Outsiders vs Unique: Can the Kazakh team surprise the favorites?

PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Europe RMR A is the first qualification tournament where teams will compete for the right to play in the main event in CS:GO - PGL Major Antwerp 2022 (major). This year, the CIS region will be combined with the European region and there will be no separate qualifiers for them. At the tournament, 16 teams will fight for eight berths to the main championship.

We have got the Swiss system this time, which I think is the fairest and most appropriate for such tournaments. With this system, every team has three chances to prove they are worthy to play in a tournament on the Majors level. It also doesn't allow for teams to be randomly selected for the main event (PGL Major Antwerp 2022), like last year when some teams were lucky enough to beat the favorites in BO1 to go to the Majors and then get knocked off without a chance in the first leg.

The whole event will be played according to the Swiss system (teams play for points, each team plays until they have three wins or three losses) in BO1 format, with the knock-out or relegation matches in BO3. The fourth seeds will be ranked from 1st to 4th in the Swiss system, so the match for fourth place is very important and will also be ВО3. There will be no play-off bracket.

Outsiders: No trouble for the favorite

Despite the pressure from the cyber-sports community, the players of the Russian organization should be ready for this match. Whichever way you look at it, the players who play under the Outsiders tag (formerly Virtus.pro; due to the global agenda, players cannot play in tournaments under their tag) are much stronger than their counterparts. In tactical terms, individual form, and amount of experience they are far ahead, as evidenced by the huge difference in the rankings. I don't think that failure at ESL Pro League Season 15 will be a determining factor for Outsiders, because the opponents there were much higher level than in this clash.

On the other hand, the BO1 format always gives the underdogs a chance to surprise the favorites. Therefore, we need to approach the encounter without underestimating, and without any problems to outplay the opponent by their quality.

The players have been playing together for more than a year. The last change in the line-up was the arrival of Evgeny "FL1T" Lebedev.

Best hltv rating - 3rd place in the world. Now it's in 9th position.

The best map is inferno, with a win rate of 80% for 5 maps played.

Unique: Able to surprise?

Players of the Kazakh organization Unique (former 100 ping gods) have long ago taken their place on the range 2-3 scene of professional CS:GO. Though the results were not quite as stable as the rest of this elite, the team could always find a couple of wins and never left the last place. There has never been a change in the squad in the seven months of its existence, so there is no question of chemistry. The BO1 format always favors the underdog in a match, and the guys from Unique need to make themselves known in events of this level and against such strong opponents.

The top-ranking according to hltv is 37th in the world. The current ranking is 66th.

The best map is dust2, with a win rate of 64% for 11 maps played.

Expert Betting Tips

I recommend taking a bet on Total Under (25.5) by rounds on Map 1 for 1.77.

I also recommend taking a handicap 1 (-5.5) on Map 1 for 1.83.

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