HEET vs K23 Prediction: French to make amends for RMR defeat

ESL Challenger League is a tournament series organized by ESL. ESL Challenger League Season 42 will feature teams from North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The total prize pool of the season will total $120,000. The European region will be drawing $50,000 and one trip to the ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference. ESL Challenger League Season 42 features five teams from the top 30 of the HLTV ranking, so the lineup looks very strong.

On November 1, HEET and K23 will play their opening match in ESL Challenger League Season 42. We'll find out who the stronger team is soon enough. The meeting is scheduled to start at 21:00.

HEET: improved

• Current HLTV ranking: #33;
• Changes over the last three months: -5;
• Best map: Ancient – 60% in 5 maps;
• Worst map: Inferno – 17% in 6 maps.

HEET is in good shape. Most recently, the Frenchmen were able to earn a slot in the ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference by winning the local ESL National Championship France Autumn 2022 tournament. In the final match, the boys outplayed Falcons 2-0. There were no problems in the match. On every map, the HEET players were in complete control. The French were not able to break through to the IEM Rio Major 2022, so they will want to make up for it and will fight to the best of their abilities. They don't need a ticket to the ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference anymore, but $20,000 won't hurt. As for the upcoming match, it is not very convenient to play against K23, as Vertigo will be banned, and one of the opponent's weakest maps is not played by the French. Nevertheless, HEET has Nuke and Overpass. The guys look like favorites on these maps. On Overpass, HEET has three wins in a row and a good attacking game. They have also beaten Entropiq and Astralis on Nuke, which is one of the most popular maps in France. Considering that K23 rarely play this map, and when they decide to try it, they lose to HONORIS 5-16 and Copenhagen Flames 3-16, the chances of HEET to win are very high. Nuke seems to be the French's peak.

K23: it’s going to be tough

• Current HLTV ranking: #52;
• Changes over the last three months: -9;
• Best map: Dust2 – 78% in 9 maps;
• Worst map: Mirage– 12% in 8 maps.

K23 has lost three matches in a row. The team from the CIS also could not break through to IEM Road to Rio 2022, taking 9-11th place. The team managed to get two wins, but lost the decisive match to BIG with a score of 1-2. This defeat was a serious blow as it is always very disappointing to lose a slot in the major in the decisive map in the extra rounds. After that, K23 lost two more matches and finished in last but one place in the CCT North Europe Series 1. Whether the team was able to recover from a painful defeat, it is still unclear. As for the upcoming match, K23 is likely to pick Inferno. In the last face-offs, the team from the CIS tried to pick Dust2, but constantly lost that map. If they try to do it again, it will only help the French. On Inferno, HEET has only 17% of wins in the last three months, and it looks more successful for K23. However, even on Inferno, the team doesn't look like a favorite. After all, with the arrival of JACKZ, the French team significantly increased the shooting and experience. It should not be forgotten that there are some changes in the K23 squad. While the official announcement of the newcomers was not made, the team obviously need time to get used to playing.

Head-to-head encounters

The teams met each other three times. HEET won twice. K23 won once in bo1.

Expert Betting Tips

K23 is not in great shape right now and they have changed their roster, which is unlikely to bring any new skill and confidence to the team. HEET are the odds-on favorite. The bookmakers at 1xbet offer odds of 1.79 on HEET Handicap (-4.5), which looks like a good option. You can also take their win with the score of 2-0 at 2.62 as offered by Bet365 & 2.32 at Betway.