Match Prediction: Monte - Heroic | Counter-Strike (CS2)

Welcome to EGamersWorld.

Slowly but surely, Group B of ESL Pro League Season 18 is coming to an end. We only have a few matches left to watch, including the game between Monte and Heroic.

The Monte/Heroic pairing will open the second round of the last chance grid. The loser leaves the championship in a pretty miserable place, while the winner continues the thorny path to the play-offs championship.

The match promises to be an interesting one for The International, as Heroic are playing here. In 2023, it's not often you see the Danes in such critical conditions. ESL Pro League Season 18 has been a serious test for Cadian and company, so there is no hundred per cent confidence in their victory here.

Let's try to see if Heroic will be able to gather their thoughts and finally outplay a lesser status team, or if we will have a real sensation, where one of the main contenders for the top of the EPL will prematurely leave the championship.

Let's go.

Heroic uniforms

We start the match analysis with an analysis of Heroic's form. In this match, the team will play as favourites.

Bookmakers are still confident in the ability of Heroic. The odds for their victory barely reach the 1.4 mark.

And you can't argue with that: Heroic still look more attractive than Monte, even though they are having serious difficulties in ESL Pro League Season 18. It looks especially strange against the background of their performance and success over the course of the season.

All year Heroic almost never leave the championship pedestal. It all started with BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2023, where Heroic took the top 4.

Then there was IEM Katowice 2023 and an offensive TOP-2. The only spoonful of honey in Heroic's honey barrel was ESL Pro League Season 17, where the Danes didn't rise above TOP-8.

Then Heroic came back and had a streak of great tournaments. It was top-2 at IEM Rio 2023, top-4 BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 and IEM Dallas 2023. Heroic went on to win the BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2023 and also finished in the top 3 of the BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023

• Heroic line-up: cadiaN, stavn, TeSeS, sjuush, jabbi.

Heroic have maintained their fighting lineup for over a year. All players have a KD greater than one, but the headliner is stavn, who has 1.13.

Before their performance at Gamers8 Heroic attended another prestigious tournament - IEM Cologne. Being one of the main contenders to win the German tournament, the Danes made it to the play-offs, but failed to move beyond the first round. Heroic lost to Astralis in the first round of the IEM Cologne play-offs with a score of 0-2.

At Gamers8 they debuted with a match against Falcons. In general, the game ended predictably, but the French gave a fight, especially on the first map (Mirage 22-18 in favour of Heroic). The second one went to Heroic with the score 16-10.

In the previous match Heroic faced GamerLegion. Despite GL's seemingly idle position in that match, they were able to get on the Danes' nerves and take the map, but still lost in the end.

Heroic ended Gamers8 with a match against ENCE. The Danish club again failed to beat the Finns and left the major championship at the top-4 stage.

In the first match at ESL Pro League Season 18, the team played against Rooster. The Australians offered no resistance and took 6 rounds in two games.

Next was BIG - another passable opponent for Heroic, but it was not to be. The Danes lost 0-2, losing on Ancient with a score of 23-25 and on Inferno with a score of 13-16.

Heroic got into the last chance net after a 0-2 loss at MOUZ. So from the "achievements" so far, a win over the raw Roosters and that's it. It's looking very deplorable.

Heroic mappool

The best Heroic map is Nuke. The Danes have 5 wins and 0 losses there.

They like to play Overpass, where they lost only once. In three months on Overpass - 5-1.

One of the most frequently played and yet successful maps is Inferno. Heroic has a 9-3 statistic here. It also goes well on Ancient, where Heroic is 3-1 in matches.

Form Monte

We continue the match analysis with the analysis of Monte's form. The Ukrainian club will play from the position of catching up.

Bookmakers do not really believe in Monte. The odds on the victory of SDY and the team is at around 3.3.

Monte continue to play intra-team synergy after the signing of the young Danish talent br0. You can see that the process is underway, hence the difficulties in everyday matches and especially in ESL Pro League Season 18.

Monte almost never miss tournaments, hence their performances at a lot of TIR-2 events. There are both failures, such as a top-16 finish at CCT South Europe Series #3, and victories, such as at CCT West Europe Series #2 and CCT Central Europe Series #5.

However, Monte became famous thanks to his performance at BLAST.tv Paris Major. At the Paris Major, unexpectedly for many, Monte made it to the top 8, but in the first match of play-offs Ledge and GamerLegion.

Before the Long Cologne IEM Cologne 2023 they had a series of unsuccessful tournaments. They finished top-16 at the next CCT, this time North Europe Series #5, and top-8 at the Elisa Invitational Spring 2023.

• Monte lineup: sdy, br0, Woro2k, DemQQ, kRaSnaL .

After a great run at BLAST.tv Major 2023, Monte left the headliner of that roster - BOROS, and was replaced by Astralis Talent member - Danish br0.

Monte rolled out the roster at Play-In IEM Cologne 2023, where they defeated Brazilian teams twice: first Imperial 16-9 and then FURIA 2-1 in the series. Monte beat GamerLegion in the group stage, but were unable to face more serious opponents like Heroic. IEM Cologne 2023 ended with a match against Cloud9. Monte tried, but Ledgeilie more titled club with a score of 0-2.

Before ESL Pro League Season 18 played a number of local championships. Among them were CCT Series tournaments, where Monte finished in the top 4, and top 2 at CCT North Europe Series #7, and there was also Pinnacle Cup V, where the Ukrainian club again finished in the top 4.

In the debut match at ESL Pro League Season 18 they met with the Germans from BIG. As expected, the match was equal, especially on the first two maps, but the decisive one was very lopsided: 16-5 in favour of BIG and Monte fell to the lower grid.

In the first round of the lower grid Monte played with the nominally weakest participants of Basket B - Australians from Rooster. It looked like they were going to close with a 2-0 score, but it turned out that there was no need to be happy before the time, and Monte Ledge were on the first card, but then cameback, thus turning the series in their favour.

In the previous match Monte played against MIBR. As in all other ESL Pro League matches, the game was tense and hard, but the Brazilians triumphed in the end.

Mapule Monte

The best map Monte is Ancient. There Monte has 7 wins in 9 matches. However, Mirage can also be called a signature choice for the Ukrainian club: it has been played 13 times and won 10 of them.

Things are not bad on Anubis, where Monte has 8 wins and 4 losses.

The worst is Vertigo. There Monte have statistics 2-4.

History of head-to-head meetings

During the season the teams played each other twice in official matches: at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR B and at IEM Cologne 2023. Both matches ended 2-0 in Heroic's favour.

Predicted result of the match Heroic vs Monte at ESL Pro League Season 18

Taking into account the history of head-to-head meetings, it is logical to assume that this match will end 2-0 in favour of Heroic. However, on ESL Pro League Season 18 the situation is such that you don't believe in a clean win for the Danes.

I think Heroic will still win, but it will be difficult for them to do it dry. They are a team with a higher class, but they were the same against BIG and MOUZ, and what do we see? Overall, it's a moot point. I'll trust the card from Monte.

Bottom line: +1.5 on Monte.