Astralis Vs. Cloud9 - Who Will Take a Place In the Playoffs?

IEM Cologne will continue today, and in addition to the elimination matches, there will also be games for reaching the playoff stage, where the strongest teams will meet. One of these will be the confrontation between Cloud9 and Astralis. So who will secure a place in the next stage of the tournament?

Maps

The veto map looks highly unfavorable to Astralis. Cloud9 doesn't play the Danes' best map - Nuke - greatly weakens the four-time Major champions. Also, during the veto map, Astralis will get into situations where they will have to play an unfavorable map. Even with the Vertigo ban, Cloud9 still has powerful Dust 2 and Mirage. One of these maps will be in the veto. On the other hand, Astralis also weakens opponents with their permaban. The most likely outcomes will be Ancient-Dust2-Mirage, Ancient-Dust2-Overpass, and Mirage-Overpass-Ancient in different sequences. Either option is not very favorable for Astralis.

The Shape

The Danes also have problems with the playing shape. After the reshuffle, Astralis became much weaker. However, Farlig still plays very tightly, as if he listens only to the captain's orders. The only one who has no problems with the game shape is blameF. Astralis can find their salvation in this player.

At the same time, Cloud9 performs well on LANs. Their win streak in these tournaments is six games, and they don't plan to stop. After watching their games, one feels that they are one of the main favorites for the championship in Cologne. The head-to-head statistics also speak in their favor recently. Cloud9 defeated Astralis with a score of 2-0.

Conclusion

Cloud9 is the clear favorite in this matchup. However, with a particular map veto from the CIS team, Astralis will not have a chance to win the match. You can read more about pre-match statistics here.