Tomorrow, on October 12th at 20:00 EEST, the match of Group A in ESL Challenger League Season 46: Europe between Monte and B8 will begin. Both teams have already played their first matches in the tournament: Monte defeated PARIVISION with a score of 2:0, while B8 lost to FORZE 1:2.

Individual Form

The Counter-Strike 2 era is just beginning, so it's practically impossible to assess the readiness of teams for any particular match. Monte has admitted to starting their preparation in the new game version well before the official transition at the professional level. However, the match against PARIVISION is not an accurate measure of the team's real level, as it was the opponent's first match in history.

Nevertheless, Monte clearly displays a certain level of skill. The team reached the semifinals of ESL Pro League Season 18, defeating Vitality and Heroic in the earlier stages. It's evident that the team quickly adapts to CS2 and even sets certain trends, such as the abandonment of the classic AWP and the use of Vladimir "Woro2k" Veletniuk as a hybrid sniper-rifle player.

READ MORE: lmbt: 'AWP is semi-useless at this stage of CS2

In contrast, B8 is struggling. The team has been on a boot camp in Poland for a long time, but there has been no improvement in results, neither in CS:GO nor in CS2. Besides FORZE, B8 also lost to los kogutos in A1 Gaming League Season 8. Despite the difficulties with the sniper rifle, Artem "r1nkle" Moroz continues to demonstrate excellent gameplay. However, as often happened in the previous season, the rest of the team cannot keep up with him.

Map Pool

With the transition to CS2, the teams decided not to make any changes to their map pools: Monte bans Inferno, and B8 bans Overpass. These bans suit both teams since they remove far from their best maps.

READ MORE: Monte may miss IEM Sydney 2023 due to the negligence of the Ukrainian Esports Federation

Monte's primary pick is typically Anubis, where they defeated PARIVISION with a score of 13:9. B8 can be expected to choose Ancient, which the team picked twice in CS2: a victory over FORZE (19:17) and a defeat to los kogutos (13:6). Mirage is likely to remain as the decider with a high probability.

Prediction

Certainly, Counter-Strike 2 allows for intrigue in this match. However, the obvious favorite remains the Monte team, which consistently performs at a high level and is now even aiming for prize placements in major championships. B8 is currently in a series of failures that is uncertain when it will end. Additionally, the Ancient map, which is B8's primary pick, is very comfortable for the opponent. We expect a confident victory from Monte.

Reminder that ESL Challenger League Season 46: Europe is taking place from October 5th to December 10th. The tournament's prize pool is $100,000, and the event's finalists will receive slots for ESL Pro League Season 19.

Header image: ESL Copyright | Adela Sznajder