OpTic Gaming vs Gambit Esports

Here we are at IEM Oakland 2017 Group Stages,

In the first round of "Best of One" matchups, we have the CIS powerhouse of Gambit Gaming, facing off against the European mix of Optic Gaming. Though these two teams have never faced off in the past, their recent performances can foreshadow the end result to come.

Gambit:

In their most well known LAN appearance Gambit won the most recent Major: The PGL Major Krakow 2017. Although, since that Major they have lost their In-Game Leader "Zues" to their other CIS counterparts "Natus Vincere". In order to move forward as a team they've brought on Bektiyar "fitch" Bahytov. Who has done wonders for the team, holding a solid 1.07 HLTV rating and fitting seamlessly into the lineup. In recent LAN appearances they've taken 3rd place at "Dreamhack Masters Malmo 2017" and a 2nd place performance at the "ROG Masters 2017 EMEA Finals". Gambit is a strong team, though still somewhat of a mystery as they don't particularly play online matches as often as other organizations.

In recent form of map choices, "Train" has been their number one map played by far. With 24 total games played total, but alas only holding a 50% win rate by splitting the games to hold a 12-12 record. Their most won and second most played map "Mirage" has an 11-3 record and will probably be the preferred map of play this event for Gambit. "Cache" sits positively at a 6-5 record. As does "Nuke" at 5-2. "Inferno" and "Overpass" aren't the most enjoyable maps for Gambit as they both hold a negative record at 2-4. Finally "Cobblestone" sits at a 2-3 record and is most likely not going to be see much play for Gambit.

Optic:

Optic Gaming is a very interesting team. They are a mix of many different European organizations, much like their rivals "FaZe Clan". Only Optic doesn't have near the firepower as "Faze" and have been referenced as the rejects of the European scene, in contrast to "FaZe" being the hand picked of the best of the scene. Although Optic has made many rosters changes over this past year they have solidified their roster, by completely gutting it except for the main AWPer Óscar "mixwell" Cañellas. They're picked up ex-NiP's Adam "friberg" Friberg, and Aleksi "allu" Jalli, adding some diversity and experience to the team. As well as adding ex-North's Emil "Magisk" Reif and ex-Penta's Kevin "HS" Tarn. With this lineup they had a decent showing at the "iBUYPOWER Masters 2017" and "Europe Minor - ELEAGUE Major 2018" placing 3rd-4th in both events. This team has potential, but because it is still young and working on little details, I don't see them having nearly as much success in this tournament.

Map choices for Optic have been decent, and though they don't have a real wide map pool, they tend to have some success on many different maps. "Train" is their most played map with 18 total games and a record of 14-4. Following "Train" is "Mirage" where they hold a record of 9-7. "Overpass" sits at a 9-7 record. "Inferno" follows up with a record of 9-5". "Cache" sits at an even 6-6 record and lastly "Nuke" sits positively at a 3-2 record surprisingly.

Map Pick/Ban:

The main map of choice for both of these teams seems to be "Train", so I do expect that to be the map to be played in this matchup. With that being said, Optic does have a slight advantage in terms of past performances. I don't expect any other map to be played because of "Tain" being such a huge staple in both of these teams map pool.

Final Thoughts:

In this matchup, Optic i believe should be the favored team to win. However, Óscar "mixwell" Cañellas, recently tweeted that he has been sick since the ending days of "iBUYPOWER Masters 2017" where his performance lacked becuase of it. In his final matches against "Renegades" over the 2 maps "Mixwell" went 20-38 in terms of Kills to Death. With this information being known, and with Gambit coming in fresh and well rested in terms of LAN performances. I predict that Gambit will take the victor over Optic. It should be a very close game and I for one am excited to tune in, hope you will too!