FaZe Clan vs Team Liquid

IEM Chicago 2018,

Into the semi-finals, we go as we take a closer look at the best of three series to be played between teams Faze Clan and Team Liquid. Both of these team have their own personal storylines that have lead them to this opportunity to make it to the finals of this event. We will be taking a closer look into each team arsenal and their struggles and triumphs throughout the event so far and how they got to this point and then ultimately who will win based off off these reasons and more.

Faze Clan :

Faze Clan looks to be back on their relative track now that rumors have spread around the idea of replacing Karrigan. It seems Karrigan doesn't want to go calmly into the night and has stepped up his own personal game in order to compete with the legends around him. Though he still struggles in his own right he is not the usual star player from Faze but with intelligent plays he can hold his own. So far this even Faze Clan took a rather dodgy fist victory in the best of one game against LDLC where they won 16-14. Following that game was a winners bracket best of three-game against MIBR in which they took 2-1, which was not the greatest end result but it gets the job done. The real impressive feat that Faze Clan has done this event was taking down Astralis in a best of three series 2-0. Faze Clan has seemed to be getting better and better as the event continues to unfold.

The Map pool for Faze Clan looks like this: Mirage is 13-8, Inferno is 8-11, Overpass is 7-10, Train is 7-2, Dust 2 is 5-3, Cache is 3-3 and Nuke is the permaban.

Team Liquid :

Team Liquid seems to be stabilizing more and finding themselves comfortable competing as one of the best teams in the world. Currently ranked #3 in the world, Team Liquid's technical skill and high mechanical abilities have helped them reign supreme over less prepared opponents. However, as discussed in the past, when playing against teams that are more scrappy and unprepared going into an event, Team Liquid tend to over analyze and lose. This is the case with teams such as Faze, LDLC and even Luminosity gave them some trouble in the earliest game in this event. Team Liquid did end up winning against LDLC but lost when playing against a Fnatic. Team Liquid is a top team, but if they get too far into their own heads they will lose.

Maps for Team Liquid look like this: Inferno is 16-5, Cache is 14-5, Mirage is 10-7, Dust 2 is 3-5, Nuke is 4-2, Overpass is 1-3 and Train is the permaban.

Map Pick/Ban:

This is a best of three series where each team will ban two maps, pick one map and the final untouched map will be chosen as the decider. Faze Clan will ban out Nuke as the permaban and then ban out Inferno to take away Team Liquid's best map. Team Liquid will ban out Train as the permaban and follow up with an Overpass ban. Leaving maps Mirage, Cache and Dust 2.

Final Thoughts:

Faze Clan is finding the thing inside that originally made them a successful team, and now that Karrigan is feeling the pressure of the lost events he is putting more effort into his game. Team Liquid does have an opportunity to take this game, however, Faze Clan is an opponent much like Astralis that Team Liquid has only beat a handful of times and tends to lose far more. Faze Clan play scrappy and rely on skills to win. Faze are a mechanically better team than Liquid and I feel that will be enough to get the win today. Medium bet on Faze Clan.