The playoffs are about to start. Soon the last contenders of IEM Summer will battle it out over that legendary $250,000 prize pool.
Quarter-finals
Vitality vs. Virtus.pro
In the quarter-finals, the first battle sees Vitality going up against Virtus.pro. In this match-up, there are quite a few factors to consider. The two titans ZywOo and Jame squaring up will be quite the spectacle to see. They are without a doubt the two most skilled players on their respective teams and will equally be the men to watch in this match. If either of them is popping off they could just carry the win for their entire team.
Further factors point in favour of Vitality. They have beaten the more impressive opponents as of late, and ZywOo is rocking a crazy 1.44 HLTV rating so far in the event. Misutaaa also seems to be playing his best game with a 1.29 rating. This has also been proven earlier in the tournament by the fact that Vitality beat Gambit with an impressive 2-0 score.
All in all Vitality shows better form whereas Virtus.pro feels a bit more lacklustre, especially in recent times. Their defeat against OG was completely unexpected and casts doubt over their performance, even factoring in that OG has been putting on an excellent showing.
Gambit vs. Evil Geniuses
This could well be the most easily predictable match of the entire playoffs. The skill disparity between Gambit and EG is enormous. Although EG did manage to best Heroic earlier in their group, their defeat versus OG was all around disappointing, losing them a far easier spot in the semi-finals.
On the other hand, the same could be said for Gambit. They were rather swiftly sent down to the lower bracket of their group, by none other than Vitality. The players were on fire, ZywOo and misutaaa proving to be the two gigantic powerhouses in the match. That match is most certainly worth a rewatch, and could just as easily be the potential grand final.
Gambit should be able to grab the win, regardless of their poor showing earlier. There is no reason for Gambit to be beaten by a team like Evil Geniuses. As harsh as it might be to say, EG simply cannot match up against the powerhouse that Gambit is in the current climate.
Semi-finals
G2 to get a third chance versus Gambit?
There seems to only be one possible opponent lined up against G2. Unless the unexpected happens, Gambit will be taking on the diverse European squad. One could argue that they had a relatively easy run in this tournament, meaning they ended up in this comfortable semi-final spot. They have however managed to destroy Vitality in the Group A Upper final; the Kovač brothers were clearly on their A-game, and it showed.
The warm-up game for the #IEM playoffs is now over!
See you this Friday at 20:00 for the quarter finals 🙌 pic.twitter.com/CRHGxH4Agk
— Team Vitality (@TeamVitality) June 6, 2021
Keeping that in mind, G2 will be a tough nut to crack. Recent performance shows a strong rise, but will that be sufficient to beat out a team like Gambit? They are still holding onto their number one ranked spot on HLTV, barely showing any defeats in recent times. A formidable opponent for G2 to take on, and still a situation where Gambit seems more likely to win.
OG and their return from grace, stopped by Vitality?
Everyone knows things have been somewhat tough for OG lately. IEM Summer is a chance for them to finally progress and make a return, and they are already well on their way there. They had a relatively effortless upper bracket run, but Vitality could line up to be the biggest challenge yet. In the off-chance that Virtus.pro actually gets through, it should be easy going, but that seems unlikely.
Looking at ZywOo and misutaaa wrecking things in this tournament, OG might just have the worst case scenario on their hands. The last time they actually beat Vitality was over a year ago, and Vitality never let that happen anymore since. OG will have to break quite the losing streak.
Grand final
In the end, only two teams can remain. The only two imaginable ones are Gambit versus Vitality, and the win condition for Gambit would be learning a quick lesson from a shameful 0-2 result earlier in the tournament. The added difficulty lies in the fact that it was Gambit’s first time fighting the French squad. If Gambit is to be the winning team, they have to be razor-sharp.
Statistics and ranking point towards Gambit winning the tournament, but Vitality have beaten them once, and could do it again.
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