The IEM Cologne Major will soon be upon us. But first, teams attending this years CS Asia Championship will have a chance to sharpen their skills as they prepare for Counter-Strike’s ultimate prize.

Falcons are arguably the team with the most to gain here, as they look to deepen their playbook and further build chemistry off the back of a runners-up placement at PGL Astana.

As the highest VRS ranked team at the event, there’s also a huge chance for karrigan and his boys to lift silverware and put that pesky choking narrative to bed. Well, at least until it inevitably happens again.

They shouldn’t underestimate the rest of the field though, as MOUZ will certainly have something to say about their chances of going all the way here, if xertioN has another life-tournament, that is.

Speaking of life-tournaments, a couple of players on PARIVISION will be hoping to have one as conversations around a potential post-Major roster change continue to swirl. Partly thanks to head coach Dastan making it no secret that he’s less than impressed with some individuals on the team.

We don’t think anything concrete will be decided based on this event, but a poor performance certainly won’t help the declining stocks of xiELO and nota.

The MongolZ will be looking to bounce back after a relatively poor showing at PGL Astana. Sure, you can’t blame them for losing to a renewed Falcons and Spirit, but Aurora?

We’d like to think they’re better than that, but if they don’t put in a good shift in at CAC, fans of Asia’s top team will have to start reducing expectations.

Counter-Strike plebs will be praying their hardest for s1mple to put on a show and prevent BCG from once again going out dead last. Though real certified ball knowers will rest calm and assured that blameF’s return to tier one LANs will be a beautiful thing to witness.

If the beefy Dane can retain a similar level to his online form, he stands a very good chance of doing some serious damage for BIG here. Luckily for the other teams attending that damage will only be on the server, as blameF only uses his Olympian strength to pull his teammates deeper into a kiss…