Published on: 27/05/2021

CS Summit 8: Top Players to Watch Heading Into the Weekend

CS Summit 8 Tournament Recap

CS Summit 8, the latest installment of Beyond the Summit’s CS:GO tournament, is well underway, and Just Gamers have been following the action closely.

The eighth edition of the tournament started on the 20th of May and is the first Regional Major Ranking (RMR) event for North America. It distributes points used to qualify teams for the upcoming 2021 Fall Major.

CS Summit 8 has already featured two massive upsets. On Saturday the 22nd of May, Brazilian team O PLANO, who qualified for the event from the Closed Qualifier and are ranked 50th in the world, beat 7th ranked team FURIA 2-0.

Another surprise upset saw Team Liquid, the favorites for the event and the best North American team by most accounts, lose 1-2 to the up-and-coming South Africa/North American mix Extra Salt.

But there’s plenty of games left to watch heading into this weekend of CS Summit 8. Read on for a summary of the top players to keep an eye on in the weekend’s playoff action.

Players to Watch at CS Summit 8

#4 – ‘biguzera’

In their unexpected and arguable upset win against Evil Geniuses, paiN’s Rodrigo ‘biguzera’, Bittencourt had a 74-48 KD. This helped net the Brazilian an impressive 1.37 Rating in the series. 

paiN went on to beat O PLANO 2-0, with biguzera packing less of a punch on the scoreboard. Nevertheless, he has been equally vital to the team’s run in the tournament so far. With an upcoming game against Liquid, paiN will need to be on peak performance – and to replicate their earlier success going forward, biguzera may well be the difference-maker.

#3 – HEN1

O PLANO’s major upset against FURIA proved they have a lot to give at CS Summit 8. HEN1 posted a 1.46 rating performance against FURIA in that series, his former team that he left in December last year. He was much quieter in their following loss to fellow Brazilian team paiN and their subsequent 2-0 rematch loss to FURIA.

HEN1 is by all accounts a strong player, having been ranked the 16th best player in the world by HLTV in 2020. If O PLANO is to pull off a lower bracket run, HEN1 might have to return to the top of the scoreboard if they want to return to the winning form that granted them their earlier upset win.

#2 – EliGE

Liquid was on the receiving end of a close upset that was handed to them by Extra Salt. While they secured two further wins in their remaining group stage games, neither looked as clean as Liquid.

Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski has looked electric in their wins, but he posted a lackluster performance in their upset loss. If Liquid is to stave off another upset in their upper bracket playoff semifinal against FURIA, EliGE’s performance is worth keeping an eye on.

#1 – JT

Extra Salt is home to the South African pair Aran ‘Sonic’ Groesbeek and Johnny ‘JT’ Theodosiou. They are a long-standing dynamic duo that is always worth watching.

Extra Salt has played two series so far in CS Summit 8 and won both. JT, the team’s highly-capable in-game leader, failed to post a positive kill-death ratio in either series. With both series, this is hardly a cause for concern, and in-game leaders often lag behind on the scoreboard.

But their next matchup will be against a vigilant FURIA, who are on the hunt for revenge after being upset themselves. If Extra Salt is going to win against ranked 7th team FURIA, it will be worth following JT. We will see whether he can match his tactical skill with mechanical skill in their most important series yet.

A variety of websites provide great betting options on CS:GO tournaments like CS Summit 8. Visit our CS:GO betting section for more details. 

Written by Jake Nordland