On September 18, Team Liquid will face Complexity Gaming in the ESL Pro League Season 20 playoffs for CS2. The match is scheduled to begin at 20:30 EEST. The meeting will be held in a bo3 format. We analyzed the statistics of both teams and made a prediction for the outcome of the upcoming match.
Current form
Team Liquid is in good form, with an average rating of 6.2 at S-tier events over the last month. The team participated in IEM Cologne 2024, where they finished in 7-8th place, losing to FaZe Clan in the decisive match for a playoff spot. In addition, Liquid successfully qualified for IEM Rio 2024.
Liquid has won 4 of their last 5 matches, defeating teams such as FLUFFY AIMERS, Legacy, ENCE, and Virtus.pro, with all victories being clean sweeps. Their only loss came in a match against Team Vitality. Liquid finished the group stage of EPL in second place in Group D, highlighting the team's strong form in the current tournament.
Complexity Gaming is also showing decent results with a rating of 6.1 at S-tier events over the last month. The team participated in IEM Cologne 2024, where they finished in 9-12th place. Additionally, Complexity attempted to qualify for BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024 but was unsuccessful.
Nevertheless, Complexity has won 4 of their last 5 matches, defeating MOUZ twice, as well as Astralis and FaZe Clan once. Their only loss was to BIG. In the ESL Pro League playoffs, the team advanced from fourth place in Group C and has already eliminated FaZe Clan, which will boost their confidence for the next match.
Map pool
Team Liquid prefers to ban the Inferno map, having done so 28 times in the past. Among their favorite maps are Nuke and Ancient, which Liquid has chosen 17 times each, with a win rate of 82% on Nuke and 71% on Ancient. It's also worth mentioning Dust2, where Liquid has a high win rate of 78%. Most likely, Liquid will ban Inferno and then pick Nuke as their map.
Complexity prioritizes banning Mirage. The team most often selects Vertigo, which they have played 22 times and have an impressive win rate of 82%. Additionally, their strong performances on Anubis, with a win rate of 58%, are notable. Complexity will likely ban Mirage and then choose Vertigo as it is their strongest map. For the decider, the teams might leave Ancient, which will add intrigue to the match, considering both teams are comfortable on this map.
Head-to-Head
The last meeting between Liquid and Complexity took place about a month ago at IEM Cologne 2024. The match ended with a 2-0 victory for Liquid — 13:10 on Ancient and 13:5 on Anubis. This gives Liquid additional confidence going into the upcoming match, especially if the maps remain the same.
Prediction from Bo3.gg
Team Liquid appears to be the favorite in this match. Their confident performances in recent tournaments, as well as their successful game against Complexity at IEM Cologne, make them the preferred choice for victory. A strong map pool and more successful experience in major tournaments give Liquid an advantage.
While Complexity has shown good form in the current tournament, they may again face difficulties in the match against Liquid, especially if Ancient is left as the decider — a map where Liquid has a high win rate.
PREDICTION: 2:1 in favor of Liquid
ESL Pro League Season 20 is taking place from September 3 to 22 in Malta. The teams are competing for a prize pool of $750,000. You can follow the schedule and results of the championship through the link.
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