Bet highlight:

1. FaZe recently replaced broky with s1mple and may also be playing with skullz as a stand-in for rain.
2. Meanwhile, Liquid has shown promising form under siuhy, picking up wins against teams like NaVi and Virtus.Pro.
3. Where FaZe is essentially rebuilding on the fly, Liquid has had time to prepare and settle.

Full analysis:

My first analysis for IEM Dallas 2025 is Team Liquid vs FaZe Clan, and there are two main reasons why I slightly favor Liquid here.

First, the broky-for-s1mple swap. Karrigan himself admitted this was more of a desperate move than a calculated upgrade - meant to breathe new life into FaZe. While we all know what s1mple is capable of, expecting him to immediately step into T1 CS and outperform broky, especially after a long break and personal issues, feels overly optimistic. He might get there eventually, but probably not in his first match back. Second, there’s the possibility that rain is missing and being replaced by skullz. Without going too deep into skullz’s profile, this would make things even tougher for FaZe, especially for s1mple, who could really benefit from a stable and familiar lineup as he readjusts. On the other hand, Liquid has already shown real progress with siuhy at the helm. Wins against teams like NaVi and VP weren’t flukes, and they came against fully stacked rosters. Plus, Liquid hasn’t played in a while - they’ve had a full month to prepare for Dallas. This could be a tournament where they aim to make a deeper run, not just show up. The only way I see FaZe dominating this is if rain plays and s1mple instantly finds form, but those are big “ifs.”

Slight lean toward Liquid here. Good luck and enjoy the match!