FaZe wash away Liquid in Belo Horizonte, to grand finals
In the second 2-1 series of the event, FaZe Clan have overtaken Liquid in the semifinals, denying the lone surviving North American team from a grand finals appearance. Winning 2-1 (Nuke 16-3, Dust2 14-16, Mirage 16-7), FaZe have booked themselves a ticket into the Grand Finals.
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In the map picks prior to the series starting, Liquid chose Nuke as the first map with FaZe starting on the CT side. A notoriously CT-sided map, the first map proved to be disastrous for Liquid as FaZe dominated the map with strong first half with an exceptional performance from Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács. Winning two rounds with only three bomb plants in a 13-2 half, Liquid needed a miracle run to turn the map around. FaZe’s T-side aggression won them an easy two rounds, but Liquid were able to reset the terrorists’ economy with a win in the eighteenth round. However, three kills from Finn “karrigan” Andersen with the scout guaranteed FaZe the final round, closing the map 16-3.
On Dust2, Liquid were able to turn around the series with a strong first half thanks to Keith “NAF” Markovic providing the North Americans with important kills against FaZe. Despite a strong 10-5 first half, Liquid’s grip on the game began to slip in the second half as FaZe’s T-side as Nikola “NiKo” Kovač rebounded in the second half. Going up to 14-13, FaZe’s comeback was almost certain, but Liquid pulled it back with three straight rounds with Epitacio “TACO” de Melo’s home crowd behind him. Halting FaZe’s comeback, the North Americans won the second map just barely with a 16-14 score, forcing the final decider map.
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On Mirage, Liquid began to falter as FaZe began to gain momentum once again. Despite Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken’s best efforts to maintain a strong first half, a 6-9 scoreline painted gloomy skies for Liquid. In the second half, Jorgen “cromen” Robertsen began to become a thorn in Liquid’s side as Liquid were only able to shut down FaZe’s T-side in one round. FaZe swept through the second half to a 16-7 victory, giving the Europeans the series 2-1 and qualifying them for the grand finals, where they will wait for their opponent.
FaZeLiquid| FaZe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács |
68 - 45 | +23 | 99.9 | 79.2% | 1.43 |
 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač |
57 - 38 | +19 | 88.2 | 77.8% | 1.33 |
 Jorgen 'cromen' Robertsen |
50 - 41 | +9 | 82.9 | 80.6% | 1.23 |
| Håvard 'rain' Nygaard |
40 - 45 | -5 | 60.6 | 72.2% | 0.94 |
 Finn 'karrigan' Andersen |
41 - 41 | +0 | 60.7 | 69.4% | 0.91 |
| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
57 - 51 | +6 | 75.9 | 66.7% | 1.07 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
39 - 49 | -10 | 64.9 | 68.1% | 0.89 |
 Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
43 - 51 | -8 | 65.3 | 62.5% | 0.87 |
 Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
35 - 52 | -17 | 58.8 | 63.9% | 0.83 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
36 - 53 | -17 | 62.5 | 58.3% | 0.80 |
On the other side of the bracket, SK will take on mousesports, with the winner of that series taking on FaZe in the grand finals, which will take place tomorrow at 4:30 PM EDT.
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