On February 17, the main stage of the IEM Katowice tournament officially begins. 16 teams will compete for a prize pool of 972 thousand dollars. As in the previous year, the winner will receive almost half of the amount – 400 thousand. Tomorrow evening, the American team Liquid will face a tough opponent in FaZe. We have prepared a prediction for this match.
FaZe Clan
The international team, unlike its opponent, did not qualify directly for the main stage and played in the Play-in. Before the tournament, it was revealed that ropz would not be able to help the team in the early stages of the championship, as his COVID-19 test came back positive. The Australian jks stepped in to assist the club. FaZe advanced to the main stage early, defeating Sprout and MOUZ. Both matches were challenging. They beat the Germans 16-12, and overcame MOUZ over three maps.
Team Liquid
The Americans recently changed their roster. Stewie2k, Fallen, and Grim left, and they brought in nitr0, oSee, and shox. The team has only played one tournament together. They competed in the Blast Premier Spring Groups, winning just one of their four matches. Notably, Liquid lost both games against FaZe. The team is currently ranked 54th in the world.
Statistics and Prediction
FaZe Clan’s win rate over the last few months is 61%, while Liquid’s is under 40%. As mentioned earlier, the teams played recently, and both matches were closely contested. Liquid only lost in overtime. In the second game, they led 11-4 at halftime but couldn’t hold the advantage.
There is limited information on Liquid’s form, but they perform well on Inferno and have clearly prepared for Ancient. Naf and EliGe are in top shape, carrying the team. Nitro hasn’t fully adapted since switching from Valorant. Shox hasn’t shown his best, and oSee has been average.
FaZe has struggled for years to find the optimal lineup: sometimes they lack a proper captain, other times they need more firepower. With the addition of karrigan and ropz, both issues should be resolved. From the games we’ve seen, Robin ‘karrigan’ Kohl is already the strongest player in the lineup.
Liquid has a solid roster, but it needs time to gel. A large part of the team changed, and their map pool is still raw. FaZe made a targeted replacement with a stronger player, and all maps are well-practiced. So, FaZe should come out on top.
