Renegades vs NRG

ECS Season 4 North America,

"Mirage" is the predetermined map of choice today in this matchup and because of that we'll look at past stats on mirage and some standout players.

Today is the first day back on track to the online leagues after a few weekends full of excellent CS on LAN. Just a reminder that Blast Pro Series Copenhagen 2017 is this weekend. It's a wonderful time for Counter Strike right now. Though, let's get back to today's online matchup between Australia's favorites; Renegades VS North Americas NRG. Both of these teams have been competing in North America both online and LAN so the comparison between the teams will be plentiful.

Renegades:

Let's start with the Thunder from down Under: Renegades. Since the late addition of Keith "NAF" Markovic (acquired from Optic) the Renegades have been showing much promise in the North American scene. Placing 3rd in both Dreamhack Open Denver 2017 and Dreamhack Open Atlanta 2017, placing 2nd at their most recent LAN, the iBUYPOWER Masters 2017. And Finally placing first at both the Asia Minor - ELEAGUE Major 2018 and SL i-League Invitational Shanghai 2017. Needless to say, Renegades are paving their way into the forefront of the NA scene.

"Mirage" is a commonly played map in the Renegades pool, in recent form Renegades have gone 15-8. Playing against the strongest North American has to offer. Beating teams like Cloud9, Optic, and CLG. As well as some European teams like Virtus Pro and Hell Raisers. The stand out player for Renegades would be Keith "NAF" Markovic, who usually has a rating of 1.25 overall, but on "Mirage" specifically, he has a rating of 1.29. May not sound like much, but even a few points is a huge jump.

NRG:

NRG is to me, a very experimental organization. Their countless "out of touch" sponsors that donate millions of dollars to the org to make it better without actually understanding anything involved in the e-sports scene, bogles my mind. That being said NRG have never really been a a huge threat in the NA scene, in recent form they are showing promise, but overall with more dedicated orgs like Cloud9 and Team Liquid, NRG fall short in the North American region.

"Mirage" for NRG hasn't been to bad with a record of 14-7, but although this record is positive they haven't been playing really top tier teams. The best team I can say they've played and beaten on "Mirage" is Team Liquid. The stand out player on NRG on "Mirage" and the one to look out for is Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte who usually sits at 1.19 rating and on "Mirage" sits at 1.28. Big increase in rating, and he will be a problem for Renegades.

Map Pick/Ban:

"Mirage" will be played no need to go through a ban phase.

Final Thoughts:

NRG have been slowly crawling their way into the North American scene, whilst Renegades have been making strides to be one of the top teams of the Region. I expect Renegades will take this first map, but be on the lookout for map 2 where I feel NRG might take "Train" as they are more comfortable on that map. Good Luck everyone on today's bets.