Na`Vi vs. Titan preview in numbers

Na`Vi and Titan have been both stuck in no man's land for most of 2015 - they have been outside of the true elite caliber of teams, but still capable of scoring the occasional upset.

However, neither has been consistent enough, or had high enough peaks, to warrant a look as a potential elite team. Instead, they've been fighting to catch a glimpse of success.

The team led by Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko has won one title in 2015 - ESL Pro Series Winter 2014/2015 Finals - which ironically came over Kévin "⁠Ex6TenZ⁠" Droolans's Titan in the grand final.

Since Na`Vi added Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev as a replacement for their now-coach Sergey "⁠starix⁠" Ischuk, the two sides have played each other on eight maps, as seen below:

Date		Score		Map	Event
June 2	Null element Na`Vi	19-16	Titan	overpass	ESL ESEA
April 12	Null element Na`Vi	16-13	Titan	cobblestone	EPS Winter Finals
	Null element Na`Vi	7-16	Titan	cache	EPS Winter Finals
	Null element Na`Vi	16-12	Titan	mirage	EPS Winter Finals
March 31	Null element Na`Vi	16-9	Titan	dust2	FACEIT
	Null element Na`Vi	19-21	Titan	inferno	FACEIT
March 28	Null element Na`Vi	10-16	Titan	cache	SLTV XII Finals
	Null element Na`Vi	11-16	Titan	dust2	SLTV XII Finals
Average		14.3-14.9

As you can see from the round averages, these two teams have been extremely close - with a mere average of 0.6 rounds per game separating the two over eight maps.

Both teams have beat each other on four maps - good for a 50-50 split - and in terms of series played offline the score is also tied, with each having a best-of-three series to their name.

With only eight maps in total played, and six different maps, it's hard to draw any real conclusions, but below is the map-results matrix for these two teams:

Map/Wins	Null element Na`Vi	Titan
cache	0	2
cobblestone	1	0
dust2	1	1
inferno	0	1
mirage	1	0
overpass	1	0
Total	4	4

Titan holds a 2-0 record on de_cache and de_dust2 is tied at 1-1, while Na`Vi have won single games on three maps, and Titan on de_inferno, thus leaving the two practically tied.

It gets far more interesting when we delve into player statistics in their eight head-to-head maps, which span the past two and a half months, so they're fairly recent:

Player statistics from all of Na`Vi's games versus Titan, post-flamie joining

The star of this match-up so far has been Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire, who also had a stellar first day at DreamHack Open Summer, having elevated his 2015 level of play up by +0.11 in rating.

Most players suffer here, as their opposition in these matches is tougher than their average, and hence their rating is lower than the benchmark, which is rating for 2015.

Notable drop-offs include flamie at -0.11, Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub at -0.09, and the big one - Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács with an unfathomable -0.31, which is greater than the difference in 2015 rating between him and Ex6TenZ.

Looking over at the statistics in Na`Vi's wins - to give an idea of who the ex-CIS based team needs to perform to win - it's somewhat shocking that the answer is not GuardiaN.

Player statistics from the maps that Na`Vi won over Titan

In fact, GuardiaN has played poorly in Na`Vi's wins too - though still much, much better than in losses - while Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev and flamie have done the best overall.

In Titan's losses the largest drop-off is, oddly enough, in the performance of Ex6TenZ at -0.38, while the rest of his team have all suffered roughly -0.15.

Glancing at Titan's four wins, once again apEX has been a monster - but he has gained a lot of help from kennyS, who clearly has gotten the better of foe GuardiaN in their wins.

Player statistics from the maps Titan won over Na`Vi

Titan have all gotten better across the board in their wins, and all of Na`Vi have - unsurprisingly, suffered tough beats in individual performance in their four losses to Titan.

These two teams match-up well and come out fairly equal using just about any statistical metric, which suggests we should have a great semi-final in our hands at 17:30 .

If there is one thing to take away from this analysis, however, it's this: GuardiaN has been negated to a non-factor by Titan. Let's see if that continues today.

Follow HLTV.org's @lurppis_ on Twitter.