Preview of DreamHack Open Rio 2019
Ihor MatusGeneral information
The tournament will be taking place from 19 till the 21 April and will be divided into two stages: group stage and playoff. The first stage will be held on first two days while all the events of the playoff will be held on the last day of the championship. At the moment we already know how the players have been seeded into groups. Group A is represented by AVANGAR, eUnited, FURIA Esports and INTZ eSports. As for Group B, there we can see such teams as AGO Esports, Sharks Esports, Valiance and W7M Gaming.
Chances of victory
Favorites
Valiance & Co (position in the HLTV rating — #15)
Win coefficient: 3.70
According to the bookmakers, the main favorites are the representatives of Valiance. This team is the strongest in Serbia and and among the players of the CS:GO roster there is a young talented player EspiranTo that is able to change the whole game with only several shots. Also we want to remind that Valiance represent Top 15 best professional teams according to HLTV. Taking into account their performance at the closed qualifier for DreamHack Open Tours 2019 and the fact that the team defeated some participant of DreamHack Open Rio, the status of the favorite of the championship is fully deserved. Let’s look at how Valiance will play and find out whether they will be able to gain the champion title. This collective is likely to become one of the finalists of the competition.
Valiance roster and rating of the players:
Nestor ‘LETN1’ Tanic — 1.04
Nemanja ‘huNter’ Kovac — 1.23
Nemanja ‘nexa’ Isakovic — 1.17
Rokas ‘EspiranTo’ Milasauskas — 1.04
Otto ‘ottoNd’ Sihvo — 1.15
AVANGAR (position in the HLTV rating — #16)
Win coefficient: 4.50
AVANGAR is the strongest representative of Kazakhstan. The team showed a good performance at the last Major tournament and managed to surpass expectations of the viewers being one pace away from passing to the playoff. After this AVANGAR took part in LOOT.BET/CS Season 1 which turned out to be victorious for them. According to the bookmakers, the Kazakh roster is not the clearest favorite of this championship and we agree with them due to several reasons. A month ago KrizzeN got benched and now SANJI plays instead of him. The player’s experience is limited by such teams as Syman Gaming and KnockOut Sports. We think that AVANGAR and the player have a good chance to perform well but they are unlikely to become winners of the tournament. They need more practice and it is proven by the results of the last matches of AVANGAR.
AVANGAR roster and rating of the players:
Timur ‘buster’ Tulepov
Alexey ‘qikert’ Golubev
Ali ‘Jame’ Djami
Bektiyar ‘fitch’ Bahytov
Sanjar ‘SANJI’ Kuliev
Dastan ‘dastan’ Akbaev
Teams that have a chance to win
FURIA Esports (position in the HLTV rating — #19)
Win coefficient: 5
The team from Brazil has good odds of passing to the playoff and the further battle for the title of the champion. The team won all their last matches they participated in. Although the opponents were not representatives of the first class, but nevertheless it became known that FURIA are in a good gaming shape and they are going to the tournament in Rio De Janeiro to show a good performance. You shouldn’t forget that this championship will be convenient for the players as they will get help from home walls and audience that will come to support their favourites. Now FURIA hold the 19 position in the world rating and the coefficient of their victory at the bookmaking centers is equal to 5. We think that it can be a little overstated and the team can claim to win, however, there are more serious opponents.
FURIA Esports roster and rating of the players:
Yuri ‘yuurih’ Gomes — 1.25
Andrei ‘arT’ Piovezan — 1.11
Vinicius ‘VINI’ Figueiredo — 1.02
Kaike ‘kscerato’ Cerato — 1.24
Rinaldo ‘ableJ’ Moda — 1.06
Nicholas ‘guerri’ Nogueira — coach
INTZ eSports (position in the HLTV rating — #36)
Win coefficient: 7
INTZ eSports are rather popular in Brazil and as well as FURIA, they will have an advantage over their opponents due to increase of their moral. As for their gaming skills, the statistics of INTZ is rather bad, but we should take into account the fact that they played with strong opponents that are NRG Esports and Renegades, and also eUnited and Denial. This team would be considered to be outsiders if they hadn't played at the Brazilian championship. In our case INTZ have a chance to make it to the playoff and it can result in a great surprise for everybody.
INTZ eSports roster and rating of the players:
Vito ‘kNgV-’ Giuseppe — 1.26
Marcelo ‘chelo’ Cespedes — 1.10
Alexandre ‘xand’ Zizi — 1.04
Lucas ‘destiny’ Bullo — 0.98
Gustavo ‘yeL’ Knittel — 0.99
Alessandro ‘Apoka’ Marcucci — coach
eUnited (position in the HLTV rating — #31)
Win coefficient: 11
It is rather difficult to say anything about success of eUnited at the upcoming tournament. The level of the participants is almost the same, except for a couple of favorites. The American team may surprise passing to the playoff or may perform typically finishing participation in the group stage. As for the gaming shape, we can claim that it is not as bad as it could seem at first. At one of the recent matches that were held at ESL Pro League Season 9, eUnited won over Renegades and INTZ eSports. The victory over the grand of the Australian CS:GO can mean that eUnited may surprise the audience with their performance.
eUnited roster and rating of the players:
Kaleb ‘moose’ Jayne — 1.10
Austin ‘Cooper-’ Abadir — 1.11
Edgar ‘MarKE’ Maldonado — 1.14
Victor ‘food’ Wong — 1.10
Anthony ‘vanity’ Malaspina — 1.01
Armeen ‘a2z’ Toussi — coach
Outsiders
Sharks Esports (position in the HLTV rating — #69)
Win coefficient: 17
The players of Sharks Esports have been playing for one team for a long time and there were times when they could surprise with their results in a good way. At the moment they are having not the best times of their career and the last results of their matches could have been much better for the Brazilians. Sharks Esports hold the 69 place in the list of the best CS:GO rosters in the world according to HLTV, and the last win for the team happened in October 2018 which resulted in a money prize of $1,736. The situation of the Brazilian proves their status of outsiders and we are curious to see how nak and his teammates are will perform at the upcoming DreamHack Open Rio 2019.
Sharks Esports roster and rating of the players:
Renato ‘nak’ Nakano — 1.01
Raphael ‘exit’ Lacerda — 1.05
Leonardo ‘leo_drunky’ Oliveira — 1.04
Jhonatan ‘jnt’ Silva — 1.02
Rodrigo ‘RCF’ Figueiredo — 1.03
Helder ‘coachi’ Sancho — coach
W7M Gaming (position in the HLTV rating — #83)
Win coefficient: 27
W7M Gaming's situation is similar to what happens with Sharks Esports. The roster has been playing together for a long time but their gaming shape might be better and the practice of the players is participation in unknown tournaments with prize pools of several thousand dollars. In comparison to the other opponents, W7M Gaming look the worst and we are sure that they will be one of the first to leave the championship. But taking into account that Group B will also be represented by Sahrks Esports, Valiance, and Redemption POA instead of AGO Esports who pulled themselves out of the tournament, W7M have a good chance to take the second place and to make it to the playoff. Will it happen? We will get to know soon.
W7M Gaming roster and rating of the players:
Lucas ‘YJ’ Yuji — 1.01
Rafael ‘raafa’ Lima — 1.05
Leon ‘ryotzz’ Felipe — 1.07
Filipe ‘pancc’ Martins — 1.14
Antonio ‘realziN’ Oliveira — 1.07
Pedro ‘peu’ Lopes — coach
Redemption POA (position in the HLTV rating — #241)
Win coefficient: —
The title of the main outsider has been gained by the team Redemption POA. The collective have got the invitation to the championship thanks to refusal of AGO Esports to participate in the tournament. The main reason to refuse was bad health of the player of the Polish team. Redemption POA will get a chance to perform at the tournament and show their worth. As a reminder, this roster holds the 241 place in the list of the best CS:GO teams in the world according to HLTV.
Theoretically, they have a chance to make it to the playoff, hut taking into account the fact that such teams as Valiance & Co,vSharks Esports and W7M Gaming will play with them, Redemption can play well and stop at the second place. Soon we will get to know whether they will be able to pass to the final stage.
Redemption POA roster and rating of the players:
Filipe ‘fp1’ Caires — 0.96
Lucas ‘cad’ Oliveira — 1.05
Alexandre ‘ALLE’ Santos — 1.20
Thiago ‘cryo’ Amorim — 0.95
Cassio ‘frostezoR’ Bergamo — 0.85