When bootcamping it’s best to play from Texas because those are where the servers they plan on for competition are located

LMFAO

Thx. I think both sides have a solid chance of securing the win. Rooting for both sides tho!

Same here

Thx!

Oh shit thank you! I will def look at some of the vlr articles and try to make it less dense

Yep. I hope they either fix their icebox or split

Yea faze really need to work on their split. If they start on attack they’re fucked

ok!

This is a highly anticipated match in the lower bracket of the NA challengers and I thought it would be interesting to go over the statistics and likely map picks for this match up.

Faze started out 0-2 in the group stage but then bounced back by securing 3 consecutive wins to secure 2nd place in their group. It seems like they have found an optimal playstyle that works for them that centers around neon and chamber Faze are a team that abuse their hyper agressive neon playstyle to enter site and overwhelm their opponents to win. This playstyle can be seen best on fracture which is one of their best maps. Although they play hyper agressive, it is not just a mindless push into site. Their util usuage and trading capabilities are immaculate. They set up their primary duelist for optimal success on site and if he is not able to accomplish anything their secondary support is always there to secure the trade. Many people think that faze lack tactical depth however that is just not true. They have protocols and set plays set up for almost any situation and if they are struggling their staff team is able to help guide them to success. On defense, faze play more agressive than your typical team however they make sure they always use a buddy system to trade out their teammate and make sure to rarely overheat. They are also very profficient in pressuring one side of the map to force their opponents into dicey who is able to get the first blood majority of the time. Overall their biggest success on defnese is securing those first bloods and backing up to play the man advantage and on attack it is setting up babybay for success on a site and trading him out. They are an extremely strong team whos playstyle reminds me of optic during masters 1 earlier this year.

NRG seemed to almost have an identity crisis this group stage. They were an extremely hyped up team after not dropping a single map during the open quals. In their group stage they seemed to try out strange comps to throw off their opponents or just experiment in general. They started off strong in a win vs tsm and debuted a 0 duelist breeze along side a new ascent comp featuring fade and raze. After seeing that match, it seems like the hype only grew. Those comps worked extremely well, however one thing that they tried to do was change up their comps almost every week. On top of that this team was plagued with loosing their bonus rounds which did not help. After a rough group stage, NRG had to secure a win vs Guard to secure a playoff spot. It seems like after that match they seemed to step away from the weird and different comps and decided to stick with what worked. Throughout the group stage, some starts that stuck out with their util usage and pop off ability were eeiu, tex and ethan. All three of these players were major factors to NRG's success. Throughout the playoffs, NRG stocks were at an all time low as they had to face ghost who they previously got stomped by and eg who beat the previous m1 champs. Finally NRG stuck to a couple comps and protocols that worked. That is what is strong about this team, their ability to adapt and their protocols they have set in place. With veterans like hazed and ethan, this team is able to come across any hurdle and pass over it. In conclusion, NRG is a team that should stick to their strong suits and is a prep based team which has helped them in their most recent matches.

Looking just at a comparison, I think faze has an extremely overwhelming but predictable playstyle. NRG has a history of being overwhelmed by immense firepower however if they are able to study and adapt to faze, they have a solid chance to win. On the other hand, faze has one of the most fast paced and agressive playstyles out of any team, if they are able to control the pace of the game and succeed in getting first kills they have a very solid chance in taking the series.

Map picks

Faze will most likely ban bind as it has been their perma ban. I expect NRG to ban fracture unless they have something cooked up for this map because it seems to be one of their most frequently banned maps. I expect faze to pick haven as haven is one of their strongest maps and it seems to be their second pick when fracture is not let through and I expect NRG to pick ascent as it seems like one of their most consistent picks and they seem very strong on the map. Secondary bans I expect faze to ban icebox as it has been their primary second ban and they have lost this map quite and bit and I expect NRG to ban breeze because Faze look extremely strong on the map. With that exact ban, split is left through as the third map.

Thank you for reading this analysis, I am open to any and all feedback to become a better writter :)

When will big learn how to qualify for playoffs ;)

ONCE THEY BEAT FURIA NO ONE CAN STOP THEM. THEY WILL RANK HIGHER THAN LLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

OMG MWZERA GONNA MAKE ME CREAM. NO ONE CAN STOP THEM.

ARE THE GOATS OF BRAZIL BACK?!?!?!

ONCE THEY MAKE M2 COPENHAGEN IT IS OVER FOR ANY OTHER TEAM. THEY WILL DO WHAT LLL COULD NOT. THEY WILL BRING PRIDE TO BRAZIL ESPORTS. HEAT AND MWZERA ARE ONLINE IT IS OVER!

MAD v VIT. I really hope VIT is able to win though

It’s his own company Op Academy.

Can’t that be said for any good team tho?

If and when chamber eventually gets nerfed what happens to optic. Almost all of their comps are centered around yay’s insane chamber play. I have no doubt in my mind they will adapt but will the team be at the same peak as it is now?

Atm I feel like any player on optic can play any role. That’s how deep their game knowledge and mechanics are (excluding maybe fns). Like I feel like yay could be an insane initiator or something else, obv he won’t have the same impact on the game but he’s just insane like that.

Are they that good at split? They’ve lost 9-3 and 8-4 leads. If the third map is split and they start attack I doubt they win.

Other than that i agree.

I think it’s just me being paranoid again lol 💀

Yea to me Xset are missing that X factor of a player or players popping off and winning the game single handedly and faze are missing map depth and some strategic depth.

Oh ok!

Am I the only one worried about how the #2 seed for NA will hold up internationally? I mean it seems like anyone can beat anyone for the #2 spot, and i'm not sure if any of the teams in contention are good enough to make it far against international competition. Might just be me though, but I think that the other regions like apac and emea's #2 seeds will fair much better internationally.

it may be boring but its literally the meta. if you wanna be successful you gotta adapt no matter how boring it may be

last lcq he was nuts

Sure but there are some glaring issues.

I mean there have to be changes if this team wants to win something significant. There are not going to be able to go up against teams like optic or Xset or even internationally. Teams have to make sacrifices to win

Appreciation for what? Getting grouped? 🤡

Idk better than optic but def an upgrade. Especially having bdog on chamber and asuna on raze

M3C
Optic
Drx
Faze
Fnatic
Fokus

Yep. Sure som can flex onto agents like sage or omen but by no means is he a start duelist like cryo or babybay who can change the course of a whole game.

I agree. If you are looking for a superstar duelist or chamber there are so many better options, especially after franchising.

I would argue Tex is their best player rn

The only players that come in mind to switch would be som or eu, however I would be hesitant to drop them because they are by no means bad it’s just that after franchising there may be better players available in their respective roles.

FPX literally plays this exact comp and dominates with it lol

Idk but he’s able to clutch a lot of situations. There are other things that might work really well for eg. Also looking at the gameplay he isn’t that bad tbh.

Doesn’t matter. I think they’re season is over unless they got lcq

That’s why u get a duelist who can flex too. Put cned back on Jett or some other role like sage once chamber gets nerfed

Keep Cned, mosterrr, and zeek

Get rid of vakkk and starxo

Teach cned how to use chamber
Put zeek on all time initiator
Put monsterrr on all time smokes

Get a cracked duelist/flex and a good initiator

True, but honestly they’ve had one of the best splits for a while.

Historically they’ve never been amazing at the map. On the other hand they banned split, which they’ve been much better on. Idk seems like a blunder to me.

I mean yes but if you watch that drx match again they do not have the best start and it was an uphill battle the whole match. I just think that what xset showed us is better than what optic has shown us recently. also i think it got moved to their permaban for a reason

The problem is that there is no good fucking smokes player. Jamppi is way too aggressive as a smokes player and dies first way too often. On top of that how liquid plays split away from their smokes is horrible and leaves Jamppi exposed. Soulcas is insane in general but his util usage on other agents like skye or fade is just so much better. Nivera is a great viper player but that’s it.

Tbh Xsets map pool is no where near as deep or good as optic

Optic will beat Xset on every map except icebox (their perma ban) and split (xsets best map)

JonahP, dephh, fns, d4vai, so many others

Why is no one talking abt his performance this series!?

Such big brain plays and he’s fragging tf out. Top 3 igl in emea

Move chronicle to full time duelist
Vooshaku on initiator or sentinel
NATS on sentinel or smokes
Sheydos on intiator
Redgar on initiator or smokes

The dick riding is insane…

Thx u too

Oh I had no idea they made lcq I’m stupid