IEM Fall: North America Preview – Can EG Qualify for the Major?

IEM Fall: North America is one of the most important CS:GO events of the year. Its prize pool ($70,000) may be insignificant, but the number of RMR points awarded to the top 5 of its 12 participants can determine who goes and who doesn’t go to the upcoming Stockholm Major.

IEM Fall: North America Details

IEM Fall: North America is scheduled to take place between October 5^th – 10^th. It features 12 teams and its competitive format is very simple. The teams are divided into 2 groups of 6. The top 2 teams from each group advance to the Playoffs. The 3^rd place teams play a separate 5^th place match.

RMR Points Distribution

The RMR points will be distributed in the following way:

• 1^st place: 2500
• 2^nd place: 2344
• 3^rd place: 2188
• 4^th place: 2031
• 5^th place: 1875

To get a better idea of what these numbers of points mean, consider the fact that the region has 5 available spots for the Stockholm Major and that at the moment, the number 1 spot in North America is occupied by EXTREMUM (1880 points), while the 8^th spot is occupied by Bad News Bears (570 points). This means that a top 5 position at IEM Fall: North America pretty much guarantees a ticket for the Major, regardless of what a team has done so far throughout the year.

Participants

The 12 participants to IEM Fall: North America are the following:

Group A

• Team Liquid
• Bad News Bears
• Extra Salt
• paiN Gaming
• EXTREMUM
• ATK

The big favorites in this group are Liquid and EXTREMUM. Liquid will almost certainly qualify even if it fails to finish in the top 5. But it shouldn’t be possible for them to miss the top 2 against these opponents.

As for EXTREMUM, this is currently the leading team in North America, at least in terms of RMR points. Its global rank is just 71, but that’s a misleading number. A quick look a the roster makes it obvious why: AZR, BnTeT, jkaem, Gratisfaction, and Liazz. All 5 of these players are known to be excellent. Furthermore, EXTREMUM used to be ranked 23^rd just 4 months ago, so we know for a fact that their potential is much higher than what their current rank suggests.

The 3^rd place could be occupied by Bad News Bears or by paiN Gaming. It all depends on tournament form because these crews are quite close to each other in terms of strength.

Group B

• FURIA Esports
• Evil Geniuses
• GODSENT
• Team One
• 00Nation
• Triumph

In Group B, the best teams are probably FURIA and either GODSENT or Evil Geniuses. It’s hard to have expectations from EG at this point, but given the fact that this is a regional tournament where most opponents are quite weak, stanislaw’s team may surprise everyone and secure a spot at the Major despite its disastrous year.

In many ways, this is EG’s last chance to continue playing for the org. As a brand name, EG cannot afford to be associated with the failures we’ve seen this season from its current CS:GO roster. If they don’t make it to the Major, the players will almost certainly need to part ways with their current employer.

 

Photo credit: IEM|Adela-Sznajder