PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Challengers StageImperial upset Liquid after vintage fer performance, ENCE defeat Outsiders
Nick "nitr0" Cannella's men will have to fight for tournament survival starting on Tuesday.
Imperial successfully recovered from their defeat at the hands of Spirit, collecting their first win in Belgium against Liquid. The North Americans were unable to keep the Brazilian offense away, relegating them to the 0-2 pool. This means they are now in need of three consecutive best-of-three victories to advance from the Challengers Stage.
Meanwhile, ENCE took their second win at the PGL Major Antwerp against a flat Outsiders squad to claim a 2-0 record. This latest win means that the European mix is only one series away from securing a spot in the next stage of the tournament.
Despite Liquid taking the opening pistol on Inferno, they were unable to create any lasting advantage as Imperial responded with a successful force buy and exploited the broken T economy to secure the half win with an 8-3 scoreline. Another force buy conversion, this time in favor of Liquid, turned the winds in favor of the North Americans, salvaging a 7-8 half in the closing stages of their offense.
After a fantastic first half from Fernando "fer" Alvarenga and Ricardo "boltz" Prass, the duo did not have to do as much in the second half as Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo came into his own on the offensive side, propelling Imperial to five consecutive round wins to deliver the map to the Brazilians.
 Imperial |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 - 12 | +15 | 110.2 | 92.3% | 1.78 | |
| 22 - 12 | +10 | 81.6 | 84.6% | 1.42 | |
| 16 - 12 | +4 | 65.7 | 80.8% | 1.26 | |
| 15 - 14 | +1 | 65.8 | 76.9% | 1.07 | |
| 11 - 11 | 0 | 58.1 | 76.9% | 1.03 |
 Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 - 17 | +2 | 85.7 | 65.4% | 1.06 | |
| 12 - 20 | -8 | 51.2 | 73.1% | 0.74 | |
| 13 - 17 | -4 | 59.5 | 53.8% | 0.74 | |
| 9 - 18 | -9 | 52.5 | 61.5% | 0.68 | |
| 8 - 19 | -11 | 50.5 | 42.3% | 0.56 |
A strong CT performance from Paweł "dycha" Dycha was all ENCE needed to secure a solid advantage on the CT side of Vertigo, and that's what they got. The Pole claimed the top spot on the scoreboard in the first half, allowing his squad to take a 10-5 advantage despite Aleksei "Qikert" Golubev's best efforts.
After losing the second pistol, Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer's men stole a force buy on round 17 to reclaim momentum. From there, the European mix constantly bullied the defense on the B bombsite on their way to secure their second victory at the Major 16-6.
 ENCE |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 - 11 | +11 | 99.5 | 81.8% | 1.52 | |
| 16 - 11 | +5 | 84.6 | 86.4% | 1.42 | |
| 15 - 9 | +6 | 70.0 | 72.7% | 1.16 | |
| 17 - 18 | -1 | 81.7 | 68.2% | 1.10 | |
| 13 - 17 | -4 | 71.9 | 77.3% | 0.79 |
 Outsiders |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 - 17 | -5 | 73.7 | 72.7% | 1.07 | |
| 14 - 18 | -4 | 69.5 | 81.8% | 1.05 | |
| 15 - 17 | -2 | 82.5 | 50.0% | 0.99 | |
| 16 - 15 | +1 | 51.2 | 63.6% | 0.84 | |
| 9 - 16 | -7 | 56.5 | 72.7% | 0.77 |
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