Today, in the top matches of the fourth round of PGL Major Antwerp 2022, two equal teams will compete in The Legends Stage: ENCE and Heroic. The question of determining the favorite is quite difficult, since both teams are quite strong. Bookmakers single out ENCE as not the most obvious favorite of the match, giving odds for their victory at 1.80, while the odds for Heroic's triumph are 1.95. Let's turn to the facts and statistical indicators in order to understand what bet in this case would be the most appropriate to make.
ENCE uniform
As part of the passing The Legends Stage in PGL Major Antwerp 2022, the European team showed itself quite well. The team played against FaZe Clan, Copenhagen Flames and Outsiders. The first match against the strongest team in the world, according to HLTV statistics, was held with a score of 16-8. After the victory over FaZe, the team had to fight with Copenhagen Flames, ranked 14th in the top 30 best CS:GO teams in the world according to HLTV. There, ENCE surprisingly failed to defeat the CPH Flames, after which in the third round they defeated the Outsiders (#10 in the HLTV list) in the next Bo1 match without any problems. Heroic became on their way, and the match for reaching the playoffs will be held in a series of up to two victories. Prior to this, not a single team has played Bo3 matches in the championship, which can be a key factor.
History of recent ENCE meetings
PGL Major Antwerp 2022 The Legends Stage
- ENCE 16-8 Outsiders
- ENCE 8-16 Copenhagen Flames
- ENCE 16-8 FaZe Clan
PGL Major Antwerp 2022 The Challengers Stage
- ENCE 2-0 Bad News Eagles
- ENCE 1-2 G2 Esports
- ENCE 16-6 Outsiders
- ENCE 16-7 9z Team
Best ENCE cards
- Nuke - 85.5%
- Ancient - 68.8%
- Dust 2 - 66.7%
- Mirage - 60.0%
- Overpass - 50.0%
- Vertigo - 50.0%
Heroic Game Uniform
As for the Danish roster, the team is not as warmed up by the latest events as ENCE. The reason for this is that they got into The Legends Stage directly, without passing through The Challengers Stage. In this Major competition, the team played only three matches, two of which turned out to be extremely problematic for them. If in the battle with Liquid (#13 in the HLTV top) the team won with a score of 16-11, then in the fight against Spirit (#23 in the HLTV top), they were defeated with a score of 12-16. Although the match against G2 Esports (#6 in the HLTV top) ended in victory for Heroic, it ended with a score of 19-17, which indicates that the Danes are not in the best playing shape.
Heroic match history
PGL Major Antwerp 2022
- Heroic 19-17 G2 Esports
- Heroic 12-16 Team Spirit
- Heroic 16-11 Team Liquid
BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2022 Europe
- Heroic 1-2 ENCE
- Heroic 2-0 NKT
Best Heroic Maps
- Overpass - 87.5%
- Vertigo - 87.5%
- Inferno - 83.3%
- Nuke - 75.0%
- Mirage - 50.0%
- Ancient - 20.5%
Head to head matches between Heroic and ENCE
I want to pay special attention to the fight that took place on April 29 as part of the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2022 Europe. Then Heroic fought with ENCE and were defeated with a score of 1-2. Europeans from ENCE have already shown that they can beat Heroic, although not without problems, and I do not see any prerequisites for changing the scenario in the next match between Heroic and ENCE.
Conclusion
If ENCE manages to take Ancient, which Heroic simply cannot play, and ban Overpass, which is a weakness for Europeans, then they have a very good chance of winning. In general, whatever one may say, Heroic will have to take one map, since they have good performance on many maps, and ENCE, in turn, will not be able to ban everything. At the same time, Snappi and his teammates perform well on Nuke, Ancient and Dust 2, where Heroic can't do much.
Given the history of results, the chances of winning one or another team, as well as map statistics, I think that the most logical and profitable decision (in terms of odds) would be to bet on the exact score of 2-1 in favor of ENCE. They have more chances, but Heroic doesn't intend to give up without a fight either. Bookmakers offer 3.4 odds for this market. You can simply bet on ENCE to win, but the odds are only 1.6-1.8 depending on the bookmaker chosen, and there are still risks.