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Natus Vincere (World rank: #1) vs. FaZe (World rank: #2) – 10:00 A.M. ET
Moneyline Odds: NAVI (-145) | FaZe (+120)
Map Handicap: NAVI -1.5 (+145) | FaZe +1.5 (-175)

This is a best-of-five series on LAN for the Grand Final of IEM Cologne 2022.
NAVI - Rating at event: s1mple 1.34 | b1t 1.15 | electronic 1.14 | Perfecto 1.03 | sdy 0.99
NAVI - Rating past three months: s1mple 1.32 | b1t 1.17 | electronic 1.15 | Perfecto 1.06 | sdy 1.05
FaZe - Rating at event: rain 1.16 | Twistzz 1.16 | ropz 1.16 | broky 1.11 | karrigan 0.99
FaZe - Rating past three months: broky 1.14 | Twistzz 1.13 | ropz 1.11 | rain 1.10 | karrigan 0.96

H2H Data:
These rosters last met in the quarter-finals of BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022 back in June and NAVI swept 2-0 (16-6 Dust2 / 16-1 Inferno). S1mple led the server with 46 kills and a 1.80 Rating across two maps played.

Map Projections:
NAVI removes Vertigo

FaZe removes Mirage

NAVI picks Dust2

FaZe picks Ancient

NAVI picks Nuke

FaZe picks Inferno

Overpass is left over

Prediction/Narrative: NAVI wins 3-1.

The top two teams will face off in the Grand Final of IEM Cologne 2022 and whichever team wins this series will claim the title of being the current best Counter-Strike team in the world. NAVI have been on fire since losing Boombl4. They have a 17-5 W/L record across 22 maps played with sdy in the lineup, and the transition to electronic at IGL has been seamless. NAVI's protocols on every map look solid outside of maybe Ancient, and their permaban, Vertigo, and it is clear that they have been putting in a ton of work with this new roster. NAVI are the highest-rated team at IEM Cologne 2022 with a 1.13 Team Rating across 10 maps played, and s1mple leads all players with a 1.34 Rating at the event. NAVI have now won eight series in a row, and their form looks as good as ever. Meanwhile, FaZe have been playing really well and haven't dropped a map at this tournament. Their Team Rating has been slightly lower than NAVI's at 1.11 across eight maps played, and their individuals are sharing the load rather than having an MVP performance like NAVI with s1mple. It is difficult to find any faults with FaZe, but the only time they faced this NAVI roster, they got dominated. NAVI opened up that best-of-three with a 13-2 T side on Dust2 which resulted in a quick 16-6 win. Then on FaZe's map pick, Inferno, NAVI only dropped a single round in a 16-1 spanking. FaZe had their time as the number one team in the world, but now that NAVI have taken that title back, I think they will continue to defend it. NAVI should be able to secure a win on Dust2/Mirage depending on what FaZe leave on the board. Nuke has been a good map for FaZe, but NAVI are undefeated so far on Nuke across three maps played, and they have an insane 94.1% 5v4 conversion rate during that time, so I'd still give an edge to NAVI. I think FaZe can pick up a win on a map like Ancient, where we haven't seen NAVI win with this lineup yet, but the rest of the map pool looks to be in the favor of NAVI. I have NAVI winning this series in four maps.

  • b1t leads NAVI with 30.4% opening duel attempts and 0.14 opening kills per round across 10 maps played at this event.
  • s1mple leads NAVI with a 1.57 K/D ratio across 10 maps played at this event.

Favorite Draftkings Plays (In order of priority): 

s1mple ($11,400) | b1t ($10,600) | sdy ($7,200) | electronic ($9,400) | Perfecto ($8,400) | Twistzz ($9,600) | ropz ($8,800) | broky ($10,800) | rain ($7,600) | karrigan ($6,400)