Rare Atom and Movistar Riders will play in the group stage of ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023. This is where The International is ironic, as for me personally, the Spanish team appear to be the underdogs.
It is clear that Movistar Riders are noticeably better in LAN tournaments, but the team is more of a laughing stock on the stage. In turn, the Chinese can unpleasantly surprise the favourites, especially since they will have fewer problems with adaptation in terms of time.
So I'd lean on the Rare Atom team to win here. The main reason for that is the instability of the Spanish team, who've started to lose to everyone in a row again.
Rare Atom's form
The 31st ranked team in the world did not show anything during ESL Pro League Season 17, if we forget about the long-awaited victory over Team Liquid, as well as the card taken in the game against Natus Vincere.
Next up, the Chinese team visited BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2023 Europe, where they even took one card away from BIG, but still lost and dropped straight out of the Long Cogpeg Championship.
After all that, Rare Atom failed at the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Asia RMR, where they lost twice to Mongols from TheMongolz, failing to make it to the majors (for the umpteenth time). Still, the Chinese can tune in to individual maps, which is what I expect this time too.
Rare Atom's latest results:
- A 16-6 win over VERTEX.
- 11-16 defeat at the hands of TheMongolz.
- A 2-0 win over TYLOO.
- 2-0 win over Twisted Minds.
- 0-2 defeat for TheMongolz.
Rare Atom's best scores:
- Ancient - 100% wins.
- Inferno - 89% wins.
- Mirage - 60% wins.
- Nuke - 56% wins.
- Overpass - 50% wins.
It is worth noting that the Chinese team have started to refuse to play Anubis.
Movistar Riders uniforms
The 25th ranked team in the world seemingly made it to the play-offs of the same CCT Central Europe Malta Finals 1 but was evenly matched and lost to all in a row.
Then, the Spanish team took a shot at the group stage of ESL Pro League Season 17, where they took advantage of their opponents' mistakes and even made the play-offs. But nothing worthwhile came of it, as the boys quickly fell to G2 Esports.
After that, Movistar Riders went back to square one, starting to lose in the ESL Challenger League Season 45 Europe and other qualifiers. Overall, the team does not inspire confidence.
Movistar Riders latest results:
- A 0-2 loss to GamerLegion.
- 0-2 defeat at the hands of G2 Esports.
- 17-19 defeat to Source2.
- Beat Iron Branch 2-0.
- 1-2 defeat at the hands of EYEBALLERS.
Movistar Riders top scorers:
- Anubis - 75% wins.
- Mirage - 67% wins.
- Ancient - 50% wins.
In turn, the Spanish team has most often given up Overpass and Vertigo cards.
Rare Atom - Movistar Riders encounter statistics
The teams have not met before.
Forecast for the Rare Atom vs Movistar Riders match
We do not even want to mention the Spaniards who can't play offensively for almost a year. Moreover, Movistar Riders didn't even prepare for this tournament and got here at the very last minute.
As for the Chinese side, they can really surprise. And do not forget that the boys have nothing to lose, and this is their main opportunity to show something.
Therefore in this case I would recommend to bet on the victory of the Rare Atom team.
