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Liquid vs Wildcard: AI prediction, iBUYPOWER Masters FML
Liquid and Wildcard meet on 27 September — playoffs, grand final, iBUYPOWER Masters FML 2026, best of three. The AI models' bet: Liquid -1.5 map handicap at 2.44 — 13 of 14 models chose it. Below: the analysis, the odds, team form by series, rosters with player ratings and the map pool.
- iBUYPOWER Masters FML 2026
- Playoffs, grand final
- Best of three
- Stream
published UTC
AI models' pick: Liquid -1.5 map handicap
2.44AI models' pick · 13 of 14 for this bet, 1 for others
AI models
- 13H1 (-1.5) — matches our betodds 2.44ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Gemini, Grok, Kimi, DeepSeek Flash, GLM, MiniMax, Mistral, Sonar, Xiaomi MiMo, Nemotron Super
- 1U 2.5odds 1.69Qwen
Match odds
Since the first snapshot, the series-winner line has not moved.
The odds are buy prices on a prediction market: they carry no bookmaker margin, only the gap between the buy and sell prices.
abbreviations
- 1, 2 — Liquid or Wildcard wins the series
- H1, H2 — map handicap: −1.5 means winning the series without dropping a map, +1.5 means taking at least one map
- O, U — total maps over or under: over 2.5 means the series goes to a third map
AI prediction and analysis
13 of 14 AI models went for Liquid −1.5 on maps. One more went for under 2.5 maps.
- 13 of 14H1 (-1.5)our betodds 2.44ChatGPTClaudeDeepSeekGeminiGrokKimiDeepSeek Flash
GLMMiniMaxMistral
SonarXiaomi MiMoNemotron Super - 1 of 14U 2.5odds 1.69Qwen
Odds — the prediction-market price at the moment the AI model answered.
The grand final pairs teams of very different calibre. Liquid sit 17th in the Valve ranking, Wildcard only 54th, and the last 90 days of maps back that up: 32-17 with a round difference of +97 for Liquid, against 13-17 and -18 for Wildcard. The map pool points the same way — Inferno 4-0, Mirage 5-1 and Anubis 8-3 for Liquid, deeper almost everywhere, while Wildcard's most frequent pick is Inferno, where they are exactly 5-5. Ancient is the first ban on both sides, so the veto favours maps Liquid are comfortable on and leaves their own Anubis in play.
Neither side spends much time on a decider: Liquid have gone to a third map in 5 of their 17 best-of-threes, Wildcard in 3 of 13. That is the case for the Liquid -1.5 map handicap at 2.44, and it is where we're going.
Wildcard finished their previous series on the same day and have nine maps in a week behind them. They are not harmless, though: across two years of previous meetings they have one series win, and Inferno there went 16-12 to Wildcard. Five wins and five defeats in their last ten series show how much their level swings, and a single map taken in the final and the bet goes down completely.
Where we could be wrong
- The veto just before the match decides which maps get played: an awkward map in the pool can turn the picture around.
Form, rosters and maps
Liquid
17th in the Valve ranking · 1465 points
roster · player rating over six months
- EliGE6.35
- NAF6.09
- JT5.79
- malbsMd6.14
- Jorko6.33
recent series · 7 wins, 3 losses
- W2-0M80#36iBUYPOWER Masters fl0m's Mythical LAN 202626.09
- W2-0NRG#48iBUYPOWER Masters fl0m's Mythical LAN 202625.09
- W2-0Chicken Coop#108iBUYPOWER Masters fl0m's Mythical LAN 202625.09
- L0-1BBLLogitech G Play Connect 202618.09
- W1-03DMAX#31Logitech G Play Connect 202618.09
- L0-1EYEBALLERS#33Logitech G Play Connect 202618.09
- L0-1Inner Circle#25Logitech G Play Connect 202618.09
- W1-0INFINITE#46Logitech G Play Connect 202618.09
- W3-2NRG#48PGL Masters Bucharest 2026: North American Qualifier12.09
- W2-1Voca#74PGL Masters Bucharest 2026: North American Qualifier12.09
maps over 90 days
32–17, round difference +97; 5 of 17 best-of-three series went to a third map
Rounds won on the CT side 58%, on the T side 52%, pistol rounds 57%
1 day since the last series, 6 maps this week
map pool over 90 days
| Map | W–L | Rounds ± | Picks | Bans |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anubis | 8–3 | +37 | 10 | |
| Nuke | 6–5 | +10 | 5 | 3 |
| Cache | 6–3 | +17 | 2 | 5 |
| Dust2 | 3–4 | −13 | 11 | |
| Mirage | 5–1 | +25 | 2 | 4 |
| Inferno | 4–0 | +24 | 6 | |
| Ancient | 0–1 | −3 | 21 |
Bans Ancient first in 16 of 23 series
Wildcard
54th in the Valve ranking · 1135 points
roster · player rating over six months
- nEMANHA6.26
- cxzi5.97
- HexT6.31
- reck5.89
- fr3nd6.15
recent series · 5 wins, 5 losses
- W2-1DENDELE#28iBUYPOWER Masters fl0m's Mythical LAN 202626.09
- W2-0NRG#48iBUYPOWER Masters fl0m's Mythical LAN 202626.09
- W2-0Chicken Coop#108iBUYPOWER Masters fl0m's Mythical LAN 202625.09
- L0-2NRG#48iBUYPOWER Masters fl0m's Mythical LAN 202625.09
- L0-2BBLThunderpick World Championship 2026: Global Qualifier12.09
- W2-0Nemesis#34Thunderpick World Championship 2026: Global Qualifier11.09
- W2-1EYEBALLERS#33Thunderpick World Championship 2026: Global Qualifier10.09
- L0-2HOTU#35Thunderpick World Championship 2026: Global Qualifier09.09
- L1-2paiN#26Esports World Cup 202615.08
- L0-1FURIA#8Esports World Cup 202612.08
maps over 90 days
13–17, round difference −18; 3 of 13 best-of-three series went to a third map
Rounds won on the CT side 53%, on the T side 43%, pistol rounds 50%
0 days since the last series, 9 maps this week
map pool over 90 days
| Map | W–L | Rounds ± | Picks | Bans |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inferno | 5–5 | +9 | 5 | |
| Mirage | 2–4 | −13 | 2 | 1 |
| Nuke | 2–4 | −15 | 2 | 3 |
| Dust2 | 2–2 | 0 | 3 | |
| Cache | 2–2 | +1 | 3 | |
| Ancient | — | 13 | ||
| Anubis | — | 7 |
Bans Ancient first in 12 of 13 series
head-to-head series, last two years
3 series: Liquid 2 wins, Wildcard 1 win
- W2-0Inferno 16-12, Anubis 13-0Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2025 Play-In31.01
- W1-0Inferno 13-10Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Opening30.11
- L0-1Inferno 12-16Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: American RMR12.11
Valve ranking as of 7 September; opponents' places and player ratings — bo3.gg
