What to expect from Wildcard v. The MongolZ

After a great debut against MIBR today, Wildcard will have a real test ahead of them as they now need to face The MongolZ in a Bo3. With The MongolZ coming off of a great showing at Katowice, they will be a tough nut for Wildcard to crack. They should expect an extremely difficult game here where showing individual moments of strength may be the main takeaway in a likely loss.

Little Blind

It has been some time since Wildcard have had to face a team of The MongolZ caliber, with their last outing against a top team, FaZe, being at the Shanghai Major. As such, this will be a true test of Wildcard's prowess, even if they are unlikely to win the showdown. If they can secure one map against the Mongolians, that would show Wildcard are here to play.

• susp and phzy are in great form

• Wildcard have yet to find a win against a truly elite team

• On paper, stanislaw has the experience edge against bLitz

The Horde

The MongolZ are one of the best teams in the world and are on their A-tier at Cluj-Napoca as evidenced by their beatdown of Complexity in their opening series. It will take something really special from Wildcard to secure the win over the Mongolian squad.

• The MongolZ have never lost to an NA team

• 910 is one of the best AWPers in the world at the moment

• The MongolZ not playing Dust2, Train, or Inferno is their main weakness right now

Previous Matchups

Wildcard and The MongolZ have never played each other.

Likely Vetoes

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

• Wildcard ban Anubis (The MongolZ have a 100% Winrate on the map)

• The MongolZ ban Inferno (pseudo-perma ban, great map for Wildcard)

• Wildcard pick Nuke (Great showing against MIBR, 60% Winrate)

• The MongolZ pick Mirage (62% Winrate, poor map for Wildcard)

• Wildcard ban Train (1 map played)

• The MongolZ ban Dust2 (1 map played)

• Ancient as a possible decider

Analysis: While Wildcard were willing to play Train against MIBR, I am assuming with this veto they will forgo picking it and play more familiar maps against one of the best teams in the world.

With that said, I think Nuke, Mirage, and Ancient is a fairly sensible slate of maps to see tomorrow, though the order is always up for debate.

Should these maps come out, The MongolZ have a slight edge on the veto alone, however Wildcard won't have any maps they never play, a plus for the team as they aim to put on a competitive showing against Asia's finest.

Wildcard will face The MongolZ tomorrow at 06:00AM.