After a relatively long pause in the CS:GO offline tournaments caused by the coronavirus pandemic, every major event is a very significant one for fans of this kind of eSports.
The PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Challengers Stage is one hell of a fight for the title. The status of this tournament is far more important than the prize money, which is also big – a million dollars. Therefore, best of the best are fighting for the champion title in this tournament. This was confirmed by the very difficult and extremely tense qualifying tournaments, which forced the players to make every effort to qualify for the main part of the competition, and the fans of the teams – not to worry at all. After all, the results of many games dramatically differed from predictions, there were many surprises and even sensations.
Unexpectedly, the Brazilian team Imperial Esports was one of the favorites to win the tournament, and they have a very strong squad, each with a record of victories in the most prestigious tournaments. Even so, this team can hardly expect to win. At the moment this team is in a very unenviable position. They beat Team Liquid, but lost their meetings with Team Spirit and the Bad News Eagles. Their defeat against Kosovo was one of the sensations of the tournament, as the pundits almost unanimously predicted an entirely different result.
However, Imperial Esports had a good chance against IHC ESPORTS. The Brazilians will certainly be strong on the Overpass. The chances of IHC ESPORTS are not good there because the team has very little experience with the Overpass. It is too early to make any definite conclusions yet, however, as IHC ESPORTS will have a very good chance on Inferno.
In fact, IHC ESPORTS managed to change their attitude to the tournament from patronizing and waiting for eviction to a very favourable one. Now the team is one of those teams, from which you can expect very interesting matches with unexpected results. After all, the team was able to beat a very strong opponent, the Renegades, thanks to the skill of bLitz. But all the same, the future prospects of IHC ESPORTS in the tournament are evaluated very cautiously. This team is good on Mirage, not bad on Dust2. However, first of all the experts are worried by the fact that most of the victories of IHC ESPORTS were obtained in regional tournaments. But whether the team will manage to cope with the opponents from other countries, the level of which is much higher than the players they defeated, is still a big question.
Undoubtedly, the strong side of Imperial Esports – the presence in the team of very experienced and very reputable players, which is a distinct advantage over IHC ESPORTS. Therefore, the bookmakers still consider the victory of the Brazilians more likely. If you bet on Imperial Esports to win, the odds are 1.90 with a handicap of -8.5. If you bet on a 2-0 win, the odds go up to 2.0.