CR4ZY established themselves as a real contender for a Berlin Major spot following their perfect run in the group stage, where they took down Sprout 16-13 and then beat NoChance 2-0 in the winners’ game. They met their match in the semi-finals, however, falling to North on both Inferno (12-16) and Train (9-16).
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That defeat put CR4ZY into the losers’ bracket, where they faced Fnatic in the first round. The Serbs came out with all guns blazing and dismantled their North American opponents with a 16-13 score on both Train and Dust II to advance to the losers’ final.
There, they renewed hostilities with North, who had suffered a 2-0 defeat to mousesports in the winners’ final the day before. Tensions were high, as the match would not only decide which team joined mousesports in the Berlin Major, it would also give CR4ZY a chance to make North taste their own medicine.
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The losers’ finals took off on Mirage, where North jumped out to a 3-0 lead due to their seemingly impenetrable defence on the CT side. However, it did not take long for CR4ZY to break the Danish defence with a streak of great individual skill from Nemanja “nexa” Isakovic and Otto “ottoNd” Sihvo, who propelled their team into a dominant 10-5 lead before the teams switched sides.
The second half did not produce any surprises. CR4ZY maintained their momentum and proved they can defend just as well as they can attack, securing a 16-7 win only eight rounds after the break.
The second map of the series, Dust II, produced a back-and-forth fight between the two sides for the opening few rounds, but it was CR4ZY grabbed a 9-6 lead before the teams switched sides. Much of their success was due to the impressive performance of Nemanja “huNter” Kovac, who made sure he joined nexa and ottoNd as one of the key players that helped CR4ZY through the Berlin Major qualifiers.
With a smaller lead compared to that on Mirage, CR4ZY produced just as dominant a display as they did in the second half of the first map. Taking advantage of any mistake North made, CR4ZY won seven straight rounds to seal a 16-7 win and take the series 2-0.
With that, CR4ZY got not only a spot at the Berlin Major and $15,000 in prize money, they also got to avenge their defeat to North in the first round of playoffs. It’s also worth noting that nexa ended the finals as MVP with 46 kills, 20 deaths and 1.74 rating, which is well over his 1.14 rating average for 2019.
CR4ZY defeated Sprout 16-13 in the opening round to advance to the Group A winner’s match, where they were expected to take on mousesports for a place in the final four. However, mouz were forced to walk the long road to the playoffs after NoChance shocked the competition with a 16-14 win over the pre-tournament favourites on Inferno.
The winner’s match took off on Dust2, with NoChance taking the reins on the T side and winning the first three rounds. However, CR4ZY tightened their defence and started reeling off wins to take a 10-5 lead into the break. The Serbs carried that momentum into the second half, winning the pistol round and completing a flawless 6-0 run to take the map 16-5.
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CR4ZY started Nuke on the T side and picked up where they left off, bolting out to a 4-0 lead. At that point they met some resistance from NoChance, but not nearly enough to stop the Serbs from taking a 9-6 advantage into the interval. The underdogs fought back after the break, winning three straight rounds to tie the game at 9-9, but CR4ZY’s defence lifted again and they won seven of the last eight rounds to seal a 2-0 whitewash.
MVP of the match was Nestor “LETN1” Tanic, who improved drastically from his 1.06 rating in the match against Sprout and ended the series with an incredible 1.60 rating, 46 kills and only 24 deaths. A lot of credit also goes to Otto “ottoNd” Sihvo (1.38 rating) and Nemanja “huNter” Kovac (1.33 rating), who both performed admirably and played crucial roles in the success of their team.
CR4ZY now advance to the semi-finals, while NoChance will play the winner of the elimination match between mousesports and Sprout.
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The tournament will feature two double-elimination GSL groups of four teams each, with Bo1 matches in the opening fixtures and Bo3 matches for all the following fixtures. The top two teams from each group will then advance into playoffs, where all matches will be Bo3.
There are no grand finals, but instead a winner’s final and a loser’s final. The winner of each final will earn a direct invite to the StarLadder Major, while the loser of the lower final will have another chance to qualify through the Minors’ Third-Place Play-In.
The groups for the 2019 CS:GO Europe Minor are as follows:
Group A – CR4ZY, mousesports, NoChance, Sprout
Group B – BIG, Fnatic, North, Team Ancient
Mousesports are $2.63 favourites in the CS:GO Europe Minor outright betting at GG Bet. They are ranked no.11 in the world and enter the tournament following a seventh-eighth finish at ESL One Cologne. CR4ZY ($8.50) are the next best team in Group A, with Sprout back at $15.00 and NoChance living up to their name at $34.00.
While mousesports are odds-on to reach the final four, they will need to bring their A-game. CR4ZY beat them 2-1 at the ESL One New York 2019 Europe Closed Qualifier at the start of July, so the potential for an upset is there – especially in Bo1. However, one suspects the favourites will lift with a spot in the Berlin Major on the line.
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Group B is a little tighter, but not by much. North (no.10 in the world), Fnatic (no.13), Ancient (no.23) and BIG (no.27) will battle it out for the top two places, and their respective world rankings make it clear where the line will be drawn.
Ancient and BIG most certainly belong in the top 30, but there is a huge difference between a top-30 team and a top-15 team. Furthermore, the gap between Ancient and BIG compared to mouz is as wide on paper as it is on the battlefield.
BIG have their moments of greatness, which means they can challenge for a playoff spot if the stars align; however, their unpredictable form makes them difficult to trust when there is money on line.
CS:GO Europe Minor 2019 betting tips
CR4ZY, mousesports, Fnatic and North are the most likely teams to end up in the playoffs, but how do they compare against each other?
Right off the bat, CR4ZY will not outperform mousesports in a Bo3, despite the fact they did just that in NYC on July 9. This is the last chance for mouz to reach the StarLadder Major, and with the pressure on, we can expect them to raise their standard and avenge their defeat should the two sides happen to meet in playoffs once more.
North have struggled against mousesports in the past, and the same can be said for Fnatic, who lost against mouz in their most recent fixture in March. While there is no denying both are good teams, neither have impressed in recent times.
While North are capable of putting up a good fight, like they did at the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals, that won’t be quite enough to stop mousesports on this occasion.
Prediction: mousesports to win the tournament – Best odds at GG Bet
2019 CS:GO Europe Minor outright odds
$2.63 – mousesports
$4.33 – North
$5.50 – Fnatic
$8.50 – CR4ZY
$13.00 – Ancient
$15.00 – Sprout
$17.00 – BIG
$34.00 – NoChance
See more CS:GO odds at GG Bet
]]>Staged over three days from June 10-12, the last phase of qualifying featured 16 teams in a double-elimination bracket Bo3 playoff format.
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The closed qualifiers did not offer any prize money but instead gave the top eight teams a ticket to Berlin, where a $50,000 prize pool will be offered alongside two places in the StarLadder Berlin Major and one spot in the Minor play-in.
While a $30,000 main prize is by no means a small amount of money, the real reward is a chance to play the world’s best CS:GO esports teams at the $1,000,000 StarLadder Major.
CR4ZY, Fnatic, mousesports and North secured passage to the Europe Minor on day two, which left four more spots to fill on the final day of qualifying.
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Day three started off with Tricked Esport, Sprout, Virtus.pro and NoChance defeating their opponents to advance to the final round of playoffs, where they were paired as follows:
Team Ancient vs Tricked Esport
OpTic Gaming vs Sprout
BIG vs Virtus.pro
Heroic vs NoChance
Team Ancient and BIG both made short work of their opponents, beating them with relative ease.
Tricked Esport were no match for Team Ancient on either Dust II (16-10) or Nuke (16-13). While we saw some resistance in the second half on Nuke, Tricked simply fell short and lost 2-0.
On the other side, BIG were far too good for Virtus.pro. The Germans took a convincing 16-11 win on Train and repeated that scoreline on Inferno to seal a clean sweep.
The remaining two pairs, however, were far less one-sided.
Sprout entered the match against OpTic looking strong and started with a 16-10 on Mirage. They failed to deliver on Nuke, however, as OpTic squared the tie with a 16-11 result. It was all set up for a close finish, but Sprout found another level and gave OpTic only three rounds on the third and final map.
The second pair, while not as entertaining as the first, still provided us with a close fight. Heroic started off with a 16-11 win on Vertigo, followed by an 11-16 defeat on Mirage. NoChance completed the comeback with a 16-9 win on the last map to join CR4ZY, Fnatic, mousesports, North, Team Ancient, Sprout and BIG in Berlin.
Open qualifiers took place from June 3-4 and featured 16 CS:GO esports teams, including some very familiar names.
The first team to reach the closed qualifiers were Virtus.pro, who have fallen on hard times and are currently trying to rebuild their team and reclaim their former glory. With a lot to prove and even more to lose, they entered the qualifiers with only one goal in mind: to finish at the top and get themselves a chance to return on the grand stage.
The first opponent Virtus.pro had to face were Osterity eSport, who failed to put up a real fight and went down 7-16. Next up were Nexus Gaming, who also had to kneel down and admit superiority of their opponents (11-16).
The quarter-finals saw Virtus.pro paired with Aristocracy, who made the Poles work extremely hard for a win. The first half ended in a dominant 11-4 lead for Aristocracy, who extended the margin to 14-7 at the start of the second half. Needing only two rounds to secure victory, Aristocracy seemed to crumble under the pressure as Virtus stormed home to steal a 19-16 win in overtime.
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That set up a date with ad hoc gaming in the BO3 finals series, where Virtus.pro sealed the deal with a 16-9 win on Mirage and a 16-7 result on Nuke.
Team Ancient had much smoother sailing through the qualifiers. The Swedish team started their qualifiers with a 16-12 win over touch the crown, followed by a dominant 16-7 win against FrenchFrogs and a 16-9 win against AGO Esports to secure a berth in the finals.
Faced with Chaos EC, Ancient showed no mercy and completely dismantled their fellow Swedes with a 16-8 score on Overpass and 16-4 on Mirage.
As the last two teams to progress through the open qualifiers, Virtus.pro and Ancient will join 14 other teams in the Europe Minor Championship – Berlin 2019: Closed Qualifier, which will take place from June 10-12 with the top six teams advancing to the main draw.
The other teams on the bill are BIG, Fnatic, Heroic, mousesport, North, OpTic Gaming, Valiance, Windigo Gaming, NoChance, Sprout, Maknitude, Team GamerLegion, Nordavind and Tricked Esport.