WINNERS League Season 4 Invite Division – Chaos in North America, crazy CIS matchup in Europe

Round 4 is in session and we’ve seen our first teams qualify for playoffs and get eliminated from the event.
Instability plagues the NA CS scene and we’re seeing a lot of notable teams go through heaps of roster changes and disbands. 

Tensions are heating up, as the upcoming week will bring a lot more critical matches and perhaps even heartbreaking upsets. As always, viewers will be able to tune in to the league’s official twitch channel for broadcasted matches. If you are hungry for some action and want to feel like you’re part of the game, check VBet’s esports coverage and betting options they have on their platform. They’ve recently got approved to operate in Sweden if you are a fan from that region.

Europe

Qualified:

Nemiga [16:4 vs Bpro; 16:9 vs KOVA; 16:11 vs CR4ZY]
PACT [16:9 vs Singularity; 16:6 vs Izako Boars; 19:16 vs AGF]

Eliminated:

CLEANTmix [6:16 vs Izako Boars; 10:16 vs Fate; 4:16 vs Apeks]
Bpro [4:16 vs Nemiga; 3:16 vs BIG Omen Academy; FF vs Singularity]

Must see matches:

• SKADE vs AGF Esport
  
• CR4ZY vs Espada
  
• Fate vs Apeks
• SKADE vs AGF Esport

Preview

Qualification matches (2-1 Pool)

KOVA vs  BIG Omen Academy

BIG Academy seemed to shake off their initial loss to CR4ZY on Nuke, where the Ukrainian side demolished them 16:1, they made it here by upsetting Izako Boars last week on the same map in a pretty tight game. KOVA is an expert on the map, so the map pool is in huge favor of the Finnish team. The junior roster of BIG will need to play their best game yet to overcome KOVA, who have been playing at a much higher level for some time now. The amount of skill on KOVA can prove to be a bit much for the young guns.

SKADE vs AGF Esport

AGF’s momentum got cut short last week by PACT, who took the first qualifying slot for playoffs in first round of overtime. Meanwhile, SKADE bested a refreshed LDLC lineup with upgraded firepower. SKADE are definitely on the verge of breaking into the next level of international competition and this is a good time to show it. Bulgaria has recently seen a good surge of talented players and SKADE seem to have found a combination that can consistently perform against higher competition. They seem to favor a similar map pool, with Inferno and Overpass at the top of their most-played maps, but SKADE seem to have the upper hand in the depth of their pool.

CR4ZY vs Espada

Back when CR4ZY were just Project X, they bested Espada twice in a best-of-three with a 2-1 score. That was 2019, both teams have seen changes since then and Espada have been playing a lot more high tier competition. This is a much closer matchup than it is on paper (#44 vs #80 based on HLTV standings), but it still favors the Russians. If coach Ivan “Johnta” Shevtsov does his homework with his team effectively, they can make this a close match and make the best-of-one format work in their favor.

Elimination matches (1-2 Pool)

Team ARG vs Izako Boars

ARG had suffered a huge hit to their morale, having been uprooted from their home at x6tence. The Argentinian squad doesn’t have anything to lose and may play a very loose, puggy style. They have no shortage of flair and can be dangerous to a team like Izako Boars, but this is do-or-die situation and surely the Polish team expects to walk away with the win here comfortably. They were shook by an unexpected loss last week, which was likely taken as a wake-up call in their ranks. They are the team to beat in this one and ARG are once again outmatched like last week.

Singularity vs LDLC

Singularity got through with Bpro giving up on their match last week. They haven’t looked very hot, but they have a roster that can compete for a spot in playoffs. LDLC just brought in a shiny new player in Alexandre “bodyy” Pianaro, who has plenty of star potential. If LDLC’s new guns mesh well with their older players, they will be a force to be reckoned with and are the heavy favorites in this matchup.

Fate vs Apeks

One of the closest matches drawn this week. Its heartbreaking that one of these teams will not make playoffs. Both have a lot more to show, as we’ve seen them climb the ranks in recent international competitions. Neither of the teams have had roster stability recently, but both have scored well against higher tiers of players. Apeks are looking for their revenge following their loss to FATE in the recent BLAST Rising event. This is one of our must-watch matches of the week.

 

North America

Qualified:

Triumph [16:12 vs Yeah Gaming; 16:12 vs RBG; 16:2 vs Chaos EC]
Recon 5 [16:9 vs TeamOne; 16:7 vs Morning Light; 19:16 vs Thunder Logic]

Eliminated:

Keep the comms up [FF vs BIG Frames; 2:16 vs Under21; 10:16 vs New England Whalers]
Infinity [ 6:16 vs Morning Light; 8:16 vs Polar Ace; 13:16 vs Warriors International]

Must see matches:

• Yeah Gaming vs Levitate
• RBG vs Thunder Logic
• Swedish Canadians vs Chaos EC

Preview:

Qualification matches (2-1 Pool)

RBG vs Thunder Logic

This is a promising matchup, both teams are tearing through ESEA Advanced and have shown good results in the group stage so far. Experience is on Thunder Logic’s side with players like Bryce “PureR” Lovell. RBG have shown us that they’re here to stay and have a good chance to best a team like Thunder Logic on a comfortable map pick. They’re set to play eachother in ESEA-Advanced on nuke just this week, which will show the power balance between the two. On a map like Inferno and Vertigo RBG have the upper hand.

Swedish Canadians vs Chaos EC

Don’t let the 16:2 loss to Triumph fool you, Chaos are still a big player in NA and arent immune to having bad games. They’ve been fiddling with their roster, which will ultimately lead to instability in their play. Chaos are an overdog here, since Swedish Canadians will play without Adam “Wolfy” Andersson, who had a huge contribution to their recent success. 

YeaH Gaming vs Levitate

These teams are ranked #90 and #76 in the world respectively, thats a much closer matchup than the standings suggest. The variance of these teams is still high, even though these both teams are towards the higher levels of counter-strike in NA right now. This is a level of teams that can win a local LAN event, each of them has a bag of tricks that they can pull from on their best maps 

Elimination matches (1-2 Pool)

New England Whalers vs ex-Polar Ace

ex-Polar Ace had announced that they are no longer together just the other day. They will be rebuilding their roster shortly with Danny “cxzi” Strzelczyk, Stefan “Lacore” Paunovic and George “Powerzz” Yaede alongside Austin “RenZ” Dickman and Shawn “Magowi” O’Malley. These are all strong players, each comfortable at holding their own against competition of this caliber and are used to playing loose in high tier ladders like the FPL circuit. Whalers will need to be careful to secure the win here.

Warriors International vs Morning Light

Morning Light disband following Riko’s ban on ESEA, so Warriors International will get another shot at glory, going into the 2-2 pool for free.

My team has died now because of a ban with no proof other than what you want to believe. Thank you for adding “Wildcards” and not fixing your abuse of power issues.

More dead MDL teams this season than the last 5. You guys really do know how to fuck shit up

Good job @ESEA https://t.co/UUVs02P5W6

— dylan (@RIKOKF) June 7, 2020

TeamOne vs Big Frames

Big Frames disbanded shortly after last week’s match after picking up the Way2French trio. They are now seeking to compete in Valorant. Team One are moving on to the 2-2 Pool automatically.

Whats happening, North America? Several MDL teams have just recently announced their disbandment and will no longer continue their participation. Big Frames and Morning Light have now confirmed forfeiture of their matches, with Polar Ace being the last team yet to comment. The remaining teams will last to see another round in WINNERS League.