clutches in critical rounds. Denis "electronic" Sharipov had an insane performance at this event and in the grand finals, winning his first-ever MVP despite his team coming in second place.

MAD Lions continue to impress me with their slaying power and how well they are doing against teams that should be stomping them out. They took the winner of the event, mousesports, to the third map in semi-finals. They also solidified themselves at this event, to me, as the second-best team in Denmark, a title that they, Heroic, and North have been fighting over since the beginning of the season. Though they do look strong, they would be even better if we saw more impressive performances from Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen. He was bottom fragging in every series except one where he was second to last. If he can find his form, MAD Lions will get even stronger than they already are.

GODSENT impressed me quite a bit. I didn't see them as much of a force going into this event, but they proved me wrong. Pavle "Maden" Bošković showed up for his squad and maybe even made a case for himself to be looked at by Tier 1 CS:GO teams. His performance was that good. With a little more practice, this GODSENT team may be able to stand tall among Tier 2 teams. 

The bad

OG's woes continue after a very mediocre start to 2020. Though OG is a squad of leftovers and "misfits," they still have a pretty solid roster. Their showings in 2020 started with being eliminated from the IEM Katowice 2020 Open Qualifiers by AGO. They did beat ENCE at ICE Challenge, getting Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen his revenge, but that isn't saying very much with ENCE's current state. I am hoping that they will be able to pick it up with more time and practice.

Virtus.pro are still in their late 2019 slump. I won't beat up on them too bad, seeing as the five series they have played in 2020 were all teams that were obviously better than them. But, VP has to do something. The only reason VP isn't in the ugly is because of their match against Heroic at ICE Challenge. I was sure that the match would be an easy win for Heroic, but VP came out strong and looked like the old AVANGAR. 

The ugly

Heroic came out dead at ICE Challenge 2020, getting beat by Virtus.pro and MAD Lions 2-0. Watching Heroic, MAD Lions, and North duke it out for the title of second-best team in Denmark has been competitive until this event. I'm not sure what happened to Heroic here, even considering their prior inconsistencies. This placement was a new low for the Danes, and I would like so see them compete with MAD Lions for their title a little more closely.

Poor ENCE. They continue to flop and strengthen the meme surrounding the team's controversial decision to replace Aleksib. ENCE didn't win a single map at ICE Challenge 2020, and they didn't even go up against the most robust competition at the event. OG, lead by the same dropped Aleksib, disposed of ENCE as the opener to ICE Challenge. Then, they got stomped out by GODSENT for their second match. I'm not sure what's happening in the ENCE camp, but these performances are worse than ugly. I hope they can iron it out or make a positive change.