Heroic vs Team Liquid Prediction: Americans to make playoffs

October 31-November 13 will mark the second major CS:GO event of the 2022 competition season. Twenty-four teams have been selected through the regional RMR qualifiers – eight will begin their journey with the Legends stage and another sixteen will embark on the journey with the Challengers stage. The winner of the IEM Rio Major 2022 will receive $500,000, BLAST ranking points, and invites to ESL Katowice 2023 and BLAST Premier: World Final.

On November 8, Heroic and Team Liquid will play another match in the IEM Rio Major 2022 Legends Stage. We'll find out which team will be stronger very soon. The meeting is scheduled to start at 00:00.

• Current HLTV ranking: #7;
• Changes over the last three months: +2;
• Best map: Ancient – 100% in 3 maps;
• Worst map: Overpass – 43% in 7 maps.

It was not so long ago that Heroic managed to win BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2022, defeating Astralis in the finals. However, it should be understood that the team had no serious opponents. Victories over ECSTATIC or Sangal were not impressive. And it is difficult to call the victory over Astralis a huge success. Nevertheless, the Danes look good at the IEM Rio Major 2022. The team is one step away from making the playoffs with two wins out of three games. As for the maps, Heroic is uncomfortable to play against the Americans because of the Nuke ban. That's why the Danes have lost all their last bo3 meetings. The guys can try to take Inferno or Overpass, but it's hard to say that Heroic will have an advantage on any of the maps. Absolutely any choice of the Danes will be comfortable for Team Liquid. The Americans are in good shape, they have a higher win rate on these maps, and the last face-offs ended with Team Liquid winning.

• Current HLTV ranking: #3;
• Changes over the last three months: +10;
• Best map: Ancient – 86% in 7 maps;
• Worst map: Vertigo – 50% in 6 maps.

Team Liquid had a poor start to the IEM Rio Major 2022, losing 2-16 to MOUZ, but they pulled themselves together and won the next two games to advance to the playoffs. In their last encounter with Natus Vincere, the Americans showed great defense at Ancient, winning the half by a score of 13-2. Even though YEKINDAR played their worst match at the tournament, the team was able to win. As for maps, Team Liquid could once again pick Vertigo or Ancient. Of course, the Americans haven't been very good lately on the first map, but they beat Heroic twice already in their head-to-head encounters on this map. And they did it confidently. On Ancient the Danes have 100% win rate, but Team Liquid has beaten stronger opponents, and the win rate rate of 86% doesn't look much worse. With good luck the Americans can close the meeting with a score of 2-0.

Both teams performed well in their first Legends Stage games. The teams are one step away from making the playoffs, but even if they lose, they will have one more chance to advance. Team Liquid is comfortable to play against Heroic in bo3, which was perfectly demonstrated in the faceoffs in 2022. The upcoming match will be no exception. Team Liquid's defense will not be able to get past any of the maps.

First bet: W Team Liquid for 2.00 at Bet365 & 1.95 at Betway.

Second bet: Handicap Team Liquid (-3.5) Rounds for 2.33 at 1xbet.