SAW: A dangerous underdog - Hugo's Spring Final prediction
SAW got off to a blazing start in 2024, qualifying not just for BLAST Premier Spring Final thanks to an impressive Spring Showdown run, but also becoming the first Portuguese team to ever make a Major at the PGL Major Copenhagen.
However, the Major itself was a disappointment, with the team failing to make it past the first stage. Results have continued to taper off, with the team failing to make the playoffs at both ESL Pro League Season 19 and CCT Global Finals.
Their earlier form saw them build great hype around their squad, with it looking like they could be on the verge of breaking through to tier-one in a manner akin to Eternal Fire. That hype might have faded away?
Photo: Michal KonkolOur expert caster, Hugo has SAW as the eighth best team heading into BLAST Premier Spring Final.
Is he right to think that? Or are SAW just a little bit of experience away from becoming a truly top tier team?
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While SAW has a veteran spine in MUTiRiS and roman, it is the young trio of ewjerkz, story, and arrozdoce who serve as the team’s big hitters. A fine blend of aggression and calmer, more reserved playstyles, they give the team a formidable presence in both early and late round situations.
The more passive of the three, arrozdoce, has been one of the breakout stars of 2024. A solid anchor player with crisp headshot aim, he can often be found carving open rounds when SAW need a way into a bombsite after the initial fighting has already played out.
He has a 1.13 HLTV rating in 2024, which falls only slightly to 1.09 if you only look at the games he has played on LAN. Given his roles, this is incredibly impressive, and his 1.20 impact rating shows the potential he has inside of him for round-altering multi-kills.
Photo: Michal KonkolThe more aggressive star of the team is ewjerkz.
A slightly more experienced player having been with the organisation for just under a year longer, on CT sides he acts as both a rotator and an anchor depending on the map, and on T sides he will be found alongside MUTiRiS, cracking skulls and giving SAW advantages in rounds.
Like arrozdoce, ewjerkz has a 1.13 HLTV rating in 2024, although his drops off slightly more with a LAN filter to 1.07. It’s a dip that could be explained by the nature of his roles and facing higher-level opponents, but one that could easily fade away after the luxury of time.
Finally, we have story; the 22-year-old AWPer who is emerging as a reliable figure on the big green. Some still consider him somewhat raw, but his gameplay will be refined by experience, and that’s something SAW will need to continue to gain.
Photo: Michal KonkolSearching for experience
When it comes to experience within the team, SAW has that in droves with MUTiRiS and roman. The experience they require is instead something that can only be gained through repetition and consistent play time against the biggest and best teams in the world.
Of course, that isn’t always easy to gain in the gauntlets of European online qualifiers, but SAW already proved their capability to run those gauntlets at Spring Showdown with wins against Liquid, Cloud9, and OG.
These are all good wins, and they’re wins that show that SAW has what it takes to take on the best of the best.
SAW are also looking for other ways to ensure that these appearances at LAN events become more frequent, they have enlisted the services of former Sprout coach BERRY for Spring Final. BERRY is exceptional at developing talent, something that YNk highlighted in a recent interview:
“I saw the news that BERRY would be their coach at Spring Final, I like that, I rate BERRY highly as a coach and I think he knows a lot about CS and has done a great job in terms of developing talent,” he told BO3.gg.
In truth, it probably was fair of Hugo to regard SAW as the eighth-best team in attendance at Spring Final. The lineup for the event is absolutely stacked, but part of the reason it’s stacked is SAW themselves - no team should overlook them as an underdog.
Photo: Michal KonkolIt could turn out that the event proves to be just too early for SAW in their rise up the rankings, but that only means that it will serve as a valuable experience that will help them be more ready for their next tier-one opportunity.
Whatever happens, we know one thing for certain; there’s talent in SAW’s roster, and we’re sure that Spring Final won’t be the only time those names grace the BLAST circuit.