The tournament PGL Major Antwerp 2022 starts on May 9 – 24 teams, 16 of which are from Europe, 6 from America, and 2 from Asia, will compete for the victory. By the familiar scheme, participants are divided into three categories – Legends, Challengers, and Contenders. Initially, 16 teams from the second and third categories will step into the battle, only half of them will proceed to the second stage – 8 more teams with the «Legend» status will join them. We will discover what teams can be related to the favorites, who can surprise, and who is unlikely to show a strong performance.
The favorites
FaZe Clan – its score includes two big wins at tournaments this year, so another victory will not be something surprising.
NaVi. A small mistake at RMR does not reflect that the reigning champions should be excluded from the list of favorites – NaVi is still one of the most formidable teams and they want to try to achieve a series of victories at the Majors.
Heroic. The Danish team has a stable roster and a significant victorious experience. They managed to beat NaVi in RMR, so the team can be expected to finish in the top four at the Major, at least, or even a victory.
Cloud9 is the former Gambit at full strength. It is unlikely that the transfer to the other organization will make a big impact on the performance and this team has proved many times that it can solve the highest objectives. At least, we can expect them to reach the top four.
It is worth mixing the ranks of the Legends with, at least, one team, which will start from the very beginning of the tournament – let it be G2 Esports. The team demonstrated not the most confident performance in RMR but if NiKo is fine at the Major, it will have nice chances to overcome anyone.
The dark horses
NiP is too early to consider the favorite – it is reflected by the loss to Flame in RMR but still, the team demonstrates that it can achieve accomplishments even without dev1ce, and Brollan managed to synergize with the team well. At the Major, it might perform even better than the expectations and push back the recognized leaders.
FURIA can’t be considered among the main contenders for the victory but if the team shows a nice play, the Major can probably become the tournament where it can reach a new level.
These two teams can be called «the dark horses» conditionally – they might not be the favorites but they are pretty close to them. Flames are frequently underestimated: the Danish team performed nicely in RMR and is ready to progress further.
BIG – very few people expected this team to make it to the Major but, as a result, it proceeded to «the Legends», having demonstrated a nice performance in the qualifiers: the list of the defeated teams even included FaZe Clan. Despite this fact, BIG is not related to the favorites – probably, it is wrong because this team is difficult to stop on its best days.
It will be difficult
Some strong teams have left without the Major – competition at CS: GO tournaments are very high and those who had made it have already achieved particular success. But it is extremely difficult for many teams to reinforce their success and reach the top eight – we are not even talking about the victory. Let’s list the most interesting rosters among such teams:
forZe finally advanced to the Major: it lost to Heroic in the very first RMR match but opponents were not that tough in the further matches. forZe even participated in the tie breaks for the last Legends slot but they had no chances against NaVi. They have a few chances at the Major but who knows, they might surprise.
9z Team is a roster from South America, which has managed to achieve the 8th place – the last one, which gave them a slot in the Major. They have very few chances to claim something but what a story it would be!
Bad News Eagles helped to eliminate Entropiq, having defeated them in the first round. The Eagles were struggling further but they held the 7th place in Group B in the European qualifiers, after all. They are unlikely to proceed far at the Major but it will be interesting to follow them.
Team Spirit has faced failure recently but things become better. The team managed to qualify for the Major with great efforts: it made it from the 8th place and mainly due to the lucky bracket. Achievements should not be expected from it at this tournament.