FaZe fall to PARIVISION in grueling semifinal

FaZe and PARIVISION found themselves in the semifinals of XSE Pro League, fighting to see who would face 9z in the championship series. PARIVISION proved to be a much tougher opponent than BetBoom, as they put an end FaZe's Cinderella run in Guangzhou.

FaZe continued to succeed on their new favorite map. IGL Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken commanded the squad on Cache with a 1.48 rating, and although it wasn't the 13-2 or 13-3 win FaZe may have grown accustomed to, it was a regulation win, nonetheless. Ultimately, they were able to hold off the one-man army of Vyacheslav "slaxejezzz" Vinokurov to take the lead in the series.

Dust2 would go into double overtime after both teams finished 8-4 on the T-side halves. Despite reaching matchpoint at 15-12, FaZe allowed five consecutive rounds from PARIVISION, who would win the map 19-17. Dzhami "Jame" Ali put up a massive 25 AWP frags, going 7-1 in his head-to-head contests with new FaZe sniper Jason "JBOEN" Boe Nielsen.

By the time Ancient started, both teams were clearly tired, as evidenced by some strange misplays. It was relatively back-and-forth until PARIVISION took a 9-5 lead. FaZe would strike back and reach matchpoint at 12-11, but PARIVISION would force at least one more overtime in the series.

As was the case on Dust2, FaZe started overtime the stronger of the two teams, almost securing themselves another 15-12 lead. However, PARIVISION quickly tied the map 14-14, and subsequently 15-15. In the end, veteran-led PARIVISION outlasted the younger FaZe squad to win 19-17 and advance to the grand final.