Team Solo Mid, Envyus, Virtus Pro and Luminosity Gaming have advanced to the quarter finals of the DreamHack Open: Cluj-Napoca, and Flipside, Dignitas, Team Liquid and Vexed have been eliminated. Four qualifying teams and all eight of  the teams that were invited are still in the running for first place and $20,000. Tomorrow sees a weeding out of four more teams in Cloud 9 vs Fnatic, Mousesports vs G2.Kinguin, NiP vs Titan and Navi vs CLG. Unlike days one and two, day three will be best of three matches. This is a crucial detail for Mousesports vs G2.Kinguin, NiP vs Titan and Navi vs CLG as all three are rematches from day one.

Cloud 9 vs Fnatic

It’s hard to argue this as a more exciting match than Titan vs NiP, but both Cloud 9 and Fnatic have big expectations on them. Both teams have been under-performing as of late, and both teams have large fan bases. Both teams have an extremely high level of potential, masterminds in their strategy caller positions, game changing awpers and reputations to live up to. Cloud 9 is supposed to be the best team North America has to offer. Many would argue they should be the best team in The Americas full-stop, but they have lost seven of their last nine matches against teams from the Americas, including their loss to Luminosity Gaming this week at DreamHack Open: Cluj-Napoca. Skadoodle is going to need to return to the form he was in during the summer and reaffirm himself as the impact player Cloud 9 needs him to be. When it comes to fragging with an honest weapon, like a rifle, shroud and freakazoid need to both show up. When they are at their best, so is Cloud 9.

Fnatic has a problem that is much harder to diagnose. It’s not a kill/death issue, it’s not a strategic issue, it’s not really an individual skill issue, so what is it? There were a couple of observable mistakes against LG including imperfect smoke grenade placements, missed set smoke placements, poor game sense and an over aggressive counter-terrorist side. Regardless of the problem, they must win best of three against an opponent that beat them 2-0 last time they met.

It comes down to who feels the fire. Both teams lost to LG, but Fnatic should claim a spot in the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win.

Ninjas in Pajamas vs Titan

It may be a generalization, but everyone like to root for NiP. They were so dominant for a time and slowly disappeared into the shuffle as CS:GO evolved. Recently, it seemed that NiP had reemerged with a new style that included buying negevs, five awps, auto snipers and even a few zueses, when they were $100. They were the first team to beat TSM in something like 80 maps this month and showed up to the major having slowed only slightly. The problems remain shifting and constant for the comfy ninjas, as if any one member under performs, the whole team sinks. That may sounds obvious, but it really is a Prince Rupert’s Drop style issue–if you’re unfamiliar with Prince Rupert’s Drop, I’d suggest looking it up because it’s super cool. But Nip does face the issue of if any one member isn’t hitting their shots, the other’s can’t make up for it. Rumors of a line-up switch, that were quashed by NiP’s management, may be the cure, but that doesn’t matter in the face of a match coming tomorrow against a French team that has beaten them 3/3 of their last meetings.

Titan is still taking shape. There’s a lot of power on the team. Shox has blossomed into the star of the team, and that’s really saying something when he’s sharing the screen time with ScreaM, RpK, Ex6TenZ and SmithZz. Titan’s problem lies in its player’s consistency. ScreaM is one of the flashiest and most fun players to watch when he is playing well, but he has plenty of dud games, where the head shots may be there, but the kill count isn’t. SmithZz can be a problem as well, for it was only recently that a couple casters were even questioning his placement as a tier 1 awper. To his credit, his name has been mentioned more for praise than failure as of late, and that’s what the French team needs. They need their awper functioning at full capacity and their entry fraggers fragging. They are a fully capable team that only need to reach up and grab a hold of the potential they hold, and that may start with overcoming NiP in an important 2/3 to make it out of groups for the first time at a major.

This is Titan’s to lose. They almost gave Cobble away after a double digit lead at the half, but I think they get the upset 2-1.

mousesports vs G2.Kinguin

I’ve always said don’t bet on any game with G2.Kinguin. That was far more strict a rule when they were simply Kinguin and still had ScreaM, but the team is still lethal without. The team has one of the highest skill ceilings in the scene, as Maikelele demonstrated with his tech-9 ace against TSM on day 2, and can win any round at any time, but consistently struggle to win matches against top 10 teams. Maikelele making his shots will be key regardless of if chrisJ of mousesports is awping or not. More importantly, the communication and strategy need to be there. It’s a best of three. That’s potentially more than three hours of Counter-Strike on deck for the multinational group, and they need to help each other succeed by doing more than peaking and fragging. It’s a team game. They’ve demonstrated an ability to hang in there with the best, and now they need to prove they deserve to.

Mouseports was considered an online team, then they were for real, then they swapped spiidi for NiKo, who has become a monster player for their team, yet they continue to come up short of the W. It’s been very up and down, punctuated by down. ChrisJ is their designated awper, but often opts for the rifle instead. That may no necessarily hurt them, but when he is fragging with an awp, mousesports seems unstoppable. There’s no combination of chrisJ, Niko, nex–who is nothing short of godlike–denis and gob b that should come up short of success, but they have struggled against the top 10 and further. The skill is there, the in-game leader is among the best, the teamwork is solid, so now they need to collectively decide that they are deserving of being a top team and play that way.

G2.Kinguin has won all of their most recent encounters against mousesports, so it’s hard to pick against them. 2-0 G2.Kinguin.

Natus Vincere vs Counter Logic Gaming

Navi is a scary good team. A great coach in starix, a great in-game leader in zeus, arguably the best awper in the game is GuardiaN, killers in the form of Edward, seized and flamie. They’re one of the most tactical high level teams and have the individual skill to execute those tactics to the T. They’re always just shy of breaking into the elite top five, TSM, Fnatic, VP, Envyus and NiP, and a high enough placement at this tournament can do it. But before they get there, they must beat a team they beat yesterday, CLG. In the first meeting, jdm of CLG was the key factor in deciding if Navi won the round. They need to neutralize him as a threat, through smokes or frags. Other than that, they have all of the skill and strategy to qualify into the quarter finals.

It was a big deal that CLG qualified for DreamHack: Cluj-Napoca, and that shouldn’t go without saying. Recent losses to Team Liquid have called into question their title as the #2 team in NA, and day three is the day to reaffirm their status, especially with Team Liquid already banished to the spectator section. JDM was the only player with a rating over 1.00 in their match against Navi on day two, and that’s not a recipe for a win. Tarik was close at .92 with 20 kills, but each player drops steeper and steeper after that until you hit hazed who only had a rating of .49. As their entry fragger, it’s expected that his kill to death ratio would be less spectacular than some of his other team mates, but CLG is going to have to expect more out of hazed if they plan to best Navi on one map, let alone 2. CLG is a good team, but it’s up to them to decide if that’s good enough.

Navi vs CLG on Inferno has a fairly close scoreline, but started out lopsided and ended similarly. Navi 2-0.