ESL Pro League EU: FaZe Suffer 5th Defeat

Counter-Strike just keeps on hitting the FaZe boys right where it hurts. Ever since Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye joined the roster, the results have been underwhelming. Now, even Spirit have managed to take those top players down. Astralis and Vitality have also gotten some decisive wins on the board. 

SPIRIT 2-1 FAZE

After a 16-12 win on Nuke, FaZe actually felt quite confident. Helvijs “broky” Saukants was in a top state and even Kjaerbye managed to put up a solid performance. So FaZe’s hopes for their first EPL win were quite high. But then, the team suffered a decisive defeat on their own map pick. On a 16-8 scoreline, Spirit dominated on Dust2. Kjaerbye and Marcelo “coldzera” David both couldn’t get into the groove at all. On Mirage, Kjaerbye was back on track, but coldzera was still missing his usual level.

On the other side, Nikolay “mir” Bityukov secured the 16-10 victory for Spirit. The players were able to impress in both their tactical and individual display. On the second map, mir even secured an ace for the map win. FaZe were unable to compete with them. They’re now firmly planted at the bottom of the EPL standings and with their two remaining matches, they’re also unable to catch up to the playoffs teams.

VITALITY 2-0 FNATIC

After their losses to Spirit and Astralis, Team Vitality appear to have recovered well. Their first map against fnatic may have been a somewhat close affair, but on Dust2, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and his boys achieved an easy win for the Best-of-Three victory. Dan “apEX” Madesclaire got rolling with his 44 kills, whereas Maikil “Golden” Selim posted negative numbers, as is usual for the in-game-leader.

For fnatic, nothing is over yet. With their two remaining matches, they still have a shot at the playoffs mark. For that to happen, however, they’re dependent on Spirit and Vitality underperforming. If these teams continue to win their matches, there won’t be any place in the Top 4 for the Swedes.

ASTRALIS 2-0 NIP

The other Swedish team has had a hard time as well. With one single map victory, they are better equipped than FaZe Clan, but still there is no chance for them to make playoffs. In their duel, Astralis have outright declassed them.

Emil “magisk” Reif and Patrick “es3tag” Hansen had an easy game. With 1.46 and 1.32 ratings, respectively, they rolled over their Swedish opponents. After 16-6 and 16-7 map victories, they moved past the Ninjas in Pyjamas and are now on track to surpass Complexity.

But Complexity still have three matches left. They only have to win two of them to secure a comfortable first or second place. Only Astralis are really standing in their way, so Group B remains exciting to watch.