How the Americas fare in round one of BLAST Paris Legends stage

The two biggest names in the Americas region are looking to start the Legends stage in a big way on Saturday the 13th by winning their respective BO1 matches to go up 1-0 in the Swiss bracket. For Liquid, they'll be kicking off competition bright and early at 05:30AM against Poland's hottest commodity, 9INE. For FURIA, they'll be competing shortly after at 07:00AM against Monte, a team that advanced off the elimination of fellow Brazilian team paiN. Before we ready up, let's dive into the matchups.

Ready to boil

Liquid is taking the saying "It's not about how you start, but how you finish" to a literal level. After starting the Challengers stage 0-2, they rallied back with three straight BO3 wins, each progressively ending in a more convincing fashion in Liquid's favor. By the end of the third series, Liquid looked to be back in form mechanically, something that the core can typically depend on to keep them afloat. Multiple wins on Anubis and Inferno fuel their current win streak, and they'll look to continue that red-hot form against 9INE.

• Liquid averaged 12 rounds on the T-side of Anubis over the last two series.

• Liquid has a win% advantage over 9INE on five of seven maps over the last three months.

• Despite losing their last two BO1s, Liquid enters the match on a six-map win streak.

The cat is out of the cage

After waiting out the Challengers stage due to an earned bye, Brazil's top team at FURIA is ready to pounce in a big way in the final Major. The panthers have a massive chip on their shoulder as the sole Brazilian squad left in the event, and they'll look to start off their Legends stage on the right foot by taking out CIS' Monte, a team that is all too familiar with other Brazilian lineups. Monte advanced through the Challengers stage off a win over paiN, something they'll look to replicate against FURIA. However, the task may be too tall in the opener against Brazil's best.

• Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato is one of the world's best players right now, ranking first amongst riflers in LAN rating over the last three months, min 20 maps.

• FURIA's lineup has an extensive experience advantage entering their third Major together compared to a fresh Monte lineup boasting four Major debutants.

• Although less active, FURIA's level of competition was significantly higher than Monte's before the Major.

BO1 vetos can go so many ways due to the sheer amount of choices compared to a standard BO3 veto. Taking an educated guess, Liquid would be best suited to take the game to either Ancient or Anubis. They've looked incredible on Anubis in their last two wins, and 9INE is outright terrible right now on Ancient, currently on a thirteen-map loss stream. As for FURIA and Monte, the two teams look rather comfortable with Mirage as their first choice lately, pointing all signs to a battle on the all-too-familiar map.