9z and Paquetá will face each other in the final of the lower relegation round of ESL Challenger Katowice 2023. Interestingly, the teams already met each other the day before, and that time the victory went to the Latin Americans.
Nothing much has changed now, although 9z managed to be edged out by MIBR and ended up in the bottom net. However, the team is objectively stronger, especially since they rarely lose in such situations.
As for Paquetá, the Brazilians have intermittent achievements, although they have never jumped over their head. So here I'd lean on the 9z team to win.
Form 9z
The 40th ranked team in the world did not qualify for the American RMR tournament at all, failing in the closed qualification. However, the Latin Americans went on to win CCT South America Series 5 as well as qualify for IEM Dallas 2023.
After that, 9z went to the almost home IEM Rio 2023, where they completely fell apart. As a result, the team was defeated twice by FaZe Clan and fnatic, taking one card from the latter.
As for the performance in qualifying for ESL Challenger Katowice 2023, the team played well in the open qualifiers, but here after beating Paquetá managed to lose to MIBR.
Latest results for 9z:
- A 2-1 win over BESTIA.
- Defeat to FaZe Clan by a score of 3:16.
- 1-2 defeat at the hands of fnatic.
- Beat Paquetá 2-0.
- A 0-2 defeat at the hands of MIBR.
Top 9z:
- Nuke - 83% wins.
- Mirage - 67% wins.
- Ancient - 67% wins.
- Inferno - 56% wins.
- Overpass - 50% wins.
- Anubis - 50% wins.
At the same time, the Latin American team have long given up on the Vertigo.
Form Paquetá
The 49th ranked team in the world, on the other hand, managed to be in the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Americas RMR, where they even beat Solid and Evil Geniuses, but at the same time Ledgeila paiN Gaming and Fluxo.
The Brazilian squad went on to finish second at CCT South America Series 6 and also failed at TG Rush Autumn 2023, limiting themselves to the semi-finals.
As for the ESL Challenger Katowice 2023 indoor qualifier, Paquetá got off to a flying start with a 9z loss but then managed to pull out a win over W7M Academy.
Paquetá's latest results:
- A 16-1 win over FURIA Academy.
- A 16-11 win over O PLANO.
- 0-2 defeat at the hands of Solid.
- 0-2 defeat at the hands of 9z.
- Beat W7M Academy 2-1.
Paquetá's best scores:
- Anubis - 80% wins.
- Mirage - 75% wins.
- Overpass - 67% wins.
- Nuke - 57% wins.
In turn, the Brazilian team does not appear on the Ancient map.
Meeting statistics 9z - Paquetá
In the current season, the teams have met once - at the Long Cogneg of the closed qualification for ESL Challenger Katowice 2023, the victory went to 9z (2-0).
Forecast for the match 9z - Paquetá
The day before, the teams played Nuke and Overpass, both of which ended close. However, the Latin American team is objectively more experienced and stronger, and in the qualifiers the guys usually fire away. Something similar cannot be said about Paquetá, because the team is very average, even by the standards of their region. Therefore, in this case, I would recommend betting on 9z to win.
