The Thunderpick World Championship 2023 has progressed to the Playoffs after an intense Group Stage of CS2 competitive matches. Out of the original sixteen teams, only eight remain, and even well-known teams like Fnatic and Complexity have been eliminated. Let’s delve into some of the significant storylines that have emerged in the tournament to assess which teams have a shot at making it to the Grand Final of the Thunderpick World Championship 2023!
FAZE OR MOUZ?
It almost feels a little unfair that FaZe and MOUZ have to play each other in the Quarter-Finals. Looking at the teams left in the Thunderpick World Championship 2023, you’d have to say that the winner of this probably wins the entire tournament. FaZe vs MOUZ is certainly a matchup fit for a Grand Final.
MOUZ have been high-flyers of late, winning ESL Pro League Season 18. FaZe have similar pedigree, winning the first Tier 1 CS2 competitive LAN at IEM Sydney 2023. You can’t say that about any of the other teams left in the Thunderpick World Championship 2023.
The winner of FaZe vs MOUZ faces either Cloud9 or BIG in the Semi-Finals. Anything is possible, of course. After all, this is Counter-Strike. However, everything we’ve seen so far suggests that it’ll be either karrigan or siuhy leading their teams to glory come the Grand Final on the 5th of November.
THE DONK BRACKET
If the focus of one bracket is on MOUZ and FaZe, then the conversation of the other will almost certainly be on donk. Spirit’s 16-year-old rifler is the top-rated player of the tournament so far, and has taken the CS2 competitive scene by storm with his aggressive playstyle and god-like mechanics. He’s seen as the biggest talent in the world by some distance right now, and the Thunderpick World Championship 2023 is the perfect opportunity for donk to show what he can do against Tier 1 opposition.
It’s Monte up first for Spirit. If they can go one step further, they’ll face off against one of Virtus.pro or Heroic. With donk in his current form, we could see Spirit going all the way to the Grand Final here. Heroic rag-tag roster remains in disarray, while Virtus.pro and Monte have had one eye on the continuing Roobet Cup 2023. There’s a chance for a deep Spirit run here, and we’re all in for the ride.