Vitality vs Imperial Prediction: No chance for the Brazilian side?

The IEM Rio Major 2022 Challengers Stage is the first leg of the biggest tournament in the CS:GO world. The world's strongest teams battle it out for the major title until the very last minute. The title of champion of this tournament is much more important than the prize money, although they are not small - $1250000. After the online age of Coronavirus in eSports, things are back to normal, and we will soon be watching the second Major event of the year. But that in no way devalues the title's significance, and absolutely every team dreams of lifting the major trophy. All the teams that made it through the tough qualifiers will be showing their best game, which they have been preparing for the most important tournament of their career.

The tournament will be played in two stages. The first is the Challengers Stage. In this stage, sixteen teams will battle it out to make it to the Legends stage, where only eight of the participating teams qualify. The Challengers Stage matches are played in a Swiss system (each team plays for points until they have three wins or three defeats). The relegation matches will be BO3, the others BO1.

The Imperial team was less fortunate than the other Brazilian teams. In their first match, they got the top 1 team in the world, which will only get stronger for the majors. Whether FaLLeN will be able to prepare their team and give a battle to the best team in Europe, we will find out very soon.

Vitality: Тow top 1 in the world rankings

For the start of the new season, the Vitality team made a replacement to strengthen the squad. ENCE star Spinx joined the squad. As expected, he blended in well and gave the squad the firepower it needed to compete with their opponents from the world top. Since the start of the new season, the renewed Vitality squad has played very well and even took the EPL S16 title. In every match, they not only showed a confident and tactically strong game but also a champion's character, playing every match to the maximum against any opponent. However, in the RMR tournament, the Vitality team showed a very poor attack, due to which they lost their place in the legends of the major and will have to break through the Candidates' stage.

In the first match, the players of the French organization will meet the Brazilian team, Imperial. On the one hand, the match seems one-sided, and there seem to be no prospects for the Brazilians. But there's plenty of time to prepare, and the BO1 format always leaves an extra chance for the underdog to cause a sensation. Therefore, the Vitality team needs to gain an advantage from the early rounds and take the match to victory.

The latest change in the line-up was the arrival of Lotan Spinx Giladi.

The top ranking according to hltv is 1st in the world. Currently, they are in 1st place.

The best map statistically is dust2, with a win rate of 88% for 8 games played.

The worst map statistically is nuke, with a 50% win rate for 4 games played.

Imperial: Can they put up a fight?

The legendary sharpshooter and two-time major champion Gabriel FalleN Toledo made his line-up of Brazilian players and named it Last Dance—a line-up of super-experienced and old-school players from the Brazilian professional scene. Seeking sponsorship and organization, they've risen under the Imperial banner and will fight for titles. The team itself is very different from other Brazilian teams. They are not very strong in shooting, but they are incredibly experienced and always try to bring a tactical plan to their game. They have already played in the majors with this squad, where they got to the legendary stage but fell just a bit short of the playoffs. However, after the majors, they lost momentum, and their motivation to play tier-2 tournaments was low, so their level of performance dropped dramatically. After these events, changes were made to the team, and the team was abandoned by peacemaker who had been coaching the squad.

In their first match, the legends of Brazilian CS:GO will meet an almost impossible force in the face of Vitality, who holds the first line in the world rankings. The chances of winning are almost non-existent, but that doesn't mean there is no chance of a fight. In this match, Imperial must show all their skills and prove that they can fight on a par with the best teams.

The last change in the squad was the arrival of Marcelo chelo Cespedes in place of fnx, who in turn took over as team coach.

The best rating, according to hltv, is 1 in the world. The current ranking is 20th.

The best map statistically is overpass, with a win rate of 89% for 9 games played.

The worst map statistically is dust2, with a win rate of 40% for 5 games played.

Expert Betting Tips

I recommend betting on Total Over (25.5) rounds on Map 1 for 1.80.

I also recommend taking a Vitality win by 16:10 rounds on Map 1 for 10.00.