A year of lead-up:





With 2018, we are leaving behind a fantastic year for the Counter Strike scene. The crowning of the first North American champion at Boston and the Age of Astralis mark this fantastic season. We will be looking back on 2018 as one of those defining years in the history of CSGO. But alas, we welcome the end player break and prepare our expectations for 2019 and of course, with our cross airs landing on the next major.





Image courtesy of HLTV.org

To welcome us into 2019 we have IEM Katowice, crowned by Valve once again as the Major after a 4-year hiatus, and what a welcome we are treated to: IEM Katowice has always delivered, whether in Major form or not, and this time it comes with a new format for both the Minor and Major, free of charge. This certainly seems one of the most promising Majors of all time thanks to all the reforms in the system and the multiple storylines that will see their climax at the major. But before we can indulge in the main course in February we must first entertain ourselves with an aperitif.

A European powder keg:

During the prelude to the London Major, a statement by Valve was released saying that all teams which were disqualified from the tournament due to scoring a 0-3 record during the “New Legends Stage” would be required to qualify for the Minor. Alongside them we have the teams that arriving from the closed and open qualifiers that were ran late last year. Even though Europe has always been disproportionally stacked in terms of talented rosters in the Minor compared to other regions, this year it seems like this tradition has been taken to a whole new Level. Mousesports ( HLTV.org Ranking #5), North (#10), ENCE (#12), Optic (#19) and Vitality (#24) are all teams that have proven their worth internationally Online and Offline all the while being lead and supported by legendary figures in the scene. To top off the roster we have the relatively inexperienced squads of Valiance, Windingo Games and ex-Space Soldiers. This mixture of world class players and unproven European talent promises non-stop action at the minor and with only 3 Major spots there are incredibly high expectations for each team.

Europe at War:

With the stage set, it is time to have a closer look at the more interesting teams that will be battling for the chance to prove their worth in Poland.

ENCE:

Let’s start our adventure with an EZ favourite, ENCE. Memes aside, the team captained by Aleksi “allu” Jalli after their reboot in early 2018 saw an explosive debut on the big stage at ESL ONE Cologne. At the Premiere event we saw them take down Mousesports and NIP in convincing fashion. This lead the team to first catch the eye of the community. The Finnish squad then saw a temporary setback in failing to qualify for the Faceit London Major after losing to OpTic and a resurgent NiP, but the team bounced back stronger after their international experience with their growth culminating in 2 tournament wins at Starseries Season 6 and Dreamhack Open Winter, with young gun Jere “Sergej” Salo earning the MVP award for both events.

Image courtesy of HLTV.org





The question now is whether ENCE will be able to bring their recent form to the Minor. The tournament features more competitive teams, with more experience, fighting for a higher goal than just a trophy: the opportunity to play at the most important CSGO event of the year. ENCE looks like they will be able to go all the way, and with their upset potential, place high at the Major. What is sure is that the Finns will deliver some incredibly entertaining Counter Strike.

Mousesports:

It is time to turn and have a look at the Multinational roster of Mousesports. After a promising beginning of the year with a victory at Starseries season IV, a top 4 ending at the Eleague Boston Major and a temporary peak at the #2 position of HLTV’s rankings, it was only expected for this team to lift multiple trophies throughout the year. Instead we saw the rise of Astralis and a slow stagnation of Mousesports both in map-pool and playstyle. The second half of the year can only be described as turbulent, with the addition of Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski and the benching of Martin “STYKO” Styk, the rumours regarding the removal of star awper Tomáš “oskar” Šťastný and a fall in form of Robin “ropz” Kool; all culminating in the disappointing performance at the FaceIT London Major with a 0-3 score forcing them to run the gauntlet at the Minor. Since September Mousesports saw a slow rise to form, thanks not only to the re-integration of STYKO to the line-up. The team breezed through the online qualifiers and certainly seems like one of the favourites to make it out of the tournament ready to reclaim their Legends status.

OpTic:

The next two teams that we’ll overview are, without a doubt, the question marks of this Minor. The State of OpTic’s CSGO division can be described using only one word: disappointing. With the calibre of players that the team has seen pass through their ranks, their trophy cabinet should not be empty and even their general standings at tournaments seems rather underwhelming. The 2nd-3rd finishes at Starseries VI, cs_summit 3 and Dreamhack Open Summer appear as the team’s highest accomplishment of 2018 and do not reflect the status of a team hosting names like René “cajunb” Borg and Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke.After the team’s changes in April which saw the establishment of a full-Danish line-up, the team entered a period of instability as constant changes in roles and players with 3 roster changes in the space of about 8 months. During the player break OpTic announced the signing of Ismail "refrezh" Ali from Fragsters and the benching of Nikolaj "niko" Kristensen; The young player has showed great potential in his old team with the Greenwall hoping that he can elevate the team to a top contender once again. Many questions remain of Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer and the team’s performance at the Minor --and major, if successful-- could determine his future in the team, especially with Karrigan being available.

Vitality:

The focus of attention in the Minor will be Team Vitality: the organisation, new to CS, has recently made headlines by inserting themselves in the political game of the French CSGO scene. Their roster came as a direct result of the power game between Nathan “NBK-“ Schmitt and Richard “Shox” Papillon last year which resulted in the benching of NBK- and Dan “apEX” Madesclaire from G2 esports in favour of Shox’s Ex6TenZ project. NBK- and apEX were forced to forfeit the FaceIT London major due to a rumoured astronomical buyout from G2, and thus, were unable to join any team, breaking NBK’s streak of attendance to every Major Legends stage.

Both players, hungry as ever to come back, were acquired by the organisation in early October together with ex-EnVyUs players Vincent “Happy” Schopenhauer and Cédric “RpK” Guipuoy as well as recruiting young talent and FPL star Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut from aAa. This line-up went on to lift the trophy at Dreamhack Open Atlanta and to qualify for the Minor on the last Online qualifier. It was after the qualifier where the team decided to drop Happy in favour of LDLC’s Alex “ALEX” McMeekin maintaining the leadership of NBK- and looking secure a place in the Major.

Image courtesy of HLTV.org





The team was marked by the underperformance that has plagued Happy in recent times and RpK’s inconsistence, this lead to a complete reliance on apEX and, most importantly, ZywOo --and what a player to invest your resources on. In only 3 months, with a whole new roster and playing at a much higher level than he ever did with aAa, ZywOo managed to qualify for the Minor and win Dreamhack Atlanta boasting an incredible 1.49 rating. He has been the main source of firepower both Online and at LAN (with only one event presenting a rating lower than 1.15) and it is often evident that the success of the team is tied to the rookie. The introduction of ALEX into the team should result in a direct upgrade in firepower and a current of fresh air for the top French scene. There are still many question marks on this team: will NBK’s direction be sufficient to drive Vitality to the next level? Will RpK ever find consistent form again? And will the two youngsters in the roster live up to expectations and perform without collapsing under pressure? For the sake of French CS, we hope so. Team Vitality is for sure my pick to watch at this Minor.

Minor (hehe) teams and Final thoughts:

While North is technically the second highest ranked team at the minor it is impossible from me to express anything but a lack of faith in the squad: the removal of veteran IGL Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen combined with the destabilising mertz-niko-gade swaps were enough to prevent another team of Danish talent from accomplishing much this year, with their only notable achievement being their one-of-a-kind taking down of Astralis at Dreamhack Masters Stockholm. In previous qualifiers, we could have inserted the Turkish squad of Space Soldiers as a dark horse for the spot, the departure of star İsmailcan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş to BIG was a heavy hit to the roster as he was the main source of their success both online and at LAN. While other players could pick up the mantle of star, we have not seen any consistency from them at offline tournaments to confidently predict any success at this Minor, especially with this level of competition. The level of competition at this Minor is staggering, Europe is once again, asserting itself as the centre of the world CSGO scene. With both veteran teams and up-and-coming online talent making their way to compete for their chance to participate at the Counter Strike world championship.