On January 25, the ESL Challenger League tournament will begin – an important championship for several tier-2 teams. The winner will receive not only a monetary prize but also a spot in the closed qualification for ESL Pro League Season 16. Each region will have its own draw. In Group A of the European division, three teams from the CIS have gathered. On January 25, 1WIN and Nemiga will determine the strongest in a BO-3 match.
1WIN
Over the last few years, many mixes and teams from the CIS have stepped up to a new level and performed well. Among them are 1WIN, who rarely appear in major tournaments but compete confidently in tier-2 championships like Pinnacle Series, Malta Vibes, and others. The team holds a spot in the top division of ESEA – Premier. In Season 39, Deko and his squad finished in 5th-6th place. On January 6, Polt and Ravenlot were moved to the bench. On January 10, the team signed flamie – a former Na’Vi player – and the next day, fostar from Trasko.
Nemiga
Once, the Belarusian team could compete with strong CIS outfits like VP, Gambit, and Spirit. In 2021, the team’s results started to decline, and in October, their star player lolipop2k left. The team dropped out of the top 30 and brought in younger players. One of them was the aforementioned fostar, and another from the academy was 1eer. Neither lasted long, so the team signed BELCHONOKK and Chill. Both are on trial. Recently, Nemiga played in the ESEA Premier Relegation and managed to stay in the top division.
Statistics and Prediction
1WIN’s win rate over the last three months is 52.4%. Their opponent is not faring much better at 45.8%. Since the teams play at a similar level and in the same tournaments, they face each other frequently. Last year, they played five times, and Nemiga won all five matches.
Egor flamie Vasilyev recently joined 1WIN, and he won’t be a spare part – he’ll share his experience with the younger players. Based on the games he’s played, it’s hard to say his debut was a smashing success, but he performed solidly and was second in stats behind sniper deko. In their new lineup, the team has only played two games. Nemiga has played just one game in their new lineup and won it. Both newcomers performed well.
When it comes to map pools, both teams have a similar breadth. 1WIN has an edge on Dust2 and Mirage, while Nemiga has better stats on Vertigo and Overpass. On Nuke, both teams have the same win percentage and number of games. I think Nemiga saw how many mistakes their opponents made on Vertigo and might pick that map today. 1WIN beat strong Endpoint on Dust2, so they could win against Nemiga there too. The teams should settle things on Nuke. Plus, the over total was hit in the last three matches between these teams.
