?The first best-of-one series for the Challengers Stage will have the no.11 ranked team in the world, Team Vitality, taking on the no.22 team in the world, Complexity.

Team Vitality have been underperforming throughout the start of 2022 after they added two new players to their roster in Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen and Emil “Magisk” Reif. Many people thought that this Vitality roster would send them up the world rankings and win them a lot more events. However, the roster has only been able to manage a 9th-12th at IEM Katowice and a 13th-16th at ESL Pro League 15 in their two S-Tier events they have participated in so far.

Complexity have also made roster changes since the turn of the year, where they changed their whole roster with five new players joining them back in February of this year. The results over the year so far have been mixed but when it comes to best-of-one series Complexity have shown they can be quite dangerous. The team has won their last five best-of-one series since February.

We are looking at the total rounds line of 26.5, where the over at -120.48 looks the play.

?Bad News Eagles and Eternal Fire recently met in November of 2021 where Eternal Fire won 2-1 in a best-of-three series. This series is the battle of the new up-and-coming rosters in European CS:GO esports scene.

Bad News Eagles begin the PGL Major winning seven of their last 10 series over the last two months, winning three of their last five best-of-one series. Bad News eagles did win the TWR Eastern European Masters (BLAST Premier Qualifier), they then went on to push Ninjas in Pyjamas to a 2-1 loss in the European Spring Showdown two weeks ago.

Eternal Fire have had a mixed run of results throughout 2022 where they were unable to qualify for the IEM Dallas 2022 through the second open qualifier but they did manage to beat Fnatic and OG to qualify for the Challengers Stage of this event. With some close losses to Vitality and Copenhagen Flames on their resume, it is easy to see why there are such high hopes for this team going forward.

This will be a very tight series, and the odds suggest that also with only 10c separating the two teams in the match betting. We are taking Bad News Eagles at the head-to-head price, purely based on the form they have brought into this event.

?The match between G2 Esports and Team Liquid will be the highest ranked teams to battle it out in the Challengers Stage after they both could only manage to finish 5th place in their respective RMRs.

G2 Esports have only played four series since their dismal 17th-20th place finish at ESL Pro League 15 back in the middle of March. Considering they only beat 71st ranked Sangal and 28th ranked Bad News Eagles as their two wins in the Swiss round two and three games, it doesn’t show that they have hit a whole lot of form. G2 will be one of the biggest watches for many in this PGL Major as they could be on the verge of a roster shake-up if they fail to impress here.

Team Liquid have made some steady progress and climbed up the rankings since February of this year when they added the three new players to their roster, Richard “shox” Papillon, Josh “oSee” Ohm and Nick “nitr0” Cannella. Team Liquid have climbed from 59th in February to now sit as the 13th ranked team in the world rankings. If Team Liquid continue their good run of form into the PGL Major they may surprise a lot of people and go very deep in Antwerp.

We will be taking the outsiders at the win betting market in this one to cause a bit of an early boil over. Team Liquid at +137 with BetOnline is a good bet at a very enticing price.

?Imperial and Team Spirit will provide one of the toughest matches we may see in round one, with both teams coming into the Challengers Stage on decent win streaks with three matches for Imperial and five matches for Team Spirit.

Imperial finished third in their PGL Major RMR and they won their IEM Dallas 2022 Closed Qualifier meaning that they have won six of their last eight series throughout those two qualifiers. Imperial have won four of their last five best-of-one series showing that they are a dangerous team in a best-of-one series against anyone. Imperial would have to be a big smokey to go deep into this PGL Major.

Team Spirit snuck through to the PGL Major Antwerp finishing in 8th position to make it to the PGL Major in Antwerp. Team Spirit have 50/50 record over their last six best-of-one series over the last two months so best-of-one series may not be there strong suit.

We will be taking Imperial in this one to win. The betting sites may have this one wrong here, so we are happy to take Imperial at the -120.48 head-to-head price.

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As you would expect at one of the biggest events of the year, the top 10 teams in the ESL world rankings will all participate in the Antwerp PGL Major. The top esports betting sites have made top three teams in the world the top three in the outright betting with FaZE Clan at +162, Natus Vincere at +200 and Cloud9 at +500. Our best bet for the PGL Major comes from those top three in the market.

BEST BET – FaZe Clan

The number one team in the world will enter the 2022 PGL Major Antwerp as the favourite in the tournament win market. For FaZe Clan, 2022 has been an incredible year already with the organisation taking home over $630,000 in prize money from the four events they have entered. FaZe Clan have been ranked in the top five in the world since the start of March this year, after their IEM Katowice win, and they have been the top-ranked team since April 11, after their ESL Pro League win.

Since FaZe Clan added Robin “ropz” Kool to their roster in January of 2022, they have looked like a new team. The 22-year-old has been massive for them so far, bringing two trophies to the organisation in the first four months since his signing, whilst also adding a MVP at ESL Pro League 15. He is currently averaging a 1.17 rating out of 2 from the 49 maps he has played, which sits at the top of the average ratings for FaZe.

FaZe Clan have shown they can start events slow, as they were off to scratchy starts at both IEM Katowice and ESL Pro League 15, but by the time the playoffs and sudden death series roll around, we see the best of this outstanding roster. So if FaZe do start slow or lose an early series, don’t be too worried, because they will make sure they are firing on all cylinders at the pointy end of this event.

Best Roughie – ENCE

ENCE will be the team on everyone’s mind when the 2022 PGL Major begins. They have played some really good CS:GO in their last two events, lifting their ranking to fourth in the world. ENCE have produced some outstanding results; they finished second in the ESL Pro League when losing to FaZe 3-1 in the final, and they won the EU BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, amassing $100,000 in prize money from just those two events.

ENCE’s highest-rated player and one of the real up-and-comers in the world is Lotan “Spinx” Giladi. “Spinx” is averaging a 1.17 out of 2 rating over the past three months for ENCE. The 21-year-old put the team on his back during the ESL Pro League, where he was involved in over 70% of the teams kills over their 24 maps. If ENCE are going to win the Antwerp PGL Major, then they will need “Spinx” to keep up his great form, but they will need more help from the rest of the roster. We believe that +1600 in the outright betting at BetOnline is well overs for the form team in Europe.

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