It’s a speedbump but not the end of the road for FaZe Clan.
As we head into the last few days of the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, teams are almost on the verge of qualifying for the Fall Finals. The Fall groups kicked off with 12 teams and only six will receive their invitation to Finals. Today, FaZe Clan and OG kicked off the proceedings with a semifinals match against each other.
Being the No. 1 and No. 2 team in the world and you have to win every match. Some of the players don't really react the best to it. Something I feel we can improve, I don't know exactly why. The communication is not good enough. When we go home, we will talk about it today that it shouldn't happen. We need to showcase that we always want to win and win and win even if you play against someone who wants to win more. We should still be able to be at a consistently good level and that felt flat today. So yeah, we will bounce back on Sunday and then qualify. That was the goal from the beginning so one game away.
Map Picks:
- OG removed Nuke
- FaZe removed Vertigo
- OG picked Ancient
- FaZe picked Mirage
- OG removed Overpass
- FaZe removed Dust2
- Inferno was left over
OG picked Ancient and FaZe picked their staple Mirage as their map of choice. With the classic Inferno as the third and final map of the series, fans were expecting a close series.
OG started the series with round wins but FaZe bounced back to take a 7-2 lead. But OG managed to win the next six rounds after some stellar NEOFRAG performances. The Czech professional had several consistent rounds which enabled his teammates to play off of him.
But the second half was largely CT sided and OG took full advantage of their familiarity with the two-floored map. They were quick to rotate and had the right mix of aggression and passivity to ensure they always maintained a lead. OG won Map 1 with a 16-10 score, taking a lead in the crucial series.
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This match against FaZe Clan was very important for OG, partly because FaZe Clan is one of the best teams out there right now. The FaZe roster has been extremely dominant the last few months and has taken the mantle of the world’s best CS: GO team after Navi.
The second map started with an even better T-side lead for FaZe Clan. Broky and co. managed a 10-2 lead, with ropz and broky leading the way for the FaZe roster.
Finally, OG got their win on Inferno, fueled by some amazing plays by flamez and nexa. Broky ended the series with 63 kills in the series and he was crucial to FaZe’s performance, but OG roster was simply too much better on this particular day.
In the post-game interview, Karrigan mentioned how the team was not finding the opportunity to find the motivation to perform when the matches don’t really matter.
Last season we had a lot of issues winning those games where you play for a semifinal/quarterfinal spot. I always felt we were kind of flat. Today was flat if it's because of not being elimination match or whatever it is, people not being fired up.
At this point we should be able to play better than we did today. So it's not really an excuse. I think it's really in the season for us and felt like we didn't adapt today and it's hard to connect the pieces. It felt like we were more in the same page but Inferno started, there was some frustration.
Despite the loss FaZe Clan are still not out of the tournament. They will have an opportunity to qualify for BLAST Fall Finals in the last chance matches. Meanwhile, OG will face Astralis in their next Fall Finals match.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest CS: GO news and updates.
