Europe Minor Championship London 2018 Betting Predictions
Europe Minor Championship London 2018 is a qualifier tournament that belongs to the upcoming FACEIT Major: London 2018. The finalists (top 2 teams) of this event will earn a spot in The New Challengers Stage of that highly anticipated event.
Europe Minor Championship London 2018 brings together 8 CS:GO teams from Europe. The tournament has a prize pool of $50,000 and is scheduled to take place between July 19th – 22nd in London, UK.
Team analysis
Ninjas in Pyjamas
In spite of its modest results at the highest level of CS:GO this year, NiP is still a tier 1 team and should have no problem crushing its much weaker regional rivals in this tournament. Among NiP’s notable results in premier and major events in 2018, I would mention their performances at cs_summit 2 (7th – 8th), Intel Extreme Masters XII World Championship (5th – 6th), DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018 (5th – 8th), Esports Championship Series Season 5 Europe (5th), ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals (13th – 16th), StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 5 (5th – 8th), CS:GO Asia Championships 2018 (5th – 6th) and ESL One: Cologne 2018 (13th – 16th).
Overall, NiP has by far the strongest results in international events of all the participants at Europe Minor Championship London 2018 and should easily qualify for the upcoming FACEIT Major by winning this qualification event.
NiP’s main weakness is its recent roster change. Draken left the team to join Fnatic and was replaced by Lekr0, a former Fnatic player. It is not yet clear whether or not the new NiP is stronger than the previous one, but in the past 6 weeks the team has been hard at work to make its new roster function well as a unit and develop cohesion. The team’s in-game leader, dennis, is very likely to achieve this goal and help his teammates reach a level of team play that will allow NiP to cruise through this qualifier.
OpTic Gaming
OpTic Gaming hasn’t had a great year so far, taking part in just 3 important events: ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals (7th – 8th), DreamHack Open Austin 2018 (5th – 6th) and DreamHack Open Summer 2018 (2nd). The team has some fairly strong players with a lot of experience in its roster (such as k0nfig and cajunb), but still lacks the overall cohesion and strategies that would be necessary to succeed at this level.
Going into Europe Minor Championship London 2018, OpTic Gaming is likely to get a 3rd – 4th place finish.
Team Kinguin
Team Kinguin is a considerably smaller and more provincial team compared to the first two on this list and has taken part in absolutely no premirer or major event in 2018, apart from this one. However, Kinguin has had a lot of practice in tier 3 – 4 tournaments this year, having participated in a dozen such events, with varying degrees of success. The team’s most notable results in 2018 have been the following: 1st place at ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018 Europe, 2nd place at ESL Polish Championship Spring 2018, 1st place at Puchar Polski Cybersport Season 3 and 1st place at X-Bet.co Invitational.
Going into Europe Minor Championship London 2018, I don’t see how Kinguin could pose any problems to the likes of NiP and there are at least 3 other teams that are stronger and should finish ahead of it.
Ence eSports
Ence eSports is a team made up of little-known players with the exception of its captain, Aleski “allu” Jalli. At the recent ESL One: Cologne 2018, Ence proved to be a pretty strong competitor, finishing 7th – 8th and beating teams like Ninjas in Pyjamas and mousesports in the process. They even took a map off Na’Vi, the winner of the event.
Based on their recent performance, Ence eSports should definitely get a top 4 placement at this event and possibly even a ticket for the upcoming FACEIT Major, as long as they don’t encounter NiP along the way. That’s because I don’t see them winning a second match against the Swedes.
Red Reserve
This is a team of total unknowns and should be regarded as an underdog. Red Reserve has only had several notable results in 2018 and all of them were in tier 3 or 4 events. All things considered, this is one of the main candidates for the 7th – 8th place.
Sprout
Well, it looks like Sprout hasn’t followed the analysts’ advice from the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018. I can still remember everyone complaining about the team’s name at that event, with Richard Lewis famously joking after the team’s elimination that you can’t spell “Sprout” without “out”. Since that surprising participation that ended with a disappointing result (19th – 21st) at a huge CS:GO event, Sprout has replaced several players but hasn’t had much success. Apart from its 2nd place finish at PMU Challenge 2018 (a tier 3-4 tournament), there’s very little that can make one optimistic about Sprout’s chances at Europe Minor Championship London 2018. In all likelihood, the team will finish 5th-6th or worse.
LeftOut
This is a newly created French-Belgian team with a lot of former superstars in it. The team hasn’t had the chance yet to prove itself, but the caliber of its players clearly make it the dark horse of this event. ScreaM, kioShiMa, hAdji, xms and SIXER will challenge fate and attempt to get a qualification at the upcoming FACEIT Major: London 2018 by finishing 2nd or 1st. And while I don’t see them beating NiP at this point, they are definitely capable of beating everyone else. So definitely keep an eye on this team and don’t miss the chance to make some money!
3DMAX
This is another contender for the 7th – 8th place finish. With no big names in its roster and no results to speak of for the past 3 years, 3DMAX is a total outsider to the world of big Counter-Strike and cannot even be regarded as a tier 2 team at this point. Maybe tier 3 if we’re super optimistic.
Betting predictions
OpTic Gaming vs. 3DMAX
The skill difference here is absolutely astronomical so this is a great opportunity to make some easy money.
Betway puts the odds for this match at 1.35 – 2.95 in favor of OpTic Gaming, which is surprisingly high given the situation. No doubt, OpTic has this one in the bag.
Betting prediction: OpTic Gaming to win.
Ence eSports vs. LeftOut
This will certainly be the most disputed match of these 4. Ence has recently proved that it has excellent team play, defeating CS:GO giants such as NiP and mousesports. However, LeftOut has much stronger individual talents and could easily produce an upset in this encounter. If you believe in the power of team play more than the raw individual skill, go with Ence eSports. If not, bet on LeftOut. I personally prefer the 2nd option, as these 5 players are super strong and hungry to win.
Betway puts the odds for this match at 1.60 – 2.20 in favor of Ence eSports, giving LeftOut a lot of respect based on the power of its individuals.
Betting prediction: LeftOut to win (upset).
Kinguin vs. Sprout
This should be another quick game, simply because Sprout is nowhere near Kinguin’s level at this point.
Betway puts the odds for this match at 1.50 – 2.40 in favor of Kinguin, anticipating a fairly disputed match that will ultimately be won by the Polish team.
Betting prediction: Kinguin to win.
NiP vs. Red Reserve
Of these 4 matches, this is probably the most predictable. NiP should mop the floor with Red Reserve and win without dropping more than 10 rounds.
Betway puts the odds at 1.50 – 2.40 in favor of NiP, clearly taking into account the team’s recent roster change and poor results. But by comparison to Red Reserve, this side is still much stronger and should easily win here.
Betting prediction: NiP to win.
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