Outsiders and Illuminar will meet in the 1/8 finals of the upper bracket of the ESL Pro League Season 16 Conference. Personally, I'm not sure about the prospects of the Polish team, which manages to perform only at the local level, bypassing any TIER-3 championships.
In turn, the Outsiders have updated the lineup, which definitely needs time. However, the team is currently training hard, and the fact that the guys have a lot of experience playing in various championships makes the "honey badgers" the favorites of this confrontation.
Form Outsiders
The 15th team in the world ranking failed in the main stage of PGL Major Antwerp 2022, where they got only one victory over Vitality. Even then it was clear that this composition ordered a long life. As a result, the championship ended, and the Outsiders lost buster and YEKINDAR.
Nevertheless, the team managed to sign n0rb3r7 and fame from K23, who managed to play at the TIER-2 level. It is clear that in its current form, the Outsiders look a little weaker than their previous iteration, but the team had enough time to prepare for the championship.
Moreover, I think that the Russian team is capable of qualifying for ESL Pro League Season 16, since the pool of opponents is not as strong as at the same major.
Latest Outsiders results:
- Victory over forZe with a score of 2:1.
- Defeat from Cloud9 with a score of 12:16.
- Victory over Vitality with a score of 16:8.
- Lost to ENCE with a score of 8:16.
- Lost to G2 with a score of 1:2.
Best Outsiders cards:
- Overpass - 67% of wins.
- Inferno - 62% of wins.
- Dust 2 - 50% win rate.
I believe that the Russian team will continue to refuse the Nuke card.
Form Illuminar
The 51st team in the world ranking made it to the championship thanks to the victory at ESL Mistrzostwa Polski Spring 2022. But personally, all these successes at the local level do not touch me, since the current state of the Polish scene leaves much to be desired.
The worst thing is that Illuminar didn't really play anywhere, without checking their real chances against the background of other opponents. As a result, I really doubt the chances of the team, which only manages to beat Wisla Krakow. Yes, and remembering all the last visits of the team to major qualifications is scary - the Poles constantly failed there, even getting into the TOP-16.
Latest Illuminar results:
- Defeated by ThunderFlash with a score of 1:2.
- Defeated by M1 Gaming with a score of 0:2.
- Victory over Team ESCA Gaming with a score of 2:0.
- Victory over Impression with a score of 2:0.
- Victory over Wisla Krakow with a score of 2:1.
Best Illuminar cards:
- Mirage - 100% wins.
- Vertigo - 83% of wins.
- Ancient - 75% of wins.
- Nuke - 67% of wins.
- Inferno - 50% win rate.
In turn, the Polish team does not play on the Overpass map.
Outsiders vs Illuminar Match Statistics
The teams have not met before.
Prediction for the match Outsiders — Illuminar
The Poles have two traditionally strong cards - Mirage and Vertigo. However, in the current meta, Outsiders performs well on these maps. Although there is no point in looking at the statistics, since the teams compete in different weight categories.
Moreover, Illuminar has not been played anywhere recently, except in Poland. And this is such an indicator, given the class of opponents. In turn, the Outsiders changed the composition, but managed to keep the backbone. And there is hope that the team has managed to play well in recent weeks, thanks to the bootcamp.
Therefore, here I would recommend betting on the Outsiders team to win with a score of 2:0.
