ENCE – G2: Battle of the Titans for the Legends
The PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Challengers Stage is the most anticipated and most important event for all CS:GO fans this year. After all, in recent times, the coronavirus pandemic has made its brutal changes in the world of eSports as well: face-to-face tournaments have become a rarity. That’s why the very participation in them is very significant for the athletes, and to overestimate the importance of winning is impossible at all. However, the financial component should not be underestimated. After all, the prize fund of the Major is one million dollars. Therefore, even at the stage of qualifying rounds, each match of the teams was, we can say, a principled confrontation.
The first stage of the tournament, Challengers Stage, is played according to the Swiss system, the essence of which is that 8 teams take part from the originally 16 to the next stage of the competition. The qualification for the next stage for a team is 3 wins and teams that lose by 3 times drop out of the competition. The format is BE1 (most matches) and BE3 (knock-out rounds).
Undoubtedly, one of the favorites of the tournament – the Finnish team ENCE, which is considered one of the most promising in the world of CS:GO today. The team is in very good shape at the moment, and each tournament they attend adds to their collection of victories. As for their participation in this major it is worth noting the good fortune. First the Finnish team faced the Americans from 9z, whose level leaves much to be desired. The second game was with a very unfavourable period in their history team Outsiders. Both games the Finnish team with its international squad took without much difficulty. But now, they will be facing another favourite, French G2.
G2 are currently going through a period of renewal. Recently Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen took charge of the team as captain, which had a very favorable effect on the game. Also debutant-shooter Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov has joined the team very well. That is, the personnel decisions of head coach Rémy “XTQZZZZ” Quoniam were right on schedule.
The tournament had a difficult start for the team. However, everything started very smoothly: the first opponent was very suitable for a “warm-up”. G2 had no trouble beating Liquid, whose level is much lower. On the other hand, the match against Spirit was extremely tense: G2 managed to snatch the victory in overtime, and the experts believe that the French team had no clear advantage throughout the game.
The match between these two ambitious teams promises to be one of the most exciting events of the tournament. After all, ENCE wants to continue their winning streak and crown them with the league title. The big moment for G2 is to prove that this team with a very mixed history of participation in major international tournaments (impressive triumphs and colossal failures in almost equal parts) is still worthy of a place among the favourites and can be a serious contender for extra-class teams.
The match will also be a landmark in that it will be the first face-to-face encounter between the teams.
