Match Prediction: NaVi - Team Spirit | CS2 (CS:GO)
IEM Katowice 2024Welcome to EGamersWorld.
The IEM Katowice 2024 tournament continues to gain momentum. At the Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland, the group stage of the biggest tournament of the winter is getting ready for the Long Season.
We are talking about Group A, where 8 teams will start their way to the play-offs. Among them are Natus Vincere and Spirit, who will meet in the first round of the group stage of IEM Katowice 2024.
We will try to find out who of the Spirit - NAVI pair will be stronger and will move further up the grid. The winner of the pair NaVi - Spirit takes on the winner of the pair Apeks - Complexity.
Let's go.
Spirit Form
Let's open the match with an analysis of Spirit's form. They are favourites in this match thanks to a very solid performance during the Play-In stage. The odds for Spirit to win are at around 1.7.
Spirit Results
The 2023 season has been a busy one for Spirit. The Serbian club has played wherever they can, but they haven't managed to get any significant results.
They started the previous season with an appearance at IEM Master Katowice 2023, where they finished in the top 12. Then there was the local CCT Central Europe Malta Finals 2023, where they finished in the top 6.
One of the biggest tournaments of the 2023 season for Spirit was ESL Pro League Season 17, where the Dragons finished in TOP-28. They tried to make it to the Major in Paris, but again all in vain.
From the middle and up to the end of the year Spirit played at local events of small calibre. And they were quite successful, it is worth mentioning: TOP-1 at CCT North Europe Series #6, TOP-2 at CCT Online Finals #2, victory at Dunav Party LAN and Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #2.
- Team Spirit roster: chopper, zont1x, sh1ro, hally, baz.
At the end of the year, they won the BB Dacha. In 2024, BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown 2024 was the first major event of the Dragons. Spirit played frankly poorly there: they finished in the top 16 at their debut BLAST Championship, advancing to the Spring Showdown.
At IEM Katowice 2024 Spirit started their performance at the Play-In stage. There they beat Apeks 13-0 without a chance, and then confidently (except for 2 maps) beat MongolZ 2-0, thus qualifying for the group stage.
Team Spirit Mapple
The best map of Team Spirit is Vertigo, where the Brazilians played 5 times and won in 3 maps. Next is Mirage, with 7 games and 4-3 statistics.
The neutral choice for Team Spirit will be Nuke and Ancient. The Brazilians have 6 maps and 3-3 score on each.
The worst is Overpass (2-3) and Inferno (1-2).
Natus Vincere Form
We continue the NaVi vs Spirit match with the analysis of the game form of "born to win". In this match the Ukrainian club is playing as the number two, with a minimal gap. The NaVi win odds are at 1.9.
NaVi played a series of good tournaments while still in the previous squad. They placed high in almost every one.
They started with a top 6 at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2023. Then top-3 at IEM Katowice 2023 and a similar result at ESL Pro League Season 17.
NaVi took BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR A without any problems and qualified for the Major in Paris. Before the only Major of the season, Natus Vincere took the top 4 at the IEM Masters Rio 2023.
The Paris tournament turned out to be a failure for NaVi. Top-11 is hardly a decent result for a team of Natus Vincere's status.
Before the IEM Cologne IEM Long Convergence NaVi made a global Reshuffle by switching the roster to English. In addition to electroNic, Perfecto and npl who left, jL with Apeks, iM with GamerLegion and Aleksib, who previously played for Ninjas in Pyjamas, joined the team.
With the new lineup, NaVi made their debut at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023. "Born to Win" managed to earn a place in the autumn finals by finishing in the top 4-6.
At IEM Cologne 2023 Natus Vincere played two matches. First, they lost to MOUZ with a score of 0-2, and then defeated OG in Bo3. At the end of the top championship NaVi reached the top 8, which is a good result for the then renewed roster.
Then there were a number of appearances at major events with very good results. NaVi entered the top 8 at Gamers8 and took the top 2 at ESL Pro Legue Season 18.
The key tournament of the season for "yellow-black" can be called IEM Sydney 2023. There NaVi for the first time in a long time played without their main headliner S1mple, whose place was temporarily taken by coach B1ad3. Andrew tried, but NaVi could not jump above the top-12.
- NaVi line-up: w0nderful, b1t, Aleksib, jL, iM.
After S1mple's withdrawal from the active roster, NaVi started the game with w0nderful. He made his debut for the Yellow-Blacks at BLAST Premier: World Final 2023. Natus Vincere played him very well, reaching the top 4. In the match for the Grand Final Ledgeili future tournament champions and the best team in the world Vitality.
The year 2024 started on a high note. First they were the best at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European Qualifier A, and then earned a place at BLAST Premier: Spring Final by finishing in the top 1 of their group at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024.
NaVi Mappool
NaVi's best map in 3 months is Inferno. The team played there 5 times with a win rate of 60 per cent.
On Mirage, Ancient. Nuker, Overpass and Anubis NaVi has 50% wins. On Ancient and Nuke the team played 4 matches each, on the others - 2.
Vertigo is not playing.
History of head-to-head meetings between NaVi and Spirit
Spirit have never defeated NaVi. The last time the teams crossed each other during ESL Pro League 17, back in March last year. Then NaVi won (2-0).
Predicted result of the match Spirit - NaVi at IEM Katowice 2024
In this fight we should expect an equal fight, if you look solely at the odds from bookmakers. I don't rule out that it will turn out that way in the end, but I don't believe in Spirit's advantage. Yes, they have a good background at IEM Katowice 2024 and two solid wins, but NaVi haven't lost in 2024 so far, which for me is a key argument in their favour.
Bottom line: NaVi wins.
Bookmakers & Statistics
Now, the majority of bookmaker companies believe in Team Spirit victory. Odds on them are equal to 1.565. According to bookmakers data, NaVi are the outsider and odds on their victory amounts 5.088.
How the teams played in the last matches
Last Matches | NaVi | Team Spirit |
5 matches (wins) | 5 | 3 |
10 matches (wins) | 8 | 7 |
The statistics of personal battles between teams is also important for successful bets. The competitors have held 10 matches. In these matches NaVi won 8 times, Team Spirit active consisits of 2 wins.