Europe Minor Recaps – IEM Katowice 2019

Posted on January 31, 2019 - Last Updated on August 27, 2020

After five days of combat, the Europe Minor has finally concluded.

Eight teams fought for the Major Main Qualifier ticket, the Minor Playoffs and their share of $50,000 which was added to the prize pool.

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Europe Minor Results

  • Vitality – OpTic 16:8
  • Mousesports – Valiance 14:16
  • ex-Space Soldiers – ENCE 6:16
  • North – Windigo 6:16
  • ENCE – Windigo 2-0(16:12, 16:3)
  • Vitality – Valiance 2-1(19:15, 11:16, 16:4)
  • ex-Space Soldiers – North 0-2(5:16, 13:16)
  • OpTic – mousesports 0-2(14:16, 11:16)
  • Valiance – mousesports 2-0(16:12, 16:8)
  • Windigo – North 1-2(16:12, 9:16, 13:16)
  • Vitality – North 0-2(14:16, 12:16)
  • ENCE – Valiance 2-1(9:16, 16:11, 16:9)
  • Vitality – Valiance 2-1(13:16, 16:13, 16:14)
  • North – ENCE 0-2(20:22, 7:16)
  • Vitality – North 2-1(12:16, 16:5, 16:8)

Placement

  • #1 – ENCE – Major Main Qualifier + $30,000
  • #2 – Vitality – Major Main Qualifier + $15,000
  • #3 – North – Minor Playoffs + $5,000
  • #4 – Valiance
  • #5 – mousesports
  • #6 – Windigo
  • #7 – OpTic
  • #8 – ex-Space Soldiers

What happened in the Europe Minor?

This was a horrible event from a CSGO bettor’s perspective. Everyone was expecting North and mousesports to dominate everyone. Bookmakers believed in that as well, as bookies like GG.BetBetway and Rivalry all heavily favoured mousesports and North to win Europe Minor.

  • Mousesports

This is the only reason why GSL is a bad format, as mousesports had to play against Valiance twice. They had a disadvantaged start against the Serbian organisation, and there was not much that they could do. Mousesports does the same thing over and over again, and it felt like Valiance came prepared for that. They had an answer for everything mousesports threw at them, and that is the main reason why they were able to eliminate mousesports from this event.

  • North

People were expecting a lot from North in the Europe Minor. However, they failed miserably. They lost their opener against Windigo and they were not able to find their rhythm in any of their upcoming matches. But somehow they were able to crawl their way into the grand final, where they were trashed by ENCE. Overall, an awful showing from a usually top team in this event.

  • Valiance

Given the fact that this was their first LAN event, Valiance did a solid job. They had a great showing against mousesports. Even though some people said that them winning against mousesports in a best-of-1 match was a fluke, they proved them wrong by stomping the German organisation in the best-of-3 series. I would dare to say that Valiance was unlucky in their match against Vitality, and sadly they got nothing out of this event. In my personal opinion, they would be a much better choice in the Minor Playoffs than North.

  • Vitality

Honestly, I’m unsure why Vitality was only favoured as the 4th choice to win this event. Even though they are a relatively new team, they are filled with raw firepower and potential. They proved that in this event. They were able to outclass teams like North, Valiance, and OpTic. It is going to be interesting to see how will they do in the Major Main Qualifier.

  • ENCE

ENCE has always been a solid team. They are a great mixture of experience and young prospects. Led by their captain, Aleksi “allu” Jalli, they have torn apart everyone in their path. Even though two out of their five players were sick during Europe Minor, they still pulled through and played on a whole other level.

Furthermore, they only lost one map in this event. Overall, a great showing from ENCE and we here at EsportsBettingTipster.com are looking forward to seeing them compete on Major Main Qualifier. If they keep on playing as they played now, they have a huge chance to qualify for IEM Katowice 2019.

Statistics

Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut was the best-rated player in this event, with a stellar 1.36 rating. Furthermore, ENCE was the best team in this event with a 1.17 rating. Inferno was the most played map. It was played for a total of 7 times. Dust 2 and Mirage are sharing the second spot as both of these maps were played 6 times.

Valdemar “valde” Bjørn Vangså had the best KD difference and he is the only reason why North was able to qualify for Minor Playoffs. He had a brutal +96 KD difference. Now on to the worst players. Engin “ngiN” Kor was rated as the worst player in this event, followed by his teammate, Engin “MAJ3R” Kupeli. Dan “apEX” Madesclaire had the worst KD difference which is -39.

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Lea Hayes

Lea is crazy about esports in general, and she should be your first point of contact for when you want to get started with esports betting. Not only does Lea have an in-depth knowledge of all the top esports teams and players, but she’s not shy of sharing her esports betting tips either.

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