Australis beats IHC Esports 16-2 in CS:GO PGL Antwerp
Astralis thrashed Counter-Strike: Global Offensive debutant IHC Esports at PGL Antwerp on Monday, May 9. The Danish team defeated their Mongolian counterpart 16-2 on the Nuke map.
IHC claimed the spot at the tournament in Belgium over top teams like TYLOO and Looking for Org. The latter frequently represents Asia Pacific in the biggest CS: GO tournament. Unfortunately, the first game ended up in disappointment for IHC as Australis defeated them with ease.
Match highlights
Astralis’ patience and technical brilliance allowed them to win the second pistol round on the terrorist side on Nuke, despite IHC previously winning the first pistol round on the terrorist side. Their aggressive outside control and offensive pushes in the lobby and deck enabled them to maintain control of the ship.
On the other hand, IHC seemed to be clueless in their offensive toward Astralis and frequently lost a player or two early in each round. During the first half of the game, they only managed to win one more round. After both squads switched sides, Astralis was able to take the pistol round and the two next rounds to seal the victory and end the game.
PGL Antwerp CS: GO Major’s Challengers Stage kicked off with another one-sided match. Earlier that day, Liquid succumbed 16-6 to G2 Esports in their matchup, while Vitality thrashed Complexity 16-1.
CS:GO PGL Major Antwerp 2022 format
Teams from around the world gathered in Antwerp, Belgium, to decide the winners of PGL Major 2022. From May 9 to 22, the Antwerps Sportpaleis hosts 24 of the best teams from the three participating regions.
The CS:GO Major format has changed slightly due to a new system implemented in 2022. The PGL Major Stockholm 2021 reduced the five participating areas to three, namely North America (NA+SA), Europe (EU+CIS), and Asia-Pacific (Asia+Oceania).
The RMR Qualifiers system has been similarly modified, with only one event per region. The 24 teams are divided into three groups based on their RMR results and compete in three stages for a part of their share of the $1 million prize pool.
The 24 teams are divided into three groups, namely Contenders, Challengers, and Legends.
PGL Major Antwerp 2022 teams are split as follows:
Europe: 16 slots (3 Contenders, 6 Challengers, 7 Legends)
America: 6 slots (3 Contenders, 2 Challengers, 1 Legend)
Asia-Pacific: 2 slots (2 Contenders)
The schedule of the event is as follows:
Challengers Stage: May 9 – 12
Legend Stage: May 14 – 17
Champions Stage: May 19 – 22
Team results from the Stockholm 2021 Major determined the regions’ Challengers and Legends spots. Contender slots were distributed evenly across the three regions.
Teams face off against opponents with similar running scores in a best-of-three format in the challenger stage. This stage determines which eight teams advance to the next stage and which eight teams are eliminated.
The legend stage will use the same Swiss System format and seeding as the Challengers stage. Eight CS:GO teams from the Challengers stage will face eight Legends teams from the RMR Qualifiers. Eight teams from this stage will advance to the final.
The best eight teams in the event will compete in the Champions Stage in a single-elimination format. The teams will be seeded according to their Legends standings and will fight in best-of-three matches to advance to the Grand Final.
