Americas Minor Championship Preview
The Major is finally upon us, starting with the Americas and Asia Minors. There is a solid slate planned for the Americas Minor, and solid betting opportunities if you’re willing to take a chance on an unproven team or two. If you do choose to bet, we highly recommend these sites:
- Top US Betting Sites
- SportsBetting.ag
- BetOnline.ag
- Bovada
Outrights
NRG (-167)
NRG are poised to take this qualifier by storm. After a bomb-out in last year’s minor, NRG are back and better than ever, coming off a solid 2018. CeRq is looking like a bone fide all-star, and the team is functioning as intended under the leadership of Daps.
The question for NRG is, who is their star rifler. CeRq has huge impact on the AWP, but that tends not to matter when your team can’t back you up. nahtE and Brehze are both capable players to back CeRq up, but NRG will need big performances from at least one of them.
NRG are my favorite to make it out of the minor, and you can get them at -167.
eUnited (+600)
eUnited has been on the come up in NA for a while now, and this time last week I would have had them as one of my favorites to make it through. That was before I read this twitlonger from Relyks.
This reads like a disorganized, poorly managed team, and that’s the kind of team that I try not to bet on. That much role shuffling doesn’t bode well for any team, much less a tier-two NA team with middle of the road results over the last couple months. There’s clearly talent on this team, and if they were given time to work with a stable roster I might be sold on them, but I’m not comfortable putting any of my money on them, especially not at +600.
Envy (+1300)
This is clearly the most interesting team at the Minor. In one of the more shocking roster changes in recent history, they have picked up karrigan as a stand-in, which could be a huge boon for this team.
Envy has not been good. This lineup doesn’t really have any significant wins, and I am not a fan of their roster. I would be really surprised to see Envy do any damage at all at the Minor. That being said, they have added a top 5 IGL who is known for his loose calling style. I would say that karrigan is probably the single best player you could add to this team right now. If everyone on Envy buys in, which I imagine they will, it’s not unthinkable that they could make it to the Major.
At +1300, I kind of like this bet. They’re still not a favorite to make it out, but it’s hard to discount a team with karrigan on it at a Minor.
Furia (+900)
Furia’s best results over the past two months have been taking a map off of Rogue and winning 2-0 over Swole Patrol. Not exactly a strong endorsement of their skill, but not terrible either. I’m not sure why Furia is at +900, as that seems low to me. There’s always a chance they’ll surprise, especially since MIBR were looking at kscerato to replace Tarik, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Literally.
TeamOne (+1200)
TeamOne are lucky to be at the minor. In the qualifiers they were down a map to Old Guys Club, who had to forfeit due to a scheduling conflict. After being handed this win, they took full advantage and 2-0’d Rogue and Swole Patrol to qualify for the Minor.
They played well in the qualifier, but this is TeamOne’s first major LAN, unless you count Fragadelphia or TOYOTA Master Bangkok.
Bravado (+1100)
Bravado were the feel-good story of the year in 2018, and it looks like they may ride that wave all the way into the Major. They are pulling a Luminosity and scraping together funding to attend the Minor, and it seems the community is rallying around them. It’s like something out of a movie, and that can’t be underestimated.
CS:GO is a mental game and having this kind of motivation, knowing that people all around the world are pulling for you and hoping for an upset, can show up in game. Bravado have some solid results over the last couple months of 2018, and it certainly isn’t impossible that they make it through.
At +1100 they’re good for a small bet, especially if you consider yourself a romantic.
INTZ (+800)
Things don’t look good for INTZ. If Felps and kNg were to show up, I’d feel pretty good about them. Unfortunately, it’s looking like Felps has been poached by MIBR, which leaves this team in the lurch. +800 is way too low, this is the most obvious stay away on the list. We don’t even know their full roster, and I don’t know if INTZ does either at this point.
Imperial (+2900)
This actually isn’t a terrible lineup. It’s full of seasoned players, like SHOOWTiME and zqk, who have been in big(ish) spots like this before. They’re about as good as TeamOne, so I don’t know why the odds are so high. Maybe good for a small bet if you’re feeling especially frisky, but they aren’t one of my favorites.
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