After entering the BLAST.tv Paris Major Europe RMR B as the second-highest ranked team, Heroic defeated 500, Aurora, and Monte in their three series.

After a near-flawless second half on Inferno, the world no.3 made their presence known in their first series victory over 500, defeating the Bulgarian roster 16-8.

The Danes’ second series against Aurora was much closer, as they were forced to play all 30 rounds on Mirage, with players like Rasmus “sjuush” Beck and Rene “TeSeS” Madsen taking over late to secure a 16-14 victory.

With two wins in a row, they advanced to the 2-0 matchup against Monte, who had already defeated ENCE and Cloud9 in their first two RMR series.

However, Monte’s run of upsets came to an end when they faced one of Europe’s hottest teams, with Casper “cadiaN” Moller and his team winning the best-of-three series 2-0. (16-12 & 16-14).

WE��RE GOING TO PARIS pic.twitter.com/gquEc2R0Xj

— HEROIC (@heroicgg) April 12, 2023

The all-Polish squad 9INE was the second team to book their place in the Legends Stage of the BLAST.tv Paris Major, defeating three teams ranked inside the top 20 in the world rankings during their Cinderella run.

9INE began their RMR against the world no.1 G2 Esports, where they were massive underdogs with esports betting sites, but they took G2 to all 30 maps and won 16-14 in a tight series.

BIG were waiting for the Polish squad after defeating G2, and they proved to be a much stronger challenge, as the two outfits matched halves, with both teams taking 9-6 CT sides to send the match to overtime.

Olek “hades” Miskiewicz took over in overtime and led his team to four straight round wins and a 19-15 victory to advance to the 2-0 matchup with Team Vitality.

Hades was the best performer for the Poles once again, finishing the two-map series against Team Vitality with server highs in kill/death difference (+18) and rating (1.33), as the world no.35 defeated the world no.6 2-0 (16-11 & 16-11) to book their place in the Major’s main event.

With Heroic and 9INE securing the first two Legends Stage spots, the winner of the third-place decider bracket will earn the final spot.

We go 3-0 at the European RMR B, qualifying to legends stage!

See you in paris pic.twitter.com/HpvXe8NJwR

— 9INE (@9INEGG) April 12, 2023

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Despite showing signs of struggle in 2022 and early into 2023, when they placed 13th-16th at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023, Cloud9 enter BLAST.tv Paris Major Europe RMR B as one of the leading candidates to secure Legends status. And it’s easy to see why.

The Russian squad has not placed worse than second across the last three tournaments, which includes a runner-up finish at ESL Pro League Season 17 and a gold medal from BLAST Premier Spring European Showdown 2023. Over that stretch, Cloud9 have looked very good and have lost just three series over their last 21 (18-3).

But more importantly, Cloud9 won against forZe (2-0) in the finals of BetBoom Playlist. Urbanistic last week with 16-10 on Mirage and 16-7 on Inferno. This explains why Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov and co. are priced as favourites to do it again, although the price seems a bit short.

Cloud9 might have defeated forZe quite easily last time; however, forZe are still formidable opponents who have produced impressive results last month. Cloud9 should win, but we wouldn’t sleep on their regional rivals, especially in the best-of-one series.

Team Spirit have not achieved anything noteworthy over the last three months, and they don’t look to be in great shape either. With just three wins over their last 10 outings (3-7), Team Spirit don’t look like a serious threat to qualify for the Major, granted most of their losses came against top-tier CS:GO squads.

Spirit’s last four defeats came against Natus Vincere (0-2), Astralis (1-2, 0-2), and Fnatic (0-2), which are all much stronger than Aurora Gaming, so it’s fair to assume that Spirit should do better on Tuesday.

Aurora Gaming have won six of their last ten fixtures (6-4), yet they haven’t beaten any memorable squads, so that record doesn’t tell us much. Moreover, they also lost against Apeks (1-2) and Spirit Academy (0-2) at the end of March.

The opening rounds of qualifiers often produce upsets, and it doesn’t help that all games are best-of-one. But even though Spirit are not in top shape, Aurora’s recent results are just not it. Take Spirit to win with three rounds to spare.

Team Vitality last met with Astralis in January, when they won (2-0) in the first round of BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2023. But that match happened a while back, so it doesn’t hold much weight.

Since that clash, Team Vitality have found some success. They won BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023, placed top-six at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023, and concluded ESL Pro League Season 17 in fifth-eighth. However, Vitality haven’t played a single official fixture since their exit from ESL Pro League.

Astralis haven’t achieved as much as Vitality in 2023, but the Danes have been ramping and enter this match on an eight-game winning streak. Over that stretch, the only notable team Astralis beat was Cloud9, but winning eight games is still a massive improvement.

Astralis are no longer a top-three team, but this is still a very talented roster going against Team Vitality, who are still figuring out how to play at their full strength. This match has an upset potential, so we’ll gladly side with Astralis to defeat the ring-rusty Bees.

Ninjas in Pyjamas have not won a tournament nor recorded a victory against a top-10 team this year. They reached the semifinals of BLAST Premier: Spring European Showdown 2023 at the end of March, but NiP only won against OG, who had to play with a substitute, so even that minor achievement doesn’t mean much.

Their next opponents, Eternal Fire, have not done much in the upper echelons of CS:GO either. However, they won CCT Central Europe Malta Finals in February and had a couple of good showings at ESL Pro League Season 17.

On paper, Ninjas in Pyjamas look stronger than Eternal Fire, but their past showings would suggest otherwise. We like the Turkish squad better in this contest, and generous CS:GO betting odds make it much easier to decide where to put our money.

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