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We continue to watch PW Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR at the most important tournament before the Long Sogpeg PW Shanghai Major 2024. It's important because it determines those very competitors.
Now we are talking specifically about PW Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR A, where we are interested in two matches. One of them is the title clash between Vitality and FaZe.
We are trying to find out who of FaZe - Vitality pair will be stronger and will go to PW Shanghai Major 2024.
Let's go.
Vitality's form
Let's open the analysis of the Vitality - FaZe match with the analysis of Vitality's game form. In this match the French top club plays the first number one with odds to win around 1.6.
The first half of the 2023 season has been a real treat for Vitality. It started with a win at the Blast Premier Spring Groups and Top 6 at the top IEM Katowice 2023 and ESL Pro League Season 4. Next was Top 3 at European RMR B and triumph at the most domestic Major e - BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023. After winning the Paris Major e Vitality took the top 2 at the spring finals of BLAST, Ledge and Heroic in the grand finals.
The last tournament before IEM Katowice was BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023. There Vitality showed a worse result than expected, with the top 6 in the end.
- Vitality lineup: apEX, ZywOo, mezii, Spinx, flameZ.
In their debut match at IEM Cologne 2023, Vitality only confirmed their status as one of the main favourites of Group B. OG tried, but were defeated 16-6 by Mirage and 16-13 by Anubis.
After defeating OG, Vitality took on MOUZ, who were dealt an even bigger blow by the Bees, 16-4 and 16-5.
In the match for seeding in the play-offs Vitality met another top club - G2 Esports. A nerve-wracking game where Vitality pulled out a 19-17 win on Inferno in the extra time, but then lost 10-16 to Vertigo and 8-16 to Mirage.
Starting the play-offs from the first round stumbled Cloud9. "Cloud9 tried to fight back and almost succeeded on the second map, but ZywOo and company were undeterred: 16-11 Mirage and 19-17 Inferno. However, this was the end of Vitality's stay at the tournament: they met ENCE in the semi-finals and lost with 1-2 score and dropped out of the championship.
The top 4 at IEM Cologne did not embarrass Vitality at all, on the contrary - it fuelled them. Before the end of the year they pocketed 3 more wins at title tournaments: they took revenge on ENCE in the Gamers8 Grand Final and beat FaZe twice at BLAST tournaments (Fall Final 2023 and World Final 2023).
Before playing at PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024: European RMR B played BLAST Premier: Spring Groups, where they passed the group stage without any problems and at IEM Katowice 2024, where they failed very unexpectedly, finishing top-12.
At the PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024: European RMR B Vitality stomped GamerLegion and Heroic without any problems, giving up a total of 5 rounds in two maps. And then it was worse - a loss by C9, but a win over ENCE allowed Vitality to reach the Major.
Vitality attended the first Major tournament of the season - PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024, where they managed to reach Top 4, but Ledge and FaZe Clan. Later they played at ESL Pro League Season 19, where they again started very cheerfully and easily made it to the grand finals, but there they were swept by MOUZ.
At the IEM Dallas 2024 Long Season, they started with a very difficult win over Monte, and then closed G2 Esports dry. But in the match for seeding in the play-offs quite unexpectedly Ledge and 9z Team with a score 0-2. The play-offs IEM Dallas 2024 started much more confidently, closing Heroic with 2-0. Then a confident win over Spirit, but a loss to G2 Esports in the grand finals.
Before appearing at Esports World Cup 2024, Vitality attended Blast Premier: Spring Final, where they reached the Top 4. At EWC 2024, Vitality Long Sogpeg started off with a solid win over M80, which allowed them to go straight into the play-offs. However, Vitality were then very unexpectedly eliminated in the first round of play-offs, Ledgeiv Vp.
Vitality travelled to IEM Cologne 2024, where they were triumphant for the first time in the 2024 season. In the final, Vitality managed to beat the best team in the world at the time, NaVi, 3-1.
Later there was a performance at the ESL Pro League Season 20, where the "bees" had no problems in the play-offs, but very unexpectedly lost to Eternal Fire in the quarter-finals. The same result was repeated at BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024, but then Vitality lost to the future champions from G2 Esports at the TOP-4 stage.
Prior to Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Europe RMR A played at IEM Rio 2024 and BLAST Premier: World Final, where they finished in the top 6 and top 4 respectively.
At PW Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR A, Vitality Long Competed as everyone expected. They beat GamerLegion and BB Team.
Vitality mappool
The best Vitality map is Nuke. There are 4 matches and 4 wins.
Anubis (7 matches, 85% wins), Mirage (4 matches, 75% wins) are very good. In general, Vitality doesn't have any bad cards that they play. Vertigo - 71% wins in 7 matches, Inferno and Overpass - 3 wins in 5 matches.
Ancient is not played.
FaZe Form.
We continue the analysis of FaZe - Vitality match with the analysis of FaZe form. In this match they play as the second number with the odds of victory around 2.5.
From the main achievements of the last season - getting into the top three at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2023 and winning at ESL Pro League Season 17. Also this year FaZe received the award for the 4th season of Intel Grand Slam, enriched by $1,000,000.
Speaking of award tournaments, there was less luck here. Top-12 at IEM Rio 2023, and Top-4 at IEM Dallas 2023. At the only Major e in the season FaZe did not cope with the tension, but made it to TOP-8.
Before the Long Conference IEM Cologne 2023 they attended two tournaments of BLAST series: Spring Final 2023 and Fall Groups 2023. At the Finals they were ranked Top 6, and at the Fall Groups 2023 they were in the top three, earning themselves a slot at the Autumn Finals.
- FaZe Clan line-up: karrigan, rain, Frozen, ropz, broky.
Despite the ubiquitous Reshuffle and rather "average" results for the year, FaZe didn't change the main roster. However, there were some substitutions: FaZe presented a new coach, who became the legendary Pole NEO. On his post he replaced the legendary RobbaN and it affected FaZe's gameplay in IEM Cologne 2023, where FaZe took the top-12.
The setbacks continued from there onwards. At Gamers8 2023 FaZe Clan took a similar place (9-12), Ledgeiv at the Long Segment of the Vp tournament with the score 2-0.
Things didn't go too well at ESL Pro League Season 18. FaZe made it to the play-offs on the top grid of Group C, defeating 9Z Team and Fnatic, but in the match for seeding in the main stage they lost to NaVi with the score 0-2. However, FaZe didn't manage to play long at ESL Pro League Season 18: in the first play-offs match, which for FaZe started from the second stage, the team met MOUZ. The future EPL champions sent FaZe Clan home. As a result FaZe found themselves on the 9-12th place of the top tournament.
FaZe rehabilitated quite quickly. Already at IEM Sydney 2023 they triumphed with the victory over CoL in the grand final.
Thunderpick World Championship 2023 FaZe Clan have a great time. The titular European club passed the group stage without problems becoming the best team of the quartet B, and then took part in the play-offs of the championship.
The first opponent for FaZe in the play-offs of Thunderpick World Championship 2023 was MOUZ. A serious opponent, but FaZe coped with it: 2-1 in favour of the champions of IEM Sydney 2023.
At CS Asia Championship 2023 FaZe confidently made it to the play-offs through Group B. Having taken the unquestionable TOP-1 position the team went directly to the semi-finals of the tournament. FaZe then went head-to-head: first they defeated ENCE 2-1 and in the grand final they defeated MOUZ 2-0.
One of the most stable teams of the season has a pretty extensive record in the first half of the year. However, it predominantly consists of "near" top results.
Among the main achievements - getting into the top three at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2023 and winning at ESL Pro League Season 17. Also this year FaZe got the award for the 4th season of Intel Grand Slam, enriched by $1,000,000.
Speaking of award tournaments, there was less luck here. Top-12 at IEM Rio 2023, and Top-4 at IEM Dallas 2023. At the only Major e in the season FaZe couldn't cope with the tension, but made it to the TOP-8.
At CS Asia Championship 2024 FaZe confidently made it to the play-offs through Group B. Having taken unquestionable TOP-1 the team went directly to the semi-finals of the tournament. Then FaZe went head-to-head: first they defeated ENCE with the score 2-1 and in the grand final they won MOUZ with the score 2-0.
Next, FaZe had a series of "failures". They finished TOP-8 at EPL Season 19, TOP-6 at IEM Dallas 2024 and BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2024, TOP-8 at Esports World Cup 2024 and TOP-12 at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024.
At IEM Cologne 2024, FaZe Long Sogpeg started off with a win over Team Liquid, but went on to Ledge or Vitality in the play-offs. After falling into the bottom set of IEM Cologne 2024, FaZe outscored Falcons 2-0, and then won their best match of the tournament in a bye, comingback against Liquid from a 3-12 deficit. However, the momentum was not enough: FaZe lost to sAw and left the tournament on top-6.
Later FaZe played at BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown 2024, where they took TOP-1-2.
At ESL Pro League S20 FaZe failed in the first round of Group A, losing to Sangal Esports, and then cameback through the middle set, beating FlyQuest, NiP. However, the comeback lasted for a long time, because after the meeting with CoL FaZe Clan left the championship on 12-18 lines.
After the failure at ESL Pro League S20, FaZe took the top 4 at BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2024, and then - Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024 with the final top 8.
BLAST Premier: World Final 2024 met in Group A, where they played to a 1-1 score. They first lost to MOUZ, but then snatched a win from NaVi in a match for life at the tournament. However, in the play-offs Ledge and Team Spirit finished in the top 6.
At PW Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR A, FaZe Clan beat C9 and Falcons.
FaZe Clan Mappool
FaZe's best map is Mirage. They played 12 matches and won 9 of them.
Then there were Overpass with 8 matches and 5 wins. They play Nuke (7 matches, 4 wins), Inferno (9 matches, 5 wins). Worse is Ancient with 3 wins in 6 matches, and worst of all was Anubis. His FaZe was picked 7 times, but played with a winrate of 42%.
Not played on Vertigo.
History of head-to-head meetings between Vitality and FaZe
In the season 2024 the teams have played each other 4 times and so far Vitality has a favourable statistic - 3-1.
Predicted result of the match Vitality - FaZe at Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR A
In this match I expect an equal game from the two teams. If we take into account the Internationals directly on RMR A, FaZe looks better here, because they beat C9 and Falcons, which is harder to do than to beat GL and BB, as Vitality did. However, Vitality have better face-to-face statistics and they are comfortable to play against FaZe.
Bottom line: Vitality wins.
