There has never been a time in which Europe wasn’t the most competitive region in CS:GO. With the vast majority of the Major trophies going home with a European team, their time at the top has been neverending.
European qualifiers for Majors have always been considered a gauntlet, and with CIS teams also in the mix, the European RMRs are some of the most hotly contested environments in tier-one Counter-Strike.
With the winners of the previous three Majors and a host of other top 30 teams all participating within the European RMR A, the group looks set to continue the trend of competitiveness.
With that said, which teams might surprise us and earn their spot at the BLAST.tv Major in Paris? We asked Anders for his selections, so allow us take you through the names he blessed us with.
One of the two underdogs on this list to be considered successful underdogs at the previous Major, Sprout has been unstable in the months that have followed. The German organization was previously led to IEM Rio by an inexperienced IGL in Ismail “refrezh” Ali, but with both he and AWPer Fritz “slaxz-” Dietrich now long gone, Sprout is somewhat of an unknown quantity heading into this Major cycle.
Arriving in their stead are Australian veteran IGL Aaron “AZR” Ward and Romanian AWPer Adrian “XELLOW” Guta, a player who had previously shone in tier two and three CS:GO. With the team having little game time since the arrival of the former, in the month between now and the commencement of European RMR A, Sprout could reinvent itself as a roster.
The Legends spot they earned at the Rio RMR could be out of the question, but when you factor that preparation time into the already solid rifle core of Victor “staehr” Staehr, Rasmus “Zyphon” Nordfoss, and Laurentiu “lauNX” Tarlea, Sprout could once again be in with a surprisingly solid chance of making the Major.
The second IEM Rio surprise package to feature on this list is GamerLegion. Led by former MOUZ NXT mastermind Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek, GamerLegion won over the hearts of Counter-Stike fans by eliminating G2 from the previous RMR. Carried by Danish AWPer Frederik “acoR” Gyldstrand during that run, the team will once again be hoping to earn themselves a spot at the Major this time around.
A young team that is perhaps a victim of the nature of partner teams in tier one Counter-Strike, like Sprout, GamerLegion has failed to kick on since their time in Brazil. However, this could be a factor that works in their favor come April. While no team will overlook them when going into the RMR, they might be underestimated once more.
Unlike Sprout, GamerLEgion’s squad is quietly impressive. Every CS fan knows the potential waiting to be unlocked in Sprout’s core, but less is known about that of GamerLegion’s star Mihai “iM” Ivan, and even their IGL siuhy. It will be hard for them to pull off heroics similar to that in Stockholm, but don’t be too surprised if GamerLegion is one of the names to make the Major once again.
Considering some of the names that have played for Apeks in the last two years, many would have expected the organization to have already featured at a Major. Coached by Polish Counter-Strike legend Jakub “kuben” Gurczynski, the international roster has been knocking on the door of the top 30 since their IGL Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski’s arrival at the beginning of the year.
With Martin “STYKO” Styk and Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad, Apeks already have the experience required to understand what it takes to survive Major qualification. Although it may have been during the online era, Tim “nawwk” Jonasson also brings a wealth of tier-one experience with him thanks to his time in NIP. These experiences will be key for the team if they are to make it to Paris.
This is all without mentioning the team’s star, Justinas “jL” Lekavicus, the one-time AWPer who has now found his place as an impactful rifler within this team. If Apeks are to find success in Copenhagen and book their ticket to Paris, a lot will fall on his shoulders and his ability to perform against some of the best teams in the world.
The American RMR RMR kicks off on April 5th, and you can watch all action live on BLAST.tv.
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