Vega Squadron vs Renegades

ELEAGUE Major 2018 Main Qualifier,

It is that time of year again! Like Christmas all over again for us Counter Strike players the first Major of the year is here! With a little bit of a twist this time. Were seeing an extra 8 teams added to the "Challengers" list to take on the already existing 8 teams that qualified for the main stage. But instead of a trip straight to group stages, all of these 16 teams will have to go through each other first. I'm starting off my coverage with Vega Squadron VS Renegades

Vega Squadron:

In my past I have talked about Vega time and time again. Sometimes for the win, but mostly against. This is a team that has had big wins against teams like NiP and Gambit, but they're usually one off wins in a best of 3 series where they ultimately fall short. Placing 3-4 place in their last two events (Loot.Bet Cup2 / ROG MASTERS 2017) the remaining placing for their other events fall on average between 7-8th place. Vega is an inconstant team against tier 1 and 2 opponents.

Vega's map pool is roughly a 50% win rate right now, which though is not negative, most teams entering this Major have a 55+ win rate in each of their respective regions. "Cobblestone" is Vega's perma ban so we will not be seeing that map be played. Going in order from most to least played maps we start with "Mirage" that has a record of 6-4, "Infenro" follows up with a record of 5-4, "Cache" sits at 2-6, "Train" at 5-3, "Overpass" at 2-1, and finally "Nuke" at 1-1.

Renegades:

The Australian's have had a very progressive 2017 and I hope they can continue their mild success into 2018. Dropping 2/5ths of the team in order to pick up some new talent has really helped them in the long run. One of these two players that Renegades picked up is Keith "NAF" Markovic. Who has done nothing but work wonders for this team. Having a huge role on the former OpTic squad, NAF has brought his A-game and clutch ability to the main circuit and the rest of Renegades follow in line to produce much success in the Asian and North American Leagues.

Rengades too have a perma ban and that map is "Nuke". Going in order from most played to least played maps we start with "Mirage" at a record of 11-5, following up is "Cobblestone" at 7-6, next comes "Train" at 5-6, "Cache" at 6-4, "Inferno" at 3-3, and finally "Overpass" at 3-2.

Map Pick/Ban:

Since "Cobblestone" and "Nuke" are perma bans and this is a best of one game, those two maps will definitely not be played. "Mirage" is the most played map for both teams so I would expect both teams just to ban out until it gets to "Mirage" and then duke it out there. Although Renegades might try to sneak in a "Mirage" ban to force a game onto "Cache" where they will have a major advantage.

Final Thoughts:

Starting off this Major we have a good couple teams that would love to see a spot on the main stage, so expect both teams to go at it as hard as they can, but only one can win unfortunately. I feel Renegades are the more experienced team with these higher tier opponents and since they have a greater win rate in their map pool and overall I feel they have the edge going into this matchup, medium bet on Renegades. GLHF