Apeks and Grayhound Gaming will play in the second round of the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Challengers Stage. Who would have thought the teams would end up in the 1-0 basket for a trip to BO3.
But the reality is that the Australian squad and Apeks got a great chance to prove themselves. For some reason though, I don't think Grayhound Gaming will be able to show half of what they did against FORZE.
And the European team is probably very happy with how the lot has turned out. In other words, we shouldn't expect another set-piece from the Aussies. So here I would lean on the Apeks team to win.
Apeks form
The 29th ranked team in the world didn't show much in the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Europe RMR A, but still made it to the majors after wins over GamerLegion, Sprout and B8 Esports.
Next European team visited the Brazy Party 2023, where they reached the quarterfinals, but were defeated in a close game by Astralis and quite predictably dropped out.
As for the Long Saugerties in the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023, Apeks unexpectedly defeated Team Liquid, though at one point they could have faltered and lost.
Apeks' latest results:
- Victory over Let us cook with a score of 2-1.
- 2-0 win over Spirit Academy.
- 2-1 win over Looking4Org.
- Defeat at the hands of Monte, 0-2.
- 16-12 victory over Team Liquid.
Apeks top scorers:
- Anubis - 84% wins.
- Ancient - 67% wins.
- Inferno - 62% wins.
- Overpass - 59% wins.
It is worth recalling that the European squad is giving up Nuke maps.
Grayhound Gaming uniforms
The 26th ranked team in the world performed well in the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Asia RMR where they got three confident victories and even outplayed TheMongolz.
The Aussie side went to ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023, where they looked very impressive with victories over EG Black and Complexity Gaming, but lost at the crucial moment to Bad News Eagles in the semis.
Moreover, Grayhound Gaming was not without sensation in the first round of BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023, as the team gave an unstoppable comeback and shut out FORZE in a situation where there were no more options.
Grayhound Gaming's latest results:
- A 2-1 win over VERTEX.
- Victory over EG Black with a score of 16-10.
- Victory over Complexity Gaming with a score of 16-11.
- 1-3 loss to Bad News Eagles.
- 16-14 win over FORZE.
Grayhound Gaming's best scores:
- Nuke - 83% wins.
- Ancient - 80% wins.
- Inferno - 79% wins.
- Vertigo - 67% wins.
- Mirage - 57% wins.
In turn, the Australian squad still doesn't play on the Overpass card.
Apeks - Grayhound Gaming encounter statistics
The teams have not met before.
Forecast for the match Apeks - Grayhound Gaming
It seems very strongly that Apeks got lucky with the net, otherwise how does a team of this level risk to finish the first game day with two wins. Moreover, I wouldn't talk about the Aussies' comeback, as it's FORZE that's the problem there.
All in all, I don't see Grayhound Gaming winning here, as the opponent clearly won't miss such an awesome opportunity. Oh, and we shouldn't rule out a personal fight by jkaem, who will clearly be set at 100%.
So in this case I would recommend to bet on the Apeks team to win.
