Team Liquid Favored to Win CS:GO 2019 StarLadder i-League

• The 7th season of StarLadder i-League takes place in Shanghai from March 30th to April 7th
• Can Liquid finally find success at a premier event?
• Value picks to come out on top in Shanghai

The seventh season of the StarLadder i-League will be taking place in Shanghai, from March 30-April 7th.

The tournament will showcase some of the world’s top teams, as only three of the 16 teams competing had to qualify, with the rest being made up of invites.

With several of the teams recently making roster changes, it will definitely be interesting to see what happens here in China. Liquid comes into the event as the favorite, with Na’vi, MiBR, and FaZe not far behind.

Odds to Win 2019 StarLadder i-League

*Odds taken Jan 3

Can Liquid Finally Break the Curse?

With the addition of Stewie2k, following a trade with MiBR, the North American side looks like one of the world’s most stacked rosters on paper.

With Naf and twistzz playing at an all-star level in 2018, it is truly a scary thought that they have added another star player.

There is one thing that Liquid are known for, though, and it’s choking. The most infamous being at the Columbus Major in 2016.

Though a different roster, Liquid has never been able to win a premier event, taking home trophies at smaller events like CS Summit, and Supernova Malta.

With this new roster maybe they can finally do it. Having taken second at the seven different events in 2018, it might just be time for Liquid to finally hoist a trophy at a premier event.

The New/Old MiBR?

Like mentioned earlier, MiBR traded Stewie2k to Liquid to re-acquire TACO and former coach Zews.

Along with bringing back the two from Liquid, it is also rumored that they’ve brought back Felps from INTZ, who was also a member of SK gaming.

Though the Felps addition hasn’t been officially confirmed, this may prove to be the spark needed in the Brazilian roster. They were not able to find much success with the Americans Stewie and Tarik, as the communication and language barrier proved to be a problem with the Brazilians.

If MiBR is able to bring back the chemistry from their earlier iteration of this roster, they stand a very good chance of winning this tournament. It seems that every time they have made a roster change they find immediate success, except when they added non-Brazilians.

Also, it’s very well known that MiBR is a different team with TACO, as he is a key component to the success of superstar Coldzera. With TACO they were able to win back-to-back Majors, and were considered to be the world’s best team for quite some time.

The Wildcards

Two other teams that may be worth taking a look at due to the value they provide are FaZe and BIG.

Both teams have made roster changes recently, with FaZe rumored to have brought in AdreN, and BIG bringing in Turkish star XANTARES.

Werbung: A man of focus, commitment, and sheer will.

It's time to open a new chapter in the history of BIG with @XANTAREScsgo!

Brought to you by @OMENbyHP_de: https://t.co/Tk85VySA2S pic.twitter.com/b63RUJY5Hq

— BIG (@BIGCLANgg) January 1, 2019

Each team found some success during the 2018 season, and it will be interesting to see if these roster changes are beneficial for the two European sides, or whether they decline compared to their former rosters.

Both may be worth throwing a bit of coin on as FaZe are listed at +650 and BIG are sitting at +1000.

Pick: MiBR (+550)