wNv Teamwork CN are looking to take their first map win against a Power Gaming who have impressed many so far. Then over in Group A TitaNs want to continue their cindarella story by beating TyLoo on what could be described as the Chinese teams' home map, knowing if they can then they will move on.

Power Gaming vs. wNv Teamwork CN (dust2)

PowerGaming have been either the best or second best team at WEM so far, as they proved in their demolition of fnatic yesterday. Meanwhile wNv.cn have fought close games but lost both of their games. The question for this match in my mind is what will be the motivation level of both teams be? Will PowerGaming been fully pumped up to take the group in style or are they content in knowing they will progress and thus might give wNv.cn an opening through complacency? Are wNv.cn still fired up to get a win in front of the Chinese crowd or has their spark disappeared now they know they have been eliminated?

I anticipate a little of each, though not on any conscious level for either team. PowerGaming will play the game as normal but I imagine they won't be 100% locked in focus-wise as they were against fnatic. Meanwhile wNv.cn will not fight as hard as they would have had they still been in contention but they will bring some heat to the game to try and leave WEM with some dignity.

This is a good matchup for wNv.cn as they are a talented side on dust2, a win over FireGamers at WCG and a stomping of TyLoo at IEF bearing witness to that. They also have that victory over Mouz at IEM IV Chengdu under their belts. PowerGaming are not to be taken lightly though, they had chances to win their game on the map against AGAiN at the WCG.

The keys for this game are going to lie in the wNv performance I feel, as I think the minimum PowerGaming level is going to be high enough that it's going to take some really top notch play from the Chinese team to get the win. wNv.cn need ZY hitting his AWP shots and countering or bettering tihOp's AWPing for Power. ruuit will likely play aggressive as CT, as he usually does, so it will be interesting to see if wNv.cn play lots of slow pick off tactics and get to catch him out, or whether he flanks or surprises them.

It will be of note to see who Power puts at the catwalk area as if its plastE and/or naSu then this could be a very difficult game for the Chinese side to get any kind of entry into A. Based on the nature of the map and factors like motivation going against both teams I'd expect this one to go a lot of rounds before a winner is decided.

Prediction: Power Gaming wins

TyLoo vs. TitaNs (dust2)

TitaNs TitaNs TitaNs. It's hard to see how anyone would want to pull against TitaNs to get the upset in this game and thus go through to the semi-finals. Had you asked every team before this event who was the worst of the field I am betting TitaNs would have won the vote by a decent margin. Now with their last game awaiting them they have their fate entirely in their own hands knowing they are 16 round wins from moving on. Their problem is that the team they are facing has home turf, loves dust2 and also beat the same MYM team for their one game win.

On paper TyLoo should be the favourite for this game on all accounts: the map, their record and their roster. Still the way TitaNs beat MYM was absolutely enthralling, they had a half a dozen of the rounds they didn't win which could have gone their way too. TyLoo will come into this game prepared, their first games have seen them playing well and adapting to break runs from their opponents. TitaNs will need to come in with a solid game plan and then they need big play from syck and extreMe I think. When those two players are hitting their shots it takes a lot of the pressure off players like Bali and techducK who can then make their own contributions wherever they get an opening.

I think the chances of TitaNs winning this game are higher than many people might give them credit for. That said I have to go with TyLoo because I can't bet against them on dust2 against, on paper, weaker opposition and in a game which is vital to their campaign. I expect big play from GoodRifle and xf will be the keys to sealing this victory for them.

Prediction: TyLoo wins



Check out all of the media from the first three days of WEM here.