FaZe Clan vs Cloud9 Prediction: Another Nuke not coming

The first major of 2022 has come to an end. FaZe Clan has confirmed their status as the best team in the world, while Team Spirit has once again proved that they could achieve results with young players. IEM Dallas 2022 awaits us, with almost all of the world's strongest teams attending. Had it not been for visa problems, the list of participants would have been even stronger. Nevertheless, 16 teams, 14 of which are in the top 20 in the world ranking, will start on May 30 for the champion title and the prize fund of $250,000. The CIS region will be represented by Cloud9, which failed in the Major and is eager to prove to the new organization that it did not believe in the Russian line-up in vain.

FaZe Clan and Cloud9 will play their next match at IEM Dallas 2022 on June 4. The teams will begin the playoffs with the quarter-finals. We'll find out very soon who the stronger team will be and who will withdraw from the tournament.

FaZe Clan, after winning the major, continues to show excellent results. The team managed to reach the IEM Dallas 2022 playoffs. Yes, not in the semi-finals, but still, they reached the quarter-finals. They did it very confidently. The only problem was in their last match against ENCE. In that meeting, the Polish grandpa, who had finally reached the CS tier-1, raged and showed that he could still show a great game. Snax finished the encounter against the top-ranked winners of the major. And yet the Pole hasn't played much this year. He has played only eight maps in half a year against tier-3 line-ups. ENCE showed that FaZe Clan is not playing perfectly and can be beaten even with replacements. Separately from the FaZe Clan line-up, we can highlight Twistzz, who occupies the third position on the list of the tournament's best players in terms of individual statistics. His rating is 1.30.

As for maps, the Europeans won't be able to pick Nuke (they can't pick it if someone can hit the buttons this time), on which they have 89% of wins in the last three months. That's the best figure out of their map pool. However, FaZe Clan has an obvious pick option that they are obliged to take advantage of. It's Inferno. Cloud9 still have big problems on this map, and the Russian team can win only if they play incredibly well individually. The guys are playing really well right now, but will that be enough to win on their most uncomfortable map? The big question.

Nevertheless, Cloud9 probably has the most realistic chance to win on Inferno in the last six months because of the terrific form of their leaders. But FaZe Clan is still the favorite to win this map. Another pick option is not believable, only if the Europeans want to return the favor for Nuke in the major.

Cloud9 produced the best team statistics of all the participants in the group stage. However, this did not allow the team to qualify straight into the semi-finals, and now they will face the reigning world champion. Nevertheless, the team's performance looks good. Sh1ro and Ax1Le are the best players in the tournament in terms of individual statistics. Their ratings are 1.32 and 1.31. The team has won their last two matches with the same score of 2-0. The Russian team has spiked Vertigo on both occasions, but FaZe Clan will ban this map. Cloud9 has a few picks, but it is hard to guess what it chooses to play. There's Mirage, where the boys defeated FaZe in their last face-to-face match. There's Overpass, where the Europeans only have a 40% win rate. Then there is Ancient, where Cloud9 showed great play in their last match at IEM Dallas 2022. On all of these maps, the Russian squad has a good chance of winning. Mirage looks like the most likely pick. If it comes down to the third map, Cloud9 can safely go to Ancient. Right now, this map looks stronger for her.

Cloud9, in recent matches, has shown a good game. Guys can catch on and show their game in a match with the top 1 HLTV. The bookmakers are offering odds of 2.75 for Cloud9 to win, which looks like a good option.

TelecomAsia Sport is looking for a Qatar-based video blogger to work during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Contact jobs@telecomasia.net for more information.