The final week of ECS Season 7 North America is upon us, with the opening games either set to repeat from last week, either reigniting regional rivalries or creating new ones. All teams have a shot at attending the ECS Season 7 – Finals at the SSE Arena, Wembley on 6 June.
What is the Esports Championship Series (ECS) Season 7?
ECS Season 7 is the latest iteration of FACEIT’s popular CS:GO tournament format. It consists of two regions, the European and North American circuits, where 30 teams have battled it out in best-of-three (Bo3) knockout brackets over five weeks to qualify for the ECS Season 7 - Finals.
The season is split into five online, eight-team single elimination brackets with the winners of the first three qualifying for the finals in London. The last two slots for the finals will be allocated to the highest-earning European and North American team over the regular season, excluding those that have qualified.
ECS Season 7 Week 5 - North America odds
The odds below represent the opening matches in ECS Season 7 Week 5 North America. For a complete list of odds for ECS Season 7, head over to our CS:GO section.
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With INTZ not having taken part in Week 4, the win from MIBR saw the Brazilians catapult themselves into pole position for the final spot. But with $12,000 of prize money still on offer for first place in the upcoming week, the field has been cracked wide open and anyone can claim their place in London.
The team in the driving seat are MIBR (1.10*), who after picking up the win last week, sit at the top of the standings table with $12,000. They position themselves as one of the favoured teams after a commanding 2 - 0 victory over Team Liquid, with player “fer” managing to take 100.6 in Average Damage per Round (ADR) over the series.
The Brazilians will once again be facing Singularity in the opening round. While it may have looked like MIBR faced a challenge, having been taken to three maps by the Americans, the Brazilian team kept in control with positive Kill / Death (K/D) scores.
MIBR were also in action in the other major CS:GO league last week, taking part in the second stage of the ESL Pro League. They managed to take a flawless record with victories over Complexity, Renegades, and Isurus to secure a place at the finals in Marseille.
Similarly to last week, the Brazilians will once again be facing Singularity in the opening round. While it may have looked like MIBR faced a challenge, having been taken to three maps by the Americans, the Brazilian team kept in control with positive Kill / Death (K/D) scores and by having a high ADR. Barring a potential banana skin in the form of Cloud9 in the second round, a repeat of Week 4’s final is likely to be on the cards.
Luminosity (LMN, 1.61*) and INTZ (2.35*) are the next two teams most likely to make way their way to London with both currently in joint second place in the overall ECS Season 7 standings. Unfortunately for one of them, their hopes of reaching the ECS Season 7 - Finals will be wiped out in the first round as they face off against each other.
INTZ haven’t had the best of luck recently. They fell to FURIA in Week 3’s final, and prior to that saw a last place finish in the ESL Pro League Group Stages alongside a Group Stage exit at DreamHack Open Rio. Additionally, they recently fell out of the ESL One Cologne qualifiers in the first round of the closed bracket.
With their opponent’s offline and online form not looking great, Luminosity step into this matchup as the favoured team. They come off the back of finishing in the top four last week, catapulting themselves into joint second. The Brazilians can also cite good offline performances at the ESL Pro League, where they finished top of their group. Luminosity also have an edge in another respect; when the two teams faced off in Week 1 of ECS they came out on top as 2 - 1 winners.
The last serious competitors are Team Liquid (TL, 1.03*) who are third in the table and in prime contention to head to London. Their first game this week will be against Spacestation Gaming, a rematch that they are well-suited for. TL, currently regarded as best in North America, dispatched of their opponents in the previous week in a comfortable 2 - 0 victory.
Despite last week’s loss to MIBR, Liquid still remain the favourites to be the ones who’ll pick up qualification. Before losing to the Brazilian team, Liquid hadn’t lost a match since their second place finish at BLAST Pro Series Miami, and hadn’t suffered a defeat online since they were surprised by Rogue in the Week 1 of ECS.
Their appearance in the final is dependent on beating Luminosity or INTZ, and it wouldn’t necessarily matter who comes out on top in the Brazilian battle. Liquid has positive records over both teams, including being the 2 – 1 winners over Luminosity in last week’s Semi-Final.
A complication for Liquid, however, is that the final two days of ECS will overlap with their appearance at cs_summit 4. Whether this brings a similar vein of success as MIBR found last week while at ESL Pro League is up in the air.
The rest of the pack
The remaining teams are less likely to achieve an upset victory and qualify. However, none of this week’s competitors are out of the race. For the next four teams, as long as MIBR don’t reach the finals, a victory can see them head to London.
Cloud9 (C9, 1.71*) will be facing eUnited (EUN, 2.15*) in their first match, with both teams looking to improve on last week’s performance. Cloud9 currently have a double losing record against the Brazilians, falling in Week 3 to INTZ and in Week 4 to LG. eUnited are also a member of the double Brazilian loss club, with a Week 2 loss to INTZ and a Week 4 defeat from MIBR.
Singularity have more of a chance of taking an upset, recording a number best-of-three series wins and best-of-one wins over the past month.
This will be the first time the two teams will have faced each other in their new iterations, with recent roster changes for both teams meaning it’s a fresh slate. However, both teams will also be in attendance on LAN at the ESL Pro League.
The final two teams taking part this week are Singularity (SNG, 7.09*) and Spacestation Gaming (SSG, 12.52*). Neither team are yet to record a win in ECS so far this season, and that record is unlikely to change in the final week. Facing off against MIBR and Liquid, respectively, they are set to take on the two teams heavily favoured to reach the week’s finale.
In terms of who could manage an upset, Spacestation are placed firmly into the “unlikely” camp, having only recorded two best-of-one series wins in the past month, both of which were in the second-tier ESEA MDL league. Singularity on the other hand have more of a chance, recording a number best-of-three series wins and best-of-one wins over the past month. With them once again facing MIBR, the Americans could look to utilise any knowledge gained to push one map further, and take an upset.
That’s it for the ECS Season 7 Week 5 North America preview! Catch the game live on Twitch, between 21st-24th May 2019.
