Road to BLAST.tv Paris Major: top 3 Challengers

BLAST.tv Paris Major starts with a battle between the eight Contenders and the eight Challengers. These are the teams that qualified for the tournament but did not rank high enough in the RMRs to secure a Legend status ticket. Because of the competitive format, they will start the competition in the Challengers Stage.

Among the eight Challengers, three teams are considerably stronger than the rest. These teams have a high chance of qualifying for the Legends Stage. The only problem is that they will have to face some of the strongest Contenders that have ever taken part in a CS:GO Major. Teams like FaZe Clan, Team Liquid, and MOUZ.

G2 Esports

G2 Esports are easily the strongest Challenger in this tournament. It’s actually quite surprising that they failed to obtain a Legend Status spot but 9INE were in great shape and managed to beat them in their opening match.

G2 ended 2022 with a victory at BLAST Premier: World Final and started 2023 with another victory at IEM Katowice. Not to mention the good result they got at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2023.

More recently, G2 played poorly at ESL Pro League S17 and did not take part in IEM Rio 2023. So we don’t know much about their current form. They’ve probably been training hard these past few weeks in preparation for the Major and should do well in the Challengers Stage, regardless of who they have to play against.

Ninjas in Pyjamas

NiP have a lot to prove. They benched Hampus “hampus” Poser and Patrick “es3tag” Hansen in 2023, and replaced them with Danyyl “headtr1ck” Valitov and Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke. Based on the team’s recent results, they clearly have what it takes to qualify for the second stage of the Paris Major, but not for the third.

NiP depend a lot right now on k0nfig’s form. He seems to be the most determined member of the crew and possibly the most skilled as well.

OG

OG qualified for the Paris Major with a record of 3 W – 2 L. Their story was quite spectacular and typical of OG’s brand. The team lost the first two matches and looked doomed to miss the tournament. But then they were lucky enough to encounter opponents like SAW, 1WIN, and Team Falcons, and won three times in a row.

Because of the high number of strong teams that compete in the Challengers Stage, it won’t be easy for OG to advance to the Legends Stage. But they are certainly among the most likely teams to succeed.

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