First North American representative reaches EPL playoffs

Following FaZe's triumphant wins over Australian side Rooster and European combine Ninjas in Pyjamas, Canadian player Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken and the rest of FaZe have secured a spot in at least the second round of playoffs at ESL Pro League Season 17. The squad are now set to duke it out against Vitality on Sunday for a chance to go even deeper in the playoff bracket.

While North American fans will certainly be pleased to have some representation in EPL's playoffs, some may be disappointed with how long it took. Two North American squads already competed earlier in the event, with Evil Geniuses and Complexity working their way through Groups A and B, respectively, but both sides were unable to give North American fans something to be proud of.

Evil Geniuses' run was marked by disappointing defeat after disappointing defeat, with the Seattle-based squad getting trashed by Cloud9 before being shaken down by Eternal Fire, ultimately being eliminated at the hands of IHC with only a single map victory to their name.

Complexity's performance was marginally better, but still nothing to write home about. Johnny "JT" Theodosiou's men were immediately sent to the lower bracket after a close series versus BIG, before getting knocked down to the Last Chance Stage after an upset victory by Movistar Riders. Here, Complexity were able to take down Imperial after a hotly contested series before being sent packing after a rematch versus BIG.

With FaZe's dominant showing in Group C so far, they have presented North American fans with the best shot at seeing one of their own hoist the ESL Pro League Season 17 trophy. Following the conclusion of this group, Twistzz could find himself joined by Liquid and ATK, both of whom are eagerly waiting to start their matches in Group D. Even if those two squads falter en route to playoffs, North America will not go unrepresented in playoffs this time around at the very least.

FaZe will be facing off against Vitality later this week for a spot in the quarter-finals, with the match scheduled to be played Sunday at 11:00AM.