The coronavirus pandemic affected esport disciplines as well as traditional classic sports. Many prestigious tournaments with good prize money have migrated online. However, it was the ability to continue them at least in this form that allowed to keep afloat not only the direction, but also some of the varieties. And competition from VALORANT has also sparked an increase in the quality of the product offered by the CSGO tournament organisers.
IEM Cologne has officially become the most popular
Those who benefited from CSGO’s rising popularity were the UK bookies. Post-lockdown broadcast ratings have already been beaten a total of five times, with many of the top bookmakers also playing video of important eSports events on their betting platforms. Special rankings are available for more in-depth analysis, and top analysts are on hand to break down the odds line and offer advice on the prospects of one or another selection in it.
NaVi and FaZe Factor
According to many CSGO experts and fans, these are the two teams that are the most popular at the moment. Not surprisingly, Natus Vincere and FaZe Clan also top the official rankings. Also, these teams have played two of the most watched tournaments of the season. Before IEM Cologne, the PGL Major Antwerp took place in May, which was also played by a Ukrainian team and a team representing a hodgepodge of European countries.
Nor was it a surprise that NaVi went head-to-head with FaZe in the IEM Cologne 2022 finals. The two teams with the biggest fan bases were challenged for the title of the strongest before the long summer break. There will be no major tournaments in the next month, so Sunday’s result will be remembered for a long time, as well as being at the top of the discussion.
How the IEM Cologne 2022 final match went
In the semi-finals FaZe Clan defeated Movistar Riders and NaVi got through to Astralis. And in the decisive match in Cologne, Aleksandr Kostylev and company were considered as favorites. The more so that the match started successfully for them with a success on the Overpass card (16:13). True, later on, those born to win only tipped the scales in their favour on one more map, called Ancient (19:16).
FaZe Clan was stronger than their opponent on the map Inferno (16:13), confidently crushed him on Mirage (16:9) and minimally crushed Nuke (16:14). As a result, they won the final of the tournament with a final score of 3-2, restoring the intrigue at the top of the world rankings.
Why the Cologne final broke the viewing record
In fact, a number of indirect factors influenced the record-breaking nature of the deciding IEM Cologne 2022 Final. Indeed, apart from the fact that there were two of the strongest CSGO teams of today fighting for the title, the match itself took as long as possible. Five hard fought games is a huge amount of air time. The spectators were constantly in suspense, as well as those who bet on NaVi or the victory of FaZe.
What to expect next from the 2022 season
Last year the Natus Vincere team dominated this discipline, but in 2022 they only managed to win the far from prestigious BLAST Spring Finals tournament. FaZe, on the other hand, already has two big wins under their belt, so they are clearly ready to challenge the as yet number one ranking holder. In any case, the second half of the cybersport season promises to be no less interesting, which means that new records are not far off.
