Into the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 - New Challengers [OPINION]

This is a quick view on the teams that qualified from the minors and will be looking for a spot at the major final stage.

With the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 set to start on January 12, here is a review of the teams that have qualified from the minors and will be joining what is now known as the "Challengers Stage" which is equivalent to the old qualifier and will include the bottom eight teams from last PGL Major Kraków 2017 as well. The teams will face each other in the swiss format and they need to reach a total of three wins to qualify or three losses to be eliminated. This first stage will define the eight teams that will have their chance to fight for the title:

America Minors - Team Liquid (1st) and Misfits (2nd)

Team Liquid

Nicholas "nitr0" Cannella
Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski
Joshua "jdm64" Marzano
Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken
Wilton "zews" Prado

Team Liquid has qualified in first place on the minor when Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz was still part of their active roster, but the poor results right after made the team change and add the brazilian Lucas "steel" Lopes from Immortals to their lineup. The results didn't improve much but steel didn't have time to practice and train much with the team, but that doesn't really make a difference because he can't attend the major as he played for Immortals on the qualifiers and Liquid played with stanislaw, so the only option will be using their coach Wilton "zews" Prado as part of their team. This will have a big impact on Team Liquid performance but the team is still strong to make to a top eight if all other players step up.

First match against: FaZe

Opinion: Team Liquid will make it with a 3:2 win/loss score.

Last three tournament standings:
ECS Season 4 Finals - 7/8th
ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals - 11/12th place
IEM Oakland 2017 - 11/12th place

Misfits

Sean "seangares" Gares
Hunter "SicK" Mims
Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan
François "AmaNEk" Delauney
David "devoduvek" Dobrosavljevic

This team is very solid and their latest results shows they have been increasing their game, with an amazing run at ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals, to only be eliminated on the semifinals by SK Gaming. The french duo devoduvek and AmaNEk are fun to watch and the rest of the team has been doing a great job. The lack of experience at big events could be the downside that will make the team struggle here, but if they can overcome that, they will be a very hard opponent against any team they face.

First match against: FlipSid3 

Opinion: Misfits will be eliminated with a 2:3 win/loss score.

Asia Minor - Renegades (1st) and Flash Gaming (3rd)

Renegades

CIS Minor - AVANGAR (1st) and Quantum Bellator Fire (2nd)

AVANGAR

Europe Minor: Space Soldiers (1st) and EnVyUs (2nd)

Space Soldiers

Can "XANTARES" Dörtkarde?