by StarLadder has confirmed the groups and fixtures for the 2019 CS:GO Americas Minor Championship, which will kick off on July 17 in Berlin, Germany.
Only six weeks separate us from the StarLadder Berlin Major, one of the biggest CS:GO esports events of the year, where 24 teams will go head-to-head for a share of US $1,000,000 prize money.
There are still 11 spots available for the top-performing teams in the EU, CIS, Asia and Americas minors, the latter of which had its full schedule announced this week.
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The tournament will feature eight teams that came through closed qualifiers in North America and South America. They have been divided into two groups of four for the first stage of the tournament, which will take place from July 17-18. The playoffs will run over three days from July 19-21.
A double-elimination (GLS) format will be used in the group stage, with Bo1 matches in the opening round and Bo3 series for all subsequent fixtures. The top two teams from each group will advance to the playoffs, which will also use a double-elimination system and Bo3 ties.
The semi-final winners will advance to the upper bracket final and the losing teams will drop into the lower bracket. The winner of the elimination match will then face the loser of the top final. Both final winners will progress to the New Challengers stage of the StarLadder Berlin Major, while the loser of the bottom final will have another opportunity to qualify via the Minors’ Third-Place Play-In tournament on July 29.
The Americas Minor groups are as follows:
Group A – NRG, Sharks Esports, Team One, Team Singularity
Group B – eUnited, FURIA, INTZ eSports, Luminosity
The Bo1 fixtures could go any which way, but there is no denying that NRG are clear favourites in Group A. Ranked among the top five in the world and fresh off a quarter-final finish at ESL One Cologne, they should have an easy time reaching the finals and booking a spot in the StarLadder Major.
Group B favours FURIA, the no.8 team in the world. While they were a bit shaky at the last ESL One event, the Brazilians are expected to go all the way to the last two. They will also want revenge on NRG, who defeated them 16-7 in the first round in Cologne.
Online bookmaker BetOnline has NRG leading the way at +162 in the CS:GO Americas Minor outright betting, with FURIA not far behind at +275.
