PGL Major Challengers betting tips – May 9, 2022

The no.9 ranked team in the world, Astralis, will take on the lowest ranked team in the Challengers Stage being the no.52 ranked team in the world, IHC.

Astralis will be heavy favourites to win this best-of-one and there is no reason for them not to be. Their most recent form coming out of the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown where they finished 2nd to ENCE, going down 2-1 in the grand final. Astralis have had some good series results without really converting them into good event results, so the Danes will be hoping that they can get through the Challengers Stage and perform at the Main Event.

IHC will be the lowest ranked team in the Challengers Stage and it’s quite difficult finding any team in this event that they will be able to get a victory over. The Mongolian roster breezed through the Asian RM winning both of their series 2-0 to make this event, but the teams they beat were both ranked 51 and 58 in the world rankings. This is a massive step up for the Asian qualifiers and we expect them to struggle against a team like Astralis.

We suggest taking the favourites in the rounds line market, with Astralis currently at $1.90 with BetOnline at the -6.5 in the rounds line handicap.

The no.23 ranked team in the world, MiBR, will take on the no.10 ranked team in the world, Outsiders, in what sets up to be one of the more intriguing match ups of the round one matches.

MiBR finished second in the Americas RMR losing to their Brazilian counterparts FURIA 0-2 in the final after going 3-0 through the Swiss rounds beforehand. Since qualifying for this event they also finished 3rd-4th in the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown where they were beaten 0-2 by paiN Gaming who eventually won the event. MiBR will be one of the most dangerous team in the PGL Major that sits outside of the top 20.

Outsiders have been quite underwhelming over the past month. They barely scraped into the PGL Major finishing in the last qualifying spot in the Europe RMR and could only manage a 17th-20th place finish at ESL Pro League 15. Even though they are ranked in the top 10 in the world, there is reason to think that they could continue to struggle in the Challengers Stage with their form slump if it is to continue.

MiBR will be the underdog in this match, but we believe the bookmakers could have got this one wrong as there is not a whole lot between these two rosters. We will be taking the underdogs, MiBR, in the match betting market, currently at $2.75 to win with BetOnline.

ENCE will begin the PGL Major in Antwerp as one of the hottest teams in Europe since finishing 2nd at ESL Pro League 15 and winning the most recent event in the Europe BLAST Premier Spring Showdown a week ago. They have rocketed up the rankings to no.4 in the world and with a win at the PGL Major they could very easily be the no.1 ranked team in the world, which would be very deserved considering their start to 2022.

9z is another team that is very much in-form coming into the PGL Major as they have won 10 of their last 14 series over the last month. They also won the South American Open Qualifier for IEM Dallas 2022 and then went on to finish 3rd in the Closed Qualifier. 9z is a team that no one should treat lightly because they have are a team in very good form.

ENCE will be looking to get through the Challengers Stage relatively easy and to do that they will be looking for a statement win first up. We suggest taking ENCE at the rounds line handicap of -6.5, currently $2 with BetOnline.


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