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The ESL One Pro League Season 19 pause will not last long, and today, 30 April, the title matches will resume in Malta. Games will also be played at local, third-party tournaments like RES European Series #3.
The group stage continues there. We are interested in Group A of The International, where it remains to watch the Decider-match, which will determine the last participant of play-offs from Group A.
The winner will be determined between 9 Pandas and Passion UA. The match will be held in the format bo3. The winner goes to the main stage, and the loser leaves the tournament. Let's see who goes where.
Let's go.
Form 9 Pandas
Let's open the match analysis with an analysis of the Form 9 Pandas. In this match they will play as favourites with odds to win at around 1.5.
9 Pandas are ranked 21st in the HLTV team rankings. They got there thanks to their performance in a lot of tournaments, but as it often happens, they managed to achieve at least some results only in a few events.
For example, it was ESEA Cash Cup: Europe - Winter 2023 #1 and ESEA Cash Cup: Europe - Winter 2023 #2. There was also TOP-64 at IEM Rio 2023: European Open Qualifier. In the middle of the year we played at CCT South Europe Series #4, where we had a top-16, and also BetBoom Playlist. Freedom, where the Pandas made it to the Top 8.
One of the most important achievements, if I can put it that way, was reaching the Top 4 at CCT North Europe Series #5. Another hit in the "prizes" was Dunav Party LAN, where 9 Pandas reached TOP-4.
- Thelineup of 9 Pandas: seized, d1Ledez, clax, iDISBALANCE, glowiing.
At Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #2, where 9 Pandas made it to the Top 24. Just before the Long Sogpeg CCT Online Finals #5, 9 Pandas' results went up. They finished in the Top 3 at ESEA Season 46: Advanced Division, Top 8 at CCT East Europe Series #3, Top 4 at CCT Central Europe Series #8 and won at PARI, Please, earning $60,000 for the win, which is more than they earned all year.
9 Pandas Long Sogpeg at CCT Online Finals #5 with a solid win over the Brazilians from Legacy. Coldzera didn't help matters, and 9 Pandas advanced to the next round, where they were already opposed by Into The Breach. The British club put up a fight and even won the second map, but it wasn't enough, and here are 9 Pandas in the next round. However, the path through CCT Online Finals #5 for the Pandas ended at the top 4.
Before the Long Copeg of the new season, 9 Pandas tried their hand at all sorts of qualifiers, but were not successful anywhere. The central tournament of the season for 9 Pandas was PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European RMR A, where 9 Pandas finished Top 11.
Later, the team attended Thunderpick World Championship 2024: European Series #1, with a disappointing top-32 finish. There were also qualifiers for BB Dacha Belgrade 2024, Esports World Cup 2024 and RES European Series #2. Nowhere above the TOP-12.
RES European Series #3 9 Pandas started with a loss to Passion UA, but then managed to beat Gaimin Gladiators in a straight sets match.
Mappool 9 Pandas
The best map of 9 Pandas is Mirage. They played 12 matches of which they won 9.
Next was Overpass with 8 matches and 5 wins. Nuke (7 matches, 4 wins), Inferno (9 matches, 5 wins). Worse is Ancient with 3 wins in 6 matches, and worst of all was Anubis. His FaZe was picked 7 times, but played with a winrate of 42%.
Not playing on Vertigo.
Passion UA Form.
We continue the match analysis with Passion UA form. In this match the Ukrainian club will play as Underpassdog with odds to win at 2.1.
Passion UA are ranked 68th in the HLTV world rankings. Nominally, this is a rather dubious position and there is nothing to be happy about, but considering the age of the club, this is a pretty good indicator.
On the competitive scene Counter-Strike 2 Passion UA are since October last year. The debut tournament for Passion UA was the local A1 Gaming League Season 7, where the wards of Kane took the top 13.
Later Passion UA played at PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 Europe RMR Open Qualifier 4. And there the Ukrainian club played very well, making it to the top 8 and being one step away from reaching the closed qualifiers for the first ever LAN-tournament on Counter-Strike 2.
Next was the performance at the same local championships like United21 League Season 10, United21 League Season 12, European Pro League Season 14, United21 League Season 13. Everywhere Passion UA played "average" and the results were corresponding.
- Passion UA roster: jambo, jackasmo, zeRRoFIX, s-chilla, fear.
Before playing at RES European Series #3 Passion UA played at YaLLa Compass Spring 2024. This is already a more serious tournament and Passion UA took TOP-15.
At RES European Series #3 Passion UA look good. The team won the opening match with the score 2-0, and then fought with ALTERNATE ATTAX for place in play-offs, but Ledgeil with the score 1-2.
Passion UA Mappool
The most popular map of Passion UA is Ancient, where the Ukrainian club has played 20 matches and has 50% wins. Not far behind is Mirage with 16 games and 8-8 statistics. Closes the top three "plus winrate" Overpass, where Passion UA won 6 games and lost 6.
Next - maps with minus winrate. Anubis (8 wins and 9 losses), Vertigo (6 wins and 7 losses), and Inferno (3 wins and 7 losses).
Nuke are not playing.
History of head-to-head meetings 9 Pandas - Passion UA
Previously, the teams have already played each other, and played in this tournament. Then Passion UA got a clean victory.
Predicted result of the match Passion UA - 9 Pandas on RES European Series #3.
In this match we can expect a close game. Both teams, in my opinion, look identical now. 9 Pandas is a bit more experienced, but I can't call them a team a head above Passion UA. Moreover, there is already a factor of a clean victory of the Ukrainian club in the previous match of the group stage. In general, my bet on Passion UA.
Bottom line: victory Passion UA.
