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The group stage of IEM Cologne 2024 is heating up. We continue to watch what's happening in Basket B.
We are interested in the Vitality vs MOUZ match, which is the centre clash of the group, where the fate of seeding in the play-offs will be determined.
We are trying to find out who will be stronger in the Vitality - MOUZ match and go straight to the semi-finals of the IEM Cologne 2024 play-offs.
Let's go.
Vitality's form
We open the Vitality vs MOUZ match with an analysis of Vitality's form. In this match they will play as favourites with odds to win at around 1.7.
The first half of the 2023 season has been a real treat for Vitality. They started it with a win at the Blast Premier Spring Groups and Top 6 at the top IEM Katowice 2023 and ESL Pro League Season 4. Next was Top 3 at European RMR B and triumph at the most domestic Major e - BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023. After winning the Paris Major e Vitality took the top 2 at the spring finals of BLAST, Ledge and Heroic in the grand finals.
The last tournament before IEM Katowice was BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023. There Vitality showed a worse result than expected, with the top 6 in the end.
- Vitality lineup: apEX, ZywOo, mezii, Spinx, flameZ.
In their debut match at IEM Cologne 2023, Vitality only confirmed their status as one of the main favourites of Group B. OG tried, but were defeated 16-6 by Mirage and 16-13 by Anubis.
After defeating OG, Vitality took on MOUZ, who were dealt an even bigger blow by the Bees, 16-4 and 16-5.
In the match for seeding in the play-offs Vitality met another top club - G2 Esports. A nerve-wracking game where Vitality pulled out a 19-17 win on Inferno in the extra time, but then lost 10-16 to Vertigo and 8-16 to Mirage.
Starting the play-offs from the first round stumbled Cloud9. "Cloud9 tried to fight back and almost succeeded on the second map, but ZywOo and company were undeterred: 16-11 Mirage and 19-17 Inferno. However, this was the end of Vitality's stay at the tournament: they met ENCE in the semi-finals and lost with 1-2 score and dropped out of the championship.
The top 4 at IEM Cologne did not embarrass Vitality at all, on the contrary - it fuelled them. Before the end of the year they pocketed 3 more wins at title tournaments: they took revenge on ENCE in the Gamers8 Grand Final and beat FaZe twice at BLAST tournaments (Fall Final 2023 and World Final 2023).
Before playing at PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024: European RMR B played BLAST Premier: Spring Groups, where they passed the group stage without any problems and at IEM Katowice 2024, where they failed very unexpectedly, finishing top-12.
At the PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024: European RMR B Vitality stomped GamerLegion and Heroic without any problems, giving up a total of 5 rounds in two maps. And then it was worse - a loss by C9, but a win over ENCE allowed Vitality to reach the Major.
Vitality attended the first Major tournament of the season - PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024, where they managed to reach Top 4, but Ledge and FaZe Clan. Later they played at ESL Pro League Season 19, where they again started very cheerfully and easily made it to the grand finals, but there they were swept by MOUZ.
At the IEM Dallas 2024 Long Season, they started with a very difficult win over Monte, and then closed G2 Esports dry. But in the match for seeding in the play-offs quite unexpectedly Ledge and 9z Team with a score 0-2. The play-offs IEM Dallas 2024 started much more confidently, closing Heroic with 2-0. Then a confident win over Spirit, but a loss to G2 Esports in the grand finals.
Before appearing at Esports World Cup 2024, Vitality attended Blast Premier: Spring Final, where they reached the Top 4. At EWC 2024, Vitaltiy Long Sogpeg started off with a solid win over M80, which allowed them to go straight into the play-offs. However, Vitality were then very unexpectedly eliminated in the first round of play-offs, Ledgeiv Vp.
IEM Cologne 2024 Vitality started with a match against FURIA, where they easily won 2-0. In the play-offs match they played against FaZe, where they won 2-1.
Vitality mappool
The best map Vitality is Nuke. There are 4 matches and 4 wins.
Anubis (7 matches, 85% wins), Mirage (4 matches, 75% wins) are very good. In general, Vitality doesn't have any bad cards that they play. Vertigo - 71% wins in 7 matches, Inferno and Overpass - 3 wins in 5 matches.
Ancient is not played.
Form MOUZ.
We continue our analysis of Vitality vs MOUZ match with the analysis of MOUZ form. In this match they will play as the number two with odds to win at around 2.
One of MOUZ's major achievements last season was reaching the finals of the Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2023. There they battled ENCE, but were defeated 0-2.
Prior to Long Cologne IEM Cologne MOUZ made a splash at the Elisa Invitational Spring 2023. They failed to jump above the top 4 - they were beaten by Apeks on their way to the Grand Final.
Back in the season, they made it to the top 8 at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR A, and then to the event itself. It didn't end well, as the team finished Top-24 at Major e.
- MOUZ line-up: Brollan, siuhy, torzsi, Jimpphat, xertioN.
IEM Cologne 2023 will be a test for the new line-up of the "mice". After Elisa Spring, siuhy, who previously played for GamerLegion, and Jimpphat, who came from the youth team of MOUZ Nxt, joined the squad.
In the debut match the revamped MOUZ roster played against The MongolZ. An easy outing on paper ended in a nervous Bo1 on the dopes, followed by a 22-19 win for MOUZ on Nuke.
Already in the match to qualify for the group stage MOUZ were much more confident. They beat NiP 2-0 (16-12 Nuke and 16-7 Inferno) without any problems.
The first match of the group stage was not a big challenge for MOUZ either. NaVi lost at Ancient with a score of 16-9 and Overpass with a score of 16-12.
After beating NaVi, MOUZ failed to gain a foothold and lost the next two series. As a result, the "mice" at IEM Cologne 2023 took the top 12.
Before ESL Pro League Season 18, the team played at the local championship Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #1. They managed to win, defeating BIG 2-0 in the grand finals.
In their debut match at ESL Pro League Season 18, MOUZ faced mibr. Being the favourites, MOUZ failed to defeat the Brazilians and unexpectedly ended up in the bottom of Group B.
The group stage was a mixed bag for MOUZ, but still more successful than not. An unexpected defeat in the top set cheered MOUZ up and they effortlessly went over the heads of their opponents, Heroic among them, at the bottom of the group stage table. Having not lost a single game in the lower grid, MOUZ made it here.
In the first round of the ESL Pro League Season 18 play-offs, MOUZ seemed to be off the chain. The Brazilians from FURIA were literally stomped, and the "mice" celebrated an easy 2-0 victory, giving their opponents a total of 9 rounds per game.
In the match before that MOUZ met another grandee of the European scene - FaZe Clan. "Mice" on a spree swept through the match and closed the series with a score of 2-0.
In the match for the exit here MOUZ met G2 Esports. They became the next trophy in the "mice" piggy bank at ESL Pro League S18.
MOUZ went on to defeat ENCE (2-1) and NaVi in the EPL S18 Grand Final with a resounding 3-0 score. Prior to the Thunderpick World Championship 2023, MOUZ played at IEM Sydney 2023, where they again faced FaZe. This time FaZe retaliated for the upset defeat and knocked MOUZ out at the Top 4 stage.
Thunderpick World Championship 2023 MOUZ ended prematurely. They lost in the first round of play-offs to FaZe, who later became the tournament champions.
Later was the CS Asia Championship 2023, where MOUZ performed well. They reached the grand finals, but there they lost to FaZe Clan with a score of 0-2.
At Elisa Masters Espoo 2023 MOUZ started their performance with a rather unexpected defeat. They defeated Apeks 16-19 in the first round of the group stage. Next up was a match with CoL for life at the event, which the "mice" won with a one-card deficit. However, they couldn't stay in the championship race for long: MOUZ crashed out at the Top 6 stage.
After that, it was BLAST Premier: World Final 2023, where the "mice" took TOP-4. This was the last tournament of the 2023 season. They started the 2024 season with a top-7 finish at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European Qualifier B. Next up was IEM Katowice 2024, where Mice finished in the top 4.
At PGL Major CS2 Copenhagen 2024, they made their way from TOP-1-2 to European RMR B. At the tournament itself, Mice started off with a win over Ecstatic and then beat Eternal Fire, which gave them a 2-0 lead.
Next up was IEM China 2024, where MOUZ continued to "dial it up". This time the team managed to reach the grand final, but FaZe were stronger.
MOUZ were very confident in the play-offs of ESL Pro League Season 19. They also confidently swept through the play-offs championship and won the tournament by shutting out Vitality 3-0 in the grand finals.
MOUZ visited IEM Dallas 2024, where they finished in the top 12, which is a very difficult result for a team of MOUZ's calibre.
Esports World Cup 2024 MOUZ started with a match against Sashi Esports, where they won 2-1, which again is not very good. After making it to the play-offs they defeated FURIA Esports with a score of 2-1. The Esports World Cup 2024 MOUZ finished in the top 4, Ledgeiv beating NaVi in the grand final.
IEM Cologne 2024 Long Competed straight from the group stage, where in the first match they played against Falcons and won 2-1. And in the play-offs match they beat CoL even more confidently with a 2-0 win.
MOUZ Mapple
MOUZ's favourite card remains Inferno. The Mice have played it three times in the last 3 months and won all their games there. Nuke is also doing well, with MOUZ winning 3 out of 4 Nuke games played.
Among the good options are Vertigo and Ancient, where MOUZ have 2 wins in 3 games each.
The most undesirable map is Mirage. MOUZ have played it 6 times, but have won only once.
History of head-to-head meetings between MOUZ and Liquid
The last time the teams played each other was in May 2024, in the final of EPL S19, where MOUZ won.
Predicted result of Liquid vs MOUZ at IEM Cologne 2024
From this match we want to expect a beautiful Counter-Strike 2 and equal struggle between the teams. If we talk about the winner, I see MOUZ rather than Vitality.
Bottom line: MOUZ wins.
