Just like CIS Minor, Europe Minor will start on 16th of January as well. Once again, 8 teams from Europe will battle it out for two tickets that will lead them towards the big stage in Katowice. Furthermore, $50,000 has been added to the prize pool alongside those two spots.
This year’s Europe Minor attracted three strong teams and other teams filled with potential and skill. It is going to be interesting to see who is going to advance to the IEM Katowice 2019.
Europe Minor – IEM Katowice 2019 winner odds
- mousesports 2.75 @ Betway
- ENCE 5.00 @ Betway
- North 5.00 @ Betway
- Vitality 7.00 @ Betway
- OpTic 9.00 @ Betway
- Valiance 11.00 @ Betway
- Windigo 12.00 @ Betway
- ex-Space Soldiers 15.00 @ Betway
As you can see from the CSGO betting odds provided by Betway, mousesports is a team who is clearly favored in Europe Minor. To be honest, they are the best team on this list, and I completely agree with bookmakers on this one. Furthermore, I feel like betting on mousesports to win the entire thing is free money.
Groups and format
Europe Minor is not different from other IEM Katowice 2019 Minors. Double-elimination format has been put in place. Furthermore, 8 teams are split into two groups of 4. When it comes to matches, all the opening ones are played in a best-of-1 format, while every other game is played in a best-of-3 series. Lastly, top two teams from each group will advance to the playoffs, where they will continue playing in a best-of-3 series.
Group A
- Mousesports
- OpTic
- Valiance
- Vitality
Group B
- ENCE
- North
- Windigo
- ex Space Soldiers
Day 1 match-ups and predictions
- Vitality – OpTic
- Valiance – mousesports
- ENCE – ex Space Soldiers
- North – Windigo
Vitality – OpTic
This match caught my eye. Both of these teams have been on a good run as of late, and both of them made roster changes over the last couple of weeks. Even though these two teams made upgrades with latest additions, it is going to be interesting to see how good will those players adapt on OpTic and Vitality.
OpTic is a Danish squad filled with CS:GO veterans. Guy leading the charge is definitely Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke. However, he has not been so good lately, especially in their last best-of-3 series against Spirit, where they suffered a 2-1 defeat. On the other hand, Vitality is coming off from a very strong showing against Valiance, where they dominated Serbian organization over the course of 2 maps. Their latest addition, Alex “ALEX” McMeekin adjusted really well with this French team as he is already stepping up massively.
If we are to compare map pools for these two teams, we would find a lot of similarities, but there would be some anomalies as well. Firstly, OpTic’s permaban is Cache, which is VItality’s favorite map. On the other hand, Vitality permabans Train, but OpTic is really good on that map. Rest of the maps could go either way, but I expect a big performance from VItality, especially if they end up on Overpass, Inferno or even Mirage.
To conclude, Vitality has better individuals in the likes of Dan “apEX” Madesclaire, Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut. OpTic’s star player is a slump at the moment, and I do not think he will find his rythm in this game, especially against Zywoo’s AWP. Furthermore, French roster has a stronger map pool and they are very comfortable on OpTic’s preferred maps. You can clearly see where this is going. Vitality has better individuals, stronger map pool and they are definitely in a better form. Odds are great and I just have to take them.
Vitality to win – 1.85 @ Betway
