The third in the upper bracket of the playoffs of WePlay AniMajor 2021 will be played by Nigma and VP. For fans from Europe and the CIS, this match will clearly be the most interesting.
The storyline of the match is in the best traditions of Hollywood blockbusters: Nigma, who barely made it to the Major, passed the Wild Card and the group stage, will compete with the best team in the region represented by Virtus.pro. In my opinion, it sounds.
This match, like any other, is very difficult to predict, since we have not seen VP yet. But we saw Nigma, and this is already a plus.
Thanks to Nigma's performance in the Wild Card and the group stage, we can build a prediction around them. I propose to do this and do it.
Nigma shape
As noted above, we'll start with Nigma. Since we have already seen enough of KuroKy and the company, the picture becomes clearer.
Now Nigma has a real "candy-bouquet" period: after the transition of iLTW and Miracle's return to mid, the team soared. This can be seen both in the game and in the behavior of the club's players outside the matches.
The fact that Nigma are good friends and the chemistry within the team is excellent is healthy, but we will be primarily interested in the game component of the European club. With this, fortunately, everything is the same with Nigma.
Results of recent meetings Nigma
- Defeat Liquid 2-0
- Lose to TNC 0-2
- Defeat Vici Gaming 2-0
- Draw against EG 1-1
- Beat Beastcoast 2-0
At the tournament, Nigma shows a confident game with fast games. Among the heroes, the preference is given to Mars (83% winrate at 12 matches), Invoker (88% at 8 matches), Dragon Knight (86% at 7), Lion (100% at 7 games).
The game shows an emphasis on iLTW and much less often on Miracle, which began to perform a large amount of work on the map. It should be noted KuroKy, who plays a tournament of almost a career, with exorbitant statistics.
Virtus.pro kits
So we got to VP. As in the case of Aster, T1 or Alliance, it will be extremely difficult to predict the shape of the bears.
From an interview with Korb3n (Team Spirit manager), we learned that VP are extremely strong and play meteously, but who is doing differently now? Also, the strength of VP is noted by other teams that played with them on the prakas.
The fact that the team feels the meta and plays with popular heroes is great, but it's another matter of experience and skill at the tournament itself. For Virtus.pro, this will be the first series in the championship, while Nigma will play its 14th (!) Series already.
Of course, this factor can play in two ways: Nigma can be tired after the grueling stages that pass the playoffs. I am still inclined to believe that they have enough energy for the first round of the playoffs.
History of last matches VP
- Defeat Team Unique 2-0
- Defeat NaVi 2-0
- Defeat EXTREMUM 2-0
- Defeat Team Spirit 2-1
- Winstrike 2-0
Within the CIS, there is practically no competition for VP, and this can be seen with the naked eye. During the season, they relied on Lion, Oracle, Enchantress and Mars - Virtus.pro's meta heroes played during the season.
Personal meeting history
The clubs have a very rich experience of playing with each other. In the last 5 matches, VP have won 3 times while Nigma has won only twice.
The outcome of the fight
Looking at the review of the match, we can conclude that I don't really believe in Vp. There is more likely not, then, not faith in them, but rather faith in Nigma.
It is very difficult for me to evaluate a team that I have not seen yet. That is why in this match I am inclined to believe in Nigma, but still for safety I would bet on total +2.5.
Result: Nigma 2-1/total over 2.5.