​AVANGAR were 2018’s undertalked about team. The emergence of NRG, ENCE and BIG all overshadowed the young CIS team, but when you look at their path through the year it’s nothing to be sniffed at. They quietly went about their way picking up consistently good results and separating themselves from the pack of CIS teams, ending the year as fairly comfortably one of the best twenty teams in the world.





They picked up victories in a couple of smaller international LANs at the BGW Invitational and the MSI MGA Finals, but the jewel in their crown was a playoff run at EPICENTER that saw them dispatch NiP and Hell Raisers along the way. It’s not a blowaway resume by any means, but for a team almost nobody had heard of at the start of the year it represented good progress. This progress was solidified at the CIS Minor where they eased their way to the major with a first place finish, and I think they’re going to be one of the surprises of the major for those who might be sleeping on them.





The team revolves around their Russian in-game leader and AWPer Jame, and he’s a player who really passes the eye test as a player who is ready to take the step up to consistently compete with the best on a more consistent basis. While he does have the highlight aggressive flashy plays at time that you see from a lot of hyped up-and-coming AWPers, he also has exhibited an ability to drop back and play a more reliable defensive style. Perhaps most importantly, he appears to have sufficient game sense to know which is more beneficial based on the current situation.





Alongside Jame AVANGAR has the two star riflers of qikert and the 19 year old buster who I am particularly intrigued to see how he performs in Katowice as I think he is another member of the team who has shown promise to suggest he could be a name for the future. The team is rounded out by the more supportive elements of KrizzeN and fitch, who is probably still the best known part of the team thanks to his stint on Gambit towards the end of 2017.





The thing that has really impressed me from AVANGAR, and has seen them stand out from their regional rivals like Winstrike or Vega Squadron, is that they play a far more tactical brand of Counter Strike than is typically seen from younger CIS rosters. Whereas a Vega Squadron thrives from creating fast paced chaos filled rounds, AVANGAR is far more inclined to slowly build rounds and win from either getting early numbers advantages through Jame’s AWP or by reading rotations and trading onto sites effectively in the late round.





They’re a team who at times make questionable decisions with their economy but for the most part aren’t overly aggressive with their force buys, preferring to save for a round and get the AWP in Jame’s hands. One weakness however that I have observed is they’re very poor at committing to saving; far too often you see them half back off from a site but are kept too close by the allure of exit kills only for them to get picked off and have their buy for the next round crippled.





An extra storyline to follow for this one is that if AVANGAR does have a good run here under Jame then he’ll really position himself strongly as one of the lead candidates to take over from Zeus at NaVi after his retirement later this year. For a start there aren’t a lot of potential CIS IGLs out there, especially when you discount those who run a PUG style; you’re pretty much left with ANGE1, Jame and AdreN. With AdreN moving to FaZe and ANGE1 having such close ties to the Hell Raisers org, it seems a real possibility if he and s1mple could coexist with regards to AWPing duties.





Overall I’m very much looking forward to watching AVANGAR in Poland. I’m eager to see if how Jame in particular performs both as a player and as an in game leader over an extended competition against high level teams. If their style proves to be as stable and effective as I predict it to, I think they’re going to turn a lot of heads.





Challengers Stage Prediction: 3-2

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Other Major Previews:

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(Image credit: ESL)