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Esports World Cup 2024 Grand Finals: Preview and Prediction
We are hours away from the Grand Final in Riyadh for the first iteration of the Esports World Cup.
After a hard-fought battle against the best teams in the world, G2 Esports and NAVI emerge as the grand finalists for a chance at glory in the Boulevard Riyadh City, 5v5 Arena.
We’ve already seen some incredible plays at this event and can only hope the final delivers in spades.
The road to the final stage
No experience, no problem!
With a new in-game leader and rifler, G2 entered the event with low expectations since building the team synergy takes some time. However, the team hit the ground running early following their excellent showing against The MongolZ. And later showed immense resilience against the best team in the world, Team Spirit.
The biggest concern for the new lineup was Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa, and how well can the previous North American star adapt and perform alongside bright stars like Nikola “NiKo” Kovač & Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov. But, as he displayed on stage, the Guatemalan player was a force to reckon with impactful entry kills.
Despite having stellar performances coming into the semifinals, Virtus.Pro, the team who eliminated Vitality, was supposed to be an uphill battle. Yet, with a sharp shooting from NiKo reminiscent of the old CS:GO days, they were a mere bump in the road to glory.
Down but not out!
On the other side of the equation, comes NAVI. A team with a roller coaster of performances often saved by their star players. It wasn't pretty for them, but it's all done and dusted.
After cruising past FURIA, FaZe Clan were a testament of their capabilities as limping Major winners. But they passed the test with flying colors.
Following inconsistent results at ESL Pro League Season 19 and IEM Dallas, their success in Riyadh so far was much needed. In fact, roster changes were looming not far before the player break.
Luckily, they pulled a hail mary against MOUZ in an intense semi-final. After dropping their map pick 13-1, their fate was almost sealed before flipping the table on Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek’s men in the following maps.
So, with each team writing their own story at the Esports World Cup, who’ll step up as the champion on Sunday?
A closer look at statistics
Picks & bans
Let’s start with the similarities. Both G2 and NAVI are comfortable on Mirage, with it being Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen’s team first pick. Additionally, Vertigo and Anubis have been consistently avoided by both teams throughout the event.
Moreover, the Samurai have a clean record on Ancient, which is likely their map pick. On the other hand, NAVI has shown strong performances on Mirage and Nuke. Considering their veto strategies so far, our prediction for the map veto is as follows:
- NAVI picks Nuke
- G2 picks Ancient
- Mirage left as the decider map.
Despite Inferno being G2’s best map in the last three months, their six-win streak on Ancient should count since their odds are higher on it.
(While this is the primary prediction, Mirage and Nuke can be swapped based on NAVI’s pick)
CS2 Esports World Cup Grand Finals Prediction
On paper, the odds are close as it’s anyone’s game. Both teams showed impressive performances throughout the event and managed to outshine their opponents. However, G2 are expected to be crowned the champions of the CS2 Esports World Cup.
Despite NAVI having the edge over G2 on three different occasions during 2024, G2 lacked important components which are expected to be the difference maker in the Grand Final.
Fresh out of the gate meaning
First, the addition of Snax and malbsMd. It’s no secret that Mario has been instrumental in this event with a whopping 1.47 opening kills ratio and 74.8% KAST.
Additionally, G2 capitalized on his entries with a 64% team win after the first kill. This will be crucial against NAVI who are struggling in their 4v5s with only 28.6% win rate after giving the first death. To put it into perspective, their stats are one the lowest among the playoff's teams, while teams like Spirit, G2 and MOUZ netted 38.0%, 42.6%, and 39.2% respectively.
To add salt into injury for NAVI, they lack efficient trading by a big margin with the lowest percentage compared to all playoff teams. While this can tip the scale towards G2’s side, NiKo will make sure it goes all the way down.
The best rifler in the world is finally bursting the bubble of bad performances in CS2. The Bosnian had a tough time transitioning into the latest iteration of the game; however, he’s been the top dog so far in Riyadh with numbers worthy of his name.
The headhunter is currently raining havoc on his opponents with 97.2 ADR, 0.91 KPR and 74.8% KAST, while only having 0.57 deaths per round.
If the numbers overwhelm you, well... He’s just really good.
NAVI might but won't.
So far, we highlighted the reasons why G2 will come up victorious, however, as mentioned previously, NAVI odds are just as strong. In fact, it’s been 1192 days since Aleksib lost a match against G2. Also, their AWPer is having quite the event with stellar performances and often pushing his team to the finish line.
At last, and despite the winner, we have an electrifying grand final ahead of us with two of the best players in the event locking horns for glory, gold and greatness.
With that, be sure to catch the action live on YouTube, Twitch and TikTok or even the livestream on the official website.
Follow Esports World Cup on X/Twitter for the latest updates of the event.
Follow Strafe for the coverage of the EWC 2024.
Featured Image is exclusive to Strafe
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