Team Spirit vs FaZe Clan: The Dragons don't impress

The eSports festivities continue as The International 10 is followed by the CS:GO Major in Stockholm. The best teams will meet once again to find out who is worthy of being named the best team globally and draw a prize pool of 2 million dollars. Of course, after TI, this amount doesn't look that impressive but trust us. It will be no less exciting, with highlights and high tempers.

Team Spirit and FaZe Clan will be the first to enter the fray. The Russian team has recently lost, showing poor results in the IEM Winter 2021 qualifiers. We will find out very soon if the Dragons can put on a brave fight and get off to a winning start at the most important tournament of the year.

Team Spirit has been looking bad for the past six months. And the team keeps dropping in the rankings, and it's pretty hard to imagine this team being in the top 10 of the HLTV rankings. In the last six months, the team has occasionally beaten some really serious teams. In May 2021, the Dragons beat NaVi and Gambit Esports, but if we take non-CIS teams, the last victory over a top-15 team was back in February at IEM Katowice. After that tournament, the Russian team did not show any serious results.

Team Spirit still has big problems with Inferno, and so far, it does not seem that the team is working on this map. Given the weak Ancient, the permanent ban on Vertigo, the position of the Dragons before the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 looks miserable. After all, you can't say that the guys are super confident in playing Mirage or Overpass. And their main weapon, Dust2, is increasingly beginning to fail, which is naturally caused by the general decline of the team.

Of the positives, we can mention the pistol rounds. On five maps out of six, the Dragons have a pistol win rate above 55%. On four of them, it is above 60%. True, it doesn't help the team much. The guys also win more than 55% of pistol rounds on the same Inferno but have only a 25% win rate. Looking at the maps, the Russian team will get rid of Ancient and Inferno, and then everything will depend on the opponent's bans.

FaZe Clan has managed to win a trip to the majors, after all. It was hard to believe it, but this was the first time the team achieved the desired result literally by miracle. Against them, everyone suddenly starts to play below their abilities, while the team's seniors, on the contrary, find their reserves and play their best. I don't believe in this team. In my opinion, they have too many problems, too little firepower, and their luck should stop as soon as they get to a stable team without obvious declines. However, in the first PGL Major Stockholm 2021 match, they got lucky again, and in the opening match, the team got Dragons, who are clearly on the decline now. Of course, there is a chance that the Russian team will improve in the remaining week before the tournament, but they need to improve a lot. The successful results of FaZe Clan are largely due to the excellent play of rain, who recently increased greatly in individual play and was able to bring his rating to 1,10. Even a couple of months ago, his rating was lower than 1,00. Whether the FaZe Clan veteran will maintain his playing form is unclear, but a lot will depend on him.

As for the maps, FaZe Clan will surely remove Vertigo and Nuke. And of the remaining Mirage, Dust2, and Overpass will choose what they feel more comfortable playing. At first glance, the most logical option for the Europeans looks the ban Dust2, as it's the strongest opponent's map, and given the fact that the guys have lost in the last three months only to teams from the CIS, most likely karrigan will do so. FaZe Clan has a higher win rate on Mirage and Overpass, and in recent matches, the Europeans have looked more confident. And if the Dragons also fail to go to the pistol rounds, things will be very bad.

Team Spirit has looked poor in recent matches. Of course, there is a chance that the team will improve during the remaining week, but it isn't easy to believe it. The bookmakers offer to bet on FaZe Clan's win with a handicap (-3.5) for 1.99, which looks like a good option.