Heroic vs Team Liquid Preview, Live Stream, Odds, Picks & Predictions
The Legends Stage Opens Up With a Banger Match
A few days ago, the event opened up with an exciting EU vs NA matchup, Team Vitality vs Complexity. Now, the Legends Stage will follow the tradition by giving us a Heroic vs Team Liquid game to get our engines started. This will be the first time we’re seeing Heroic play at the PGL Major Antwerp because they qualified directly to the Legends Stage, and unsurprisingly, they were in fact the first team to do so.
On the other side, we have Team Liquid, the only remaining North American representative. We had two NA teams play on the challengers stage, the other one was Complexity Gaming, but they ended up being eliminated from the tournament by Team Liquid, yes, their fellow NA representatives.
Team Liquid actually struggled a bit during the opening day as they had to face G2 Esports, considered a strong contender for the Major title. Later that day, they would have to face Imperial Esports, and although the game wasn’t looking that bad for TL, they ultimately lost the game. This meant that Team Liquid now had to win three Bo3 series if they wanted to qualify for the next stage.
And against the cs-go odds, Team Liquid managed to do it. They took down 9z Team, Complexity Gaming, and Astralis, all of them in a 2-0 manner. The best thing of all is that Heroic’s CadiaN predicted it perfectly. Now CadiaN and his team will have to put a stop to the Team Liquid train as they are currently on a 6-game win streak. Even if Heroic is considered a strong contender for the title, they can’t go easy on a confident Team Liquid.
Heroic Lost 2-0 Against TL The Last Time They Met
Not having played an official game in over 2 weeks is the biggest disadvantage for Heroic. 2 weeks ago they played against ENCE in the Blast Premier Showdown semifinal, where they couldn’t close out the series in their favor, ending the series with a 1-2 score. But even if Heroic managed to win one game, if we take a closer look at how the series went, it wasn’t even close.
The first game was played in Ancient, where Heroic got the opportunity to pick up a few rounds and managed to finish the first half with a close 7-8 score. But after that, Heroic only won 2 rounds during the second half on T side, the final score was 16-9 in favor of ENCE. The Danish team came back into the series after shakily winning the 2nd map. But Heroic definitely wasn’t expecting what happened next.
Mirage was the last map of the series, and ENCE won 13 out of the first 15 rounds. Things were looking grim for Heroic, and although they picked up a couple of rounds in the second half, it wasn’t even close to being enough. Now, it’s safe to say that Heroic had much better performances in the past, but this is their most recent match and it was 2 weeks ago.
We all know what Heroic is capable of when they are playing in a LAN event. But Team Liquid won’t be an easy challenge, and if things start to go south for Heroic, we might see them fall hard against Team Liquid, just like the last time they met.
The North American Squad is Carrying a Huge Momentum
Momentum plays a huge role in CSGO tournaments, and many cs-go betting experts agree on this. Team Liquid is currently on a huge 6-game win streak, which gives them a much-needed confidence boost coming into this match.
During the Challengers stage, they couldn’t find any wins in the first couple of days, but they made a huge comeback that got them their current win streak. And Team Liquid must be feeling more than great about this, before coming into the major, they took a disappointing defeat against PaiN Gaming at the Blast Premier Spring Showdown.
A lot of people are expecting huge things from Team Liquid, and for a good reason. They are somewhat of a magical team because, in some games, they pull off the craziest clutches, especially Shox. But in some other games, they look completely lost on the map, so if Team Liquid starts falling behind, it’s one of the worst signs for this team.
Now Team Liquid has to perform over the expectations, and the cs-go odds clearly indicate this. But there is one important thing to remember, what might give Team Liquid the edge in this match, is to know that they already took down Heroic with ease the last time they met. If Shox manages to show up, they might have a good shot at taking the victory home.
Heroic vs Team Liquid Game Information
- Date: Saturday, May 14th
- Time: 6:00am ET
- Heroic vs Team Liquid Streaming: PGL – Twitch
Heroic vs Team Liquid Predictions
This will be one of the most exciting matches in the whole first round, in fact, all the Stream A matches will be bangers. Team Liquid vs Heroic will just get us warmed up and ready for all the upcoming action.
So far, I’ve seen many comments talking about how Team Liquid doesn’t have a chance against Heroic, but it’s important to remember that Team Liquid is able to clutch in a lot of important moments. Shox is a big part of Team Liquid’s success, and during their last games, he did put up a good show.
I mention this not because I think this match leans in Team Liquid’s favor, but quite the opposite. Heroic comes in as the strongest team and they are known to be a solid team in LAN events. But playing a bit too over-the-top might end up being their demise, but if they play a controlled game, then none of that matters. Heroic has every single tool needed to take down Team Liquid in a very convincing manner, and I think they will score a win in their books against Team Liquid.
Going for a -3.5 Round Advantage handicap for Heroic doesn’t sound too bad as Team Liquid on average only wins 9.85 rounds on their losses. And considering how weak Team Liquid looks in best-of-1s, it’s even safer to go for the handicap.