Natus Vincere vs MOUZ Prediction: Natus Vincere is in good form

Prediction for the match between Natus Vincere and MOUZ which will take place on August 17. Who will turn out to be stronger? Check the team conditions! Several betting options are available.

The Born to win are the main favourites for IEM Cologne 2024. Natus Vincere proves on the distance that the inactivity of s1mple has not affected the ambitions of the organisation, they can achieve great results without the main star of CS:GO. In 2023, everyone doubted the line-up with AleksiB, and the Finn together with jL, iM, b1t and w0nderful has already won two major trophies and has every chance to conquer Cologne.

Natus Vincere's path through Group A was the easiest among all playoff participants. Beating paIN Gaming and Astralis was not difficult for B1ad3, SAW had a little trouble due to Nuke's peak. B1t and IM lead the IEM Cologne 2024 individual rankings, jL is in fourth place and w0nderful is not far from the top 10. Natus Vincere has crazy statistics: 69% won rounds, 74% successful attacking rounds, 65% won open shootouts, 80% majority realisation, 52% in minority and 65% in pistol rounds. JL goes to the top of the leaderboard in first kills, while b1t reigns supreme at the pistols. The strength of ‘born to win’ used to lie in the genius of B1ad3, but now the individual level of the players has also become an important factor. They have picked up phenomenal form since the break, doing the default and supernatural things equally well. This is the kind of symbiosis of discipline and skill that really instils fear in everyone on the CS2 competitive scene.

And it doesn't really matter who Natus Vincere passed there in the group, how strong the opponents were. The team won Esports World Cup 2024 before that, where they proved that they can play against top-5 HLTV teams as well. Before the summer break, they reached the BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2024, losing only to Team Spirit in the final. And that's not taking into account the Copenhagen Major, where no one expected Natus Vincere to be a resounding success either. It's just that at this moment (August 2024) and in this place (Cologne), Natus Vincere is the strongest team in the world in all aspects. They must qualify for the grand finals and win a third title in 2024.

Mice did not easily make it to the semi-finals of IEM Cologne 2024. The quarter-final with G2 Esports ended in a dry win for MOUZ against G2 Esports, but NiKo's game didn't go well, so it can be considered a bit lucky for Mice. In the semi-final against Natus Vincere, we can't count on an individual slump. How can MOUZ win this match?

The team has more gaps than successful cases. The siuhy team can't win in pistol rounds (33% realisation), has less than 50% realisation of rounds in defence, uses grenades worse than many in the tournament (only 20 damage per round and 0.18 kills after blinding). Individually, everyone except siuhy has a positive rating, but the numbers are not exorbitant and far from the top 10 of the IEM Cologne 2024 individual rankings. MOUZ tries to build on its team structure without singling out any of the players as a star. This also works well on the course, and the ‘mice’ have won dash-1 tournaments more than once due to teamwork.

The team was at its peak before the summer break, but after the summer break the quality of play has dropped a bit, and that's the main complaint with MOUZ. Siuhy and company can maintain their baseline and win all the way up to the top-5 HLTVs, but they can't quite get it right in the top-level battles. MOUZ has already played Natus Vincere after the summer break, but after a great Dust II they showed nothing on Nuke and Mirage. The history with Esports World Cup 2024 repeats itself - again semi-final, again ‘mice’ as an outsider. Again defeat and 3-4 place at the tier 1 tournament?

Natus Vincere is in ultimatum form, and now it is difficult to stop it in principle. MOUZ with the current quality of play is unlikely to seriously compete with B1ad3. The only question is with what score and round difference Natus Vincere will finish the meeting.