Natus Vincere vs Akuma: Another defeat for Akuma

Natus Vincere and Akuma will play their next match on September 30 in the IEM Fall 2021 CIS group stage. We will find out very soon whether Akuma can get their first victory at the tournament or lose again.

Natus Vincere continue their winning streak. The team has already won ten games in a row and so far looks a head stronger than the rest of their rivals. At the IEM Fall 2021 CIS, the team is not giving its 100%, but even this is enough to take second place in Group A and lose to Team Spirit only in additional indicators. Looking at the maps, Dust2 looks like the most logical option for both teams. It’s clear that Natus Vincere’s level allows them to play any map against Akuma, but if we’re figuring out the bans, then they should get rid of Vertigo, Overpass, and Inferno. NaVi do not play the first map at all, and the two remaining maps currently look weaker than the others, which perfectly confirms the team’s win rate. The last face-to-face match showed that when Natus Vincere are willing and tuned to Akuma, they outplay them on any map very confidently, and I am sure that they will be tuned to these guys.

Akuma haven’t looked too bad against the draw-3 teams in local tournaments, but against the stronger teams, it’s not all worked out. The CIS team managed to play two matches at IEM Fall 2021 but lost both of them. If in the game against Entropiq there were real chances of success, the team led 10-6, then the meeting with Team Spirit did not work. Even though Akuma could enter a very comfortable map (Mirage). If Akuma can make it to Dust2 in the bo1 format, it can be a success for the team. After all, according to the statistics, they should have the best chances on this map. However, the level of the opponents is so different that even with a comfortable pick, I don’t believe that Akuma will be able to give decent resistance to Natus Vincere. Besides, in my opinion, NaVi will want to beat Akuma confidently and will not give them too many chances.

Natus Vincere look like the absolute favourite of the meeting. The team has to step up on the second day. Also, against Akuma, the guys will play with a different attitude than against Nemiga. Therefore, in my opinion, the most logical option looks like a defeat for Akuma.

The bookmakers are offering a Natus Vincere victory with a handicap (-9.5) for odds of 2.63, which looks like a good option.