This week, TT9 Esports take on more manageable opposition in NAVI in an effort to earn their first points for their new company after last week's challenging test against league leaders Heroic.
The Schedule
TT9, who forced Heroic into round 12, must be avoided by NAVI since they cannot afford another performance like their 7-8 loss to Team Secret last week.
Team Secret will be looking to build on their performance from last week as they go on a similarly uneven but improving Outsiders team. The skilled Russian team will probably punish mistakes made by Secret.
Outsiders, who now include Dmitry “Always” Mitrahovich, Danila “dan,” and Danil “JoyStiCK” Gabov from Team Empire, were excellent despite losing last match and sending Team BDS into overtime.
The following clash will feature a rematch of the Six Berlin Major quarterfinal between G2 Esports and Rogue, and blood may be in the water. While Rogue defeated Wolves Esports in regulation time last week, Stage 2's top EUL squad, Rogue won with two overtime maps in Berlin. However, after falling twice in overtime, Rogue currently appears to be much weaker.
For their part, the Wolves will face MNM Gaming, and they must be cautious of subpar performances that MNM will be keen to take advantage of. Last week, MNM defeated Rogue after a tough battle, while Wolves lost to G2 despite the team's captain Bastien “BiBooAF” Dulac's valiant attempts.
The contest between Team BDS and Heroic, though, is unquestionably the game of the day.
The Rivalry So Far
Since the Heroic roster's time led by cowana Gaming, Team BDS and Heroic have only ever faced each other five times. Even while each of their matches has been extremely close, Heroic has the advantage in conflicts between the two teams, which may come as a surprise to some. The other three all covered the entire distance in the allotted time, while two went into overtime.
The rosters have changed, though; Heroic now has two rookies, whereas BDS only has one. Given their past close calls, viewers may find it difficult to predict the winner, but 75% of voters have so far supported BDS in the SiegeGG Predictions.
Maxime “Meloo” Cahagnet, a former Challenger League player, and Marc “jume” Steinmann, a hot prospect in the national league, are two rookies who play for Heroic.
Both have been doing well for themselves and currently hold the tenth and eleventh-highest SiegeGG Ratings in Stage 3 of the EUL, with 1.10 and 1.13, respectively. With K-Ds of +8 and +6, Entry splits of +2 and +3, and KOST values of 65% and 70%, both exhibit strikingly identical statistics.
Their opponent, Théo “LikEfac” Mariano of Team BDS, presents a huge challenge for them, due to the certain lacks of strategy, but it will be interesting what kind of adjustments they’ll be making to try to neutralize his skillset.