A prize pool of $ 250,000 thousand was announced for the ECS Season 7 regular season finals. While the organizers announced another $500,000 for the finals that will take place in June at the SSE Arena. Some of the best team in the world are currently competing in the quarterfinals of the competition. The first three series in each region are winner-take-all qualifiers with the top teams advancing straight to the ECS Season 7 Finals.

We selected this game for you since it is between two unpredictable teams of CS: GO, OpTic Gaming and G2 Esports. Both teams have had their fair share of success in recent years. However, in the past months, the teams declined in the form which led to a number of roster changes. Both teams are quite capable to beat the best teams on their day, but can also get beaten by the weakest teams. Let’s have a comprehensive look into both teams and analyse who will come out on top.

OpTic Gaming

On March 28, OpTic dropped Rene “cajunb” Borg from the active roster. Cajunb can be considered as a veteran of CS. Since the Danish started his career back in the days of Counter-Strike: Source and was amongst the founding member of Astralis and North. Borg represented OpTic since February 2018. With cajunb on the team, OpTic took second place at cs_summit 3. The organization also finished in the top 4 of StarSeries i-League CS: GO Season 6 and qualified for FACEIT Major – London 2018.

Disappointing run

The team did have a disappointing run in the competition since they were eliminated in the group stage finishing at 19th place. After that OpTic failed to qualify for the Extreme Masters Season XIII – Katowice Major 2019. The team also faced early elimination from World Electronic Sports Games 2018 and WePlay! Lock and Load. This series of poor performances in some of the biggest competitions meant the changes were soon going to be made in the roster.

MSL joining OpTic Gaming

On 1st April, Former Rogue players Mattias “MSL” Lauridsen and Nikolay “niko” Christensen joined OpTic Gaming CS: GO. MSL was part of the active Rogue lineup from October 2018, and niko from January 2019. With the duo, the side participated in the qualifiers for StarSeries & i-League CS: GO Season 7 and the ECS LAN finals Season 7. But after their failure to secure qualification, the club announced the dissolution of the squad. Prior to that, MSL played for North and Team Dignitas while niko competed for Heroic. In the fall of 2018, Christensen spent a month in North on loan, and in December he also played as a substitute for OpTic Gaming.

This new Optic lineup is currently performing well in the ESL Pro League Season 9 – Europe. They finished at 2nd place in Group A with 6 points. The team played three games out of which, they won against North and ex-Space Soldiers, but lost to mousesports.

K0nfig carrying the team

One player who has shined for OpTic in recent months is k0nfig.  Over the years he has made a name for himself as a first-class AWPer. After his debut at 123team, he was noticed by more experienced players and soon became a member of Reason Gaming. He then joined SK Gaming, after which he joined Copenhagen Wolves. In November 2015, he was invited to Team Dignitas. At the end of 2016, the organization left the European scene, and the five continued to perform under the North tag. He is currently performing well for OpTic and could be a key element to the team’s success in the future.

This is the first time that OpTic has qualified for the quarter-final series of the regular season. It will be a big test for the team since they have just formed a new roster and will now compete against one of the best French teams, G2 Esports.

G2 Esports

After getting eliminated from the Intel Extreme Masters XIII – Katowice Major 2019, G2 eSports was quick to make a change to its lineup. The French side signed a contract with former LDLC.com Team player Francois AmaNEk Delone. He replaced Alejandra bodyy Pianaro, who was transferred to the reserve squad,

AmaNEk – The new addition

AmaNEk began his career in 2016. Prior to G2, he represented Vexed Gaming, Misfits and Team LDLC. Together with Misfits, Delone competed at ELEAGUE Major 2018, where the side was eliminated in the first phase of the competition. With LDLC, the Frenchman was unable to win the closed qualifiers for the Europe Minor Championship – Katowice 2019.

Bodyy played for the G2 since April 2016. With the team, he won DreamHack Masters Malmö 2017 as well as the LAN finals of ECS Season 1 and ESL Pro League Season 5. At IEM Katowice Major 2019, the team took 12-14 place and failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Going up

The addition of AmaNEk has proved to be a profitable investment for the team. Since the team finished at 3rd place at the World Electronic Sports Games 2018. After that, they won the DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019: European Qualifier. In the competition, they beat HellRaisers, Valiance, and Avangar. After this triumph, G2 traveled to Belgium to compete in the Charleroi Esports 2019. They finished at 2nd place in Group B after beating Team GamerLegion and Virtus.Pro. Yet they were eliminated in the first game of the playoffs by Splyce.

The team then competed at the ESL Pro League Season 9 – Europe. The analysts tipped them to struggle in the group stage, yet G2 managed to silence its critics. The team finished at first place after a flawless 3-0 victory. They beat Fnatic, Windigo Gaming, and one of the best teams in the world, Natus Vincere.

Final Verdict

G2 will be quite confident against OpTic since they have produced decent results ever since AmaNEk joined the team. Their 2-1 against Na’Vi shows that the team has come a long way from their IEM European Qualifier defeat to BIG. The team has surely got what it takes to win the third series of the ECS Season 7.

G2 Esports 2-1 OpTic Gaming

Odds on bookmakers