What to expect from Liquid v. FaZe

It's historically a battle between two titans and now there might a little bit more in the water between the two sides. With Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken taking longer to find a squad worthy of his departure from Liquid, his new role as the IGL might finally be the fix that was needed all along. Liquid are having a hot start so far to their new lineup as they have not lost a single series so far. While they have already beaten the world #1, FaZe could be a different story.

Also read: Liquid rebounds to qualify for Cologne Groups

Boiling Liquid

Who could have ever seen this Liquid coming out hot like that? A Polish AWPer that nobody has ever heard of, a first-time IGL that was doubted from the start, and a dark cloud hanging over the heads of everyone for removing a fan favorite in Casper "cadiaN" Møller. Five wins on the trot, all those doubts have withered away as Liquid are in the best shape of their lives.

In a battle of IGL firepower, Twistzz blows karrigan out of the water
ultimate was a crack shot in Cologne Play-in, which will hopefully allow him to match up well to broky
Liquid come into this match warmed up while FaZe haven't played in a week

FaZeD and Confused

The past three months have not been kind to Finn "karrigan" Andersen's squad, with the team struggling to assert themselves despite such a strong start to CS2. The team's most impressive win in recent memory was a 2-0 win over NAVI at EPL S20 back in May, but more recently the team have been kicked around by the tier-one scene at large, with losses to Vitality, Spirit, G2, NAVI, and even NIP. As such, FaZe are a bit of a wounded beast that Liquid may be able to take advantage of tomorrow.

karrigan is unfortunately a liability on the server at the moment with a 0.77 rating in the past three months
ropz has also slowed down considerably, with a 1.03 rating over the same period
Fortunately, frozen and broky are still studs with their performances keeping the team alive

Also read: Valve quickly patches accidental boost bug brought in by latest update

Previous Matchups

Liquid's old roster lost to FaZe twice in 2024, a 2-1 loss at IEM Chengdu 2024 and a 2-0 at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups.

Likely Vetoes

Heading into this series it is clear that FaZe are in poor form as of late, with their map pool having few stellar maps. This is compared to the new Liquid who in their few weeks together have managed to find a core set of maps they are able to shine on. This will definitely come into play, especially with Liquid's permaban, Vertigo, and worst map, Mirage, not even being maps FaZe likely want to play in the series as well.

As always, these vetoes come with the caveat that they are highly speculative as they depend on whether FaZe, as the higher-ranked team at the time of seeding, chooses to pick first or ban last. We will assume they ban last.

Liquid ban Mirage (Can float Vertigo as FaZe don't play it)
FaZe ban Anubis (2 maps played, Liquid has a 75% Winrate)
Liquid pick Dust2 (83% Winrate)
FaZe pick Ancient (80% Winrate)
Liquid ban Vertigo (Permaban)
FaZe ban Nuke (29% Winrate)
Inferno as a possible decider

Analysis: FaZe currently only have two maps (Inferno and Ancient) above a 50% winrate, which demonstrates the rut the international squad have been in the previous three maps. With that in mind, I think they can still pull out a fairly competitive series against Liquid as there's a good chance Ancient and Inferno make an appearance in the series. However, with there being a strong chance of Liquid getting either Dust2 or Anubis, which are poor maps for FaZe, I think the squad has a slight edge as Inferno and Ancient are also competent maps for Liquid traditionally.

IEM Cologne 2024

Bo3

FaZe

2 - 0

Liquid

All maps

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 2.1
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard	36 - 33	+3	79.5	63.8%	1.16
Robin 'ropz' Kool	35 - 29	+6	76.0	72.3%	1.10
David 'frozen' Čerňanský	29 - 29	+0	67.7	68.1%	1.05
Helvijs 'broky' Saukants	24 - 31	-7	62.9	72.3%	0.93
Finn 'karrigan' Andersen	22 - 34	-12	58.0	66.0%	0.76

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 2.1
Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak	42 - 29	+13	88.7	76.6%	1.37
Keith 'NAF' Markovic	34 - 32	+2	78.2	72.3%	1.03
Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken	30 - 29	+1	75.6	66.0%	1.01
Justin 'jks' Savage	25 - 28	-3	57.8	78.7%	0.93
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis	24 - 31	-7	64.3	78.7%	0.85