FaZe Clan and 9z will meet in the group stage quarterfinals of IEM Rio 2023. I don't think the favourites will have any problems here as the Latin Americans have not featured in LAN tournaments for a very long time.
On the other hand, I wouldn't expect FaZe Clan to beat them as they are obviously far from their optimum form and got through to the Paris Majors at a slim pace.
Therefore, here I would rely on the victory of the FaZe Clan, but took a closer look at the Fora for 9z. After all, the Latin Americans were winning something there while everyone was skating RMR tournaments.
FaZe Clan form.
The second team in the world rankings experienced huge problems in the main stage of the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Europe RMR A, although it all started with victories over OG and Apeks.
However, in BO3, the European team completely lost, losing in a row to Natus Vincere, Bad News Eagles and MOUZ. Moreover, there the guys showed a completely toothless game, which certainly did not deserve to go to Paris.
Fortunately in the Last Chance Qualifier the team came together, allowing FaZe Clan to pull off two tough wins over Aurora Gaming and Cloud9. However, the fact that a squad of this magnitude gets the last seeding is very worrying.
FaZe Clan's latest results:
- A 0-2 defeat to Natus Vincere.
- A 0-2 defeat to Bad News Eagles.
- 1-2 defeat at the hands of MOUZ.
- Beat Aurora Gaming 2-0.
- 2-0 win over Cloud9.
Top scorers of FaZe Clan:
- Inferno - 73% wins.
- Overpass - 71% wins.
- Ancient - 67% wins.
- Mirage - 62% wins.
- Nuke - 57% wins.
Let's not forget that the European squad has long given up on Vertigo.
Form 9z
The 61st ranked team in the world failed in the closed qualification to the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Americas RMR, where they showed a terrible game.
However, the Latin Americans took the remedy next, winning the CCT South America Series 5. On the other hand, even so, 9z got a miss, closing the ways to the recent championship from BLAST.
More recently, the team also qualified for ESL Challenger Katowice 2023 and IEM Dallas 2023, though no objective success was achieved.
Recent results for 9z:
- A 2-1 win over 00NATION.
- A 2-0 win over 00NATION.
- 16-9 victory over INTZ.
- 16-5 victory over Hype.
- 2-1 victory over BESTIA.
Top 9z:
- Nuke - 89% wins.
- Ancient - 75% wins.
- Anubis - 67% wins.
- Mirage - 60% wins.
- Inferno - 56% wins.
- Overpass - 50% wins.
Interestingly, the Latin American team also does not show up on the Vertigo map.
FaZe Clan - 9z encounter statistics
The teams have not met before.
Prediction for the match FaZe Clan - 9z
Understandably, it is difficult to imagine a victory for 9z, but the team clearly will not give up the initiative. And FaZe Clan is not in the form to tear everyone in a row. Rather, the Europeans will exhale even more, thus letting the situation go.
Therefore, in this case, I would recommend to bet on the Forum by rounds (+7,5) for the team 9z. Although it seems to me that FaZe Clan will still come out of the server a winner.
