PGL Major Antwerp 2022: Analytics of the Results of Challengers Stage
Yuriy SheremetThe first CS:GO Major of the season is in full swing. The Challenger Stage ends. How did the stage finish, what game did the teams show, and what should we expect from the rosters later, at the Legends Stage? We will cover all these questions below.
How does the Challengers Stage format work?
Participants in the first stage are:
- Renegades;
- MIBR;
- G2;
- Complexity;
- Outsiders;
- Imperial;
- Eternal Fire;
- forZe;
- Bad News Eagles;
- Spirit;
- IHC;
- Astralis;
- Liquid;
- 9z;
- Vitality;
- ENCE.
The first round forms a rating out of the sixteen teams, and the best eight teams (according to the rating) play against the other eight rosters. As a result, pairs in the BO1 format are formed. The second round defines groups of winner and losers. This is where they play in the groups in the same format — best of one.
The third round slightly changes the situation. Four teams that won both meetings will play Bo3 for a chance to play in the next stage. This is what the teams do if they have lost both meetings but for a chance to keep their place at the Challengers Stage. The Buchholz system of the tournament works in a way that decisive games are held Bo3. And the other eight organizations keep on meeting with each other in Bo1.
The fourth rounds reveals the names of two team that qualified to continue, and two teams that have to retire from the tournament. The other battles are Bo3, so the team may have either two wins or two losses. The last round defines the organizations that will proceed to the Legends Stage or leave the tournament. All of them will get a score 2-2 in the matches.
In the end, eight best teams will go on and the group of eight worst teams retires from the tournament. Those who made it to the Legends Stage will have to face more serious opponents that are waiting for them after getting to the next stage directly.
How did the games go?
The first teams that passed the Challengers Stage were Vitality and G2. The teams won all three meetings which was not a big surprise. Both organizations were the main favourites of promotion. Later they were joined by Ence, Team Spirit and Outsiders. No surprise, even though many viewers did not believe in Leonid "chopper" Vishnyakov’s team.
The last tickets got in hand of Bad News Eagles, Imperial Esports and Team Liquid. And this is where surprises emerge. The Brazilian team shocked the audience as many people did not not believe they were able to proceed. Especially if we take into account the fact that they aimed at their position.
ForZe, MIBR and Astralis were one step away from joining the Legends Stage finishing their participation with the statistics 2-3 by the matches. Here the Danish made a surprise, but we will tell you about it later. Complexity Gaming had an even worse performance, and outsiders Eternal Fire, IHC Esports, 9z Team and Renegades left the tournament as it had been expected.
The biggest disappointment of the Challengers Stage
The biggest surprise was a performance by Astralis, but it was not a pleasant one. It is clear that the Danish team was not in their best shape, so the players should not have strived for a high placement. However, the majority of viewers of the Major thought to see the tag at the Legends Stage, at the very least.
As a result, the team lost to Team Liquid at the decisive meeting and left the competition. This disappointing result was the worst for Astralis in all history of their performances at Majors. The Danish team took part in ten Major tournaments and four of them ended with a victory for them. Astralis’s worst result happened only in Stockholm (in 2021) and Boston (in 2018) — 12-14 places.
Andreas "Xyp9x" Hoislet was widely criticized. The Danish player’s rating on HLTV has been lower than one for thirteen championships in a row. The number of his deathssurpasses the number of his kills.
The best players of the Challengers Stage
By the results of the first stage of the Major Top-3 of the best players has been defined:
- Abdul "degster" Gasanov;
Team Spirit’s sniper has become a real star of the team. By HLTV he has earned 1.44 points which became the best result of the first stage of the competition. With KDA 1.62, he had a huge impact and showed a great ratio of kills to deaths in a round.
- Benjamin "blameF" Bremer;
The professional player from Denmark managed to beat the record of the kill number on one map in the time of rounds. He made 40 frags leaving Egor "flamie" Vasilyev and Abay "HObbit" Khassenov behind. Anyway, Benjamin Bremer’s performance did not help the team to proceed to the next stage of the tournament. The Danish was only 0.02 points behind the player from Team Spirit and could have easily overtaken him in the rating in case of Astralis’s success.
- Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut.
The French player keeps his stable position in the list of the best. His rating is 1.38, showing the best KDA — 1.73. But the damage per round did not let the player from Team Vitality get higher in the rating.
What teams are able to prove themselves at the Legends Stage?
Among all participants from the eight teams, we should expect high results from the following teams:
- G2;
The finalists of the previous Major have got three wins and moved to the next stage. The team will not stop where they are right now and will try to make it to the Champions Stage to get a win after the failure against Na`Vi.
- Team Vitality;
The French team did not have any difficulties and ended the Challengers Stage with three wins. Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut is in good shape so we should expect a good performance from the team.
- Team Spirit.
The team was not considered to be a favourite of the first stage. Especially, if we take into account disqualification of the coach. But these obstacles did not stop the esportsmen from showing themselves well. The club is likely to continue their success.
Yuriy Sheremet – Expert in mobile gaming and esports among shooters and MOBA games.
At EGamersWorld, Yuriy, as in 2020 when he joined the portal, works with content, albeit with adjustments to his area of responsibility.