Team Liquid to carry North America’s last hope at PGL Antwerp Major
The North American representatives, Team Liquid and Complexity Gaming, both lost their opening day games to their European rivals at PGL Major Antwerp 2022. The region had a rocky start to the tournament. They still have a lot of work to do before qualifying for the next round.
On their first day of the tournament, Complexity had a better performance than Team Liquid. Liquid fell to Imperial Esports while Complexity defeated APAC representatives IHC Esports. That being said, Complexity nearly lost the game.
Things began to turn around on the second day of the event. Complexity needed to defeat the Russian team Outsiders to advance to the game on day 3. Yet, Complexity was no match for their Russian counterpart. The Russian team’s aggression was too much for them to handle. They could only get 2 rounds on the CT side.
In contrast, after losing their first two games, Liquid had to face Argentine’s 9z in a best-of-three elimination series. Liquid, however, had the advantage of 9z being in really poor shape due to their harrowing loss to MIBR the previous day.
Liquid won the series 2-0, giving them one more chance to advance to the next round of the event. They wrote on their Twitter account, “LEGENDS AT THE MAJOR!!! #TLWIN We defeat @AstralisCS 2 – 0 and complete the reverse sweep!!! We move onto the Legends Stage!!!”.
However, they also had to face fellow North American team Complexity the next day in a best-of-three series.
With only two North American teams participating in the event, the winning team would have to carry their region’s hopes alive throughout the tournament. The two teams played the first game of the series in Ancient. Liquid’s Richard “Shox” Papillon dominated the game and led his squad to a 16-12 victory after an intense back-and-forth battle.
Complexity said they were aware that Liquid had a better performance during the first game of the series, despite the close score. The second game saw Liquid dominate the first half, which led to Complexity’s demise. Liquid won the series, ousting their fellow North American squad from the event.
Following four days of intense Counter-Strike action, the Challengers Stage of the PGL Antwerp Major has concluded. Half of the Legends Stage teams that have secured Legends status through respective Regional Major Ranking (RMR) tournaments held in Romania in April 2022 may skip the Challengers Stage. Eight other teams from the Challengers Stage would join them.
Teams qualified for Legends Stage at PGL Antwerp Major
– Heroic
– Copenhagen Flames
– BIG
– Cloud9
– FURIA
– FaZe Clan
– Ninjas in Pyjamas
– Natus Vincere
– G2
– Vitality
– ENCE
– Outsiders
– Team Spirit
– Bad News Eagles
– Team Liquid
– Imperial
The PGL Antwerp Major is temporarily halted on Friday, May 13. The event will resume on the following day when the Legends Stage begins. All opening games are played in best-of-one matches as the tournament’s organizers use the best-of-three series solely for qualification and elimination games of the Swiss system.
There are eight spots available for CS:GO teams in the tournament playoffs in Champions Stage. The event is scheduled to run from May 19 to 22, with a live audience at the Antwerps Sportpaleis venue.
