Best Pick’ems for the Paris Major challengers stage

Pick’ems for the Paris Major challengers stage are now live, and that means the opportunity to score some free souvenir gun skins.

The Paris Major will send CSGO off in style, as it’s the very last major before the launch of Counter-Strike 2. Every team wants the honor of winning the final major, but only one can take the crown along with the $500,000 grand prize. It all starts in the challengers stage, where 16 teams must earn a shot at the main event. WIN.gg’s picks earned platinum coins at Stockholm and Antwerp with Gold at Rio, so our advice is definitely worth a listen. Here is our challengers stage Pick’ems for the 2023 Paris Major.

Our calls for the Paris Major challengers stage Pick’ems

First up is which team will go 3-0. We think that G2 Esports has the best shot at a clean sweep. The squad is the highest-ranked team in the challengers stage by a significant margin, and while it faltered at the RMR, G2 is still the reigning champion of IEM Katowice. We think the combined firepower of Nikola “NiKo” Kovač and Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov will be enough to blast through the first stage.

Our first pick to advance is Ninjas in Pyjamas. The team is quite streaky, but NiP reached the top eight at IEM Rio, and Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke’s arrival certainly can’t hurt. We also think OG will advance to the legends stage, with the same placing at Rio. The team arguably had the toughest matchups at the RMR but still qualified for the Paris Major.

Our next two picks are paiN Gaming and Team Liquid. paiN tore it up at the RMR and has historically done well at international events, so that should be enough to beat most weaker European squads. Liquid needs no introduction, and a podium finish at IEM Katowice earlier this year proves it can reach the later stages of the tournament.

FaZe Clan is practically guaranteed to make it past the first round. The ESL Pro League champion showed some weakness at the RMR, but the guns of Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken and Håvard “rain” Nygaard won’t slow down in the early stage. ENCE also performed quite well at Katowice, giving us confidence that it will win at least three games. Paweł “dycha” Dycha in particular, is playing hot, as expected from one of the highest ELO players in the world.

MOUZ rounds out our picks for the Paris Major challenger stage Pick’ems. The team. The international squad defeated Virtus.pro and FaZe Clan to earn a spot at this event, and most teams in the challengers can’t hold a candle to those teams.

Last, and unfortunately least, we think that Grayhound Gaming is a likely 0-3 squad. The Australian lineup performed well at the Oceanic RMR but also got dead last at both ESL Pro League and IEM Katowice. We don’t have high hopes for the squad, leaving it as our pick for 0-3.