FaZe Clan's Counter-Strike 2 team will face Ninjas in Pyjamas during the group stage of ESL Pro League Season 20. The match is scheduled for September 5, 20:30 EEST. We have analyzed the statistics of both teams and made a prediction for the outcome of the upcoming match.
Current Form
FaZe Clan has shown decent results over the last month, finishing 5th-6th at IEM Cologne 2024. Success at BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown 2024 and advancing to the Fall Final confirms their good form. However, it should be noted that their victories were achieved over weaker teams such as Rare Atom, paiN Gaming, OG, and FlyQuest. Regarding the ESL Pro League Season 20, the team has already suffered an unexpected defeat to Sangal Esports, which may indicate certain weaknesses in the squad.
Unlike FaZe Clan, NiP has not participated in major tournaments in the past month and has failed several qualifiers, which does not speak well for their form. The team has lost 4 of their last 5 matches, often struggling against opponents they were favored to beat. NiP's only win was a technical one when HEROIC lost due to a rule issue during ESL Pro League Season 20.
Map Pool
FaZe Clan typically chooses the map Nuke, where they have a modest win rate of 56%. Maps like Mirage (71%), Ancient (65%), and Inferno (63%) are also in the team’s arsenal. FaZe has the best chance of success on these locations. FaZe's priority ban is Vertigo, which is quite expected, given the frequency of this map being banned (26 times).
NiP often chooses the map Ancient, where they have one of the highest win rates (68%). On other "home" maps, the team shows weaker gameplay—Anubis (56%) and Vertigo (47%). With FaZe Clan banning Vertigo, NiP will likely respond by banning Mirage or Dust2. Inferno is most likely to remain as the decider map, where both teams have substantial experience.
Head-to-Head
A month ago, FaZe Clan and NiP met during the BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024, where the Swedish club emerged victorious with a score of 2:0. The matches on Ancient and Inferno were close (16:14 and 13:11), but NiP managed to clinch them in their favor. Since then, FaZe Clan's form has remained unchanged, while NiP has shown a clear decline, which makes their current chances of success lower.
Prediction from Bo3.gg
Based on the current form of the teams and recent results, FaZe Clan appears to be the favorite in this match. Although NiP managed to win the last encounter, the current decline in form of the Swedes and their unconvincing results in recent games put them at a disadvantage. FaZe Clan, on the other hand, is showing good results and is likely to take advantage of the opponent's weaknesses this time. The match prediction is a FaZe Clan victory with a score of 2:1, with the possibility of a close battle on all three maps.
PREDICTION: 2:1 in favor of FaZe Clan
The ESL Pro League Season 20 runs from September 3 to 22 in Malta. Teams are competing for a prize pool of $750,000. You can follow the schedule and results of the championship via the link.
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