FaZe has won everything this year, but at the qualification tournament for IEM Rio, the star-studded team has seen its fair share of challenges.
Yesterday the team had big problems taking down the relatively unknown roster from GamerLegion. Today the opposition was at another level, and it quickly showed. On Nuke Fnatic took control of the match in the second half, where the team fought back from a 10-5 deficit at the break. In-game leader William “mezii” Merriman had a superb showing, which gave FaZe a lot of problems during the match.
Like yesterday, Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken had a difficult match. It was only Helvijs “broky” Saukants, who delivered up to his usual standards. The Latvian sniper was the main reason why FaZe kept themselves in the match and secured overtime. This time it only took one overtime series to secure the victory for FaZe, who are now 2-0 in Malta.
FaZe – Fnatic 19-17 | IEM Road to Rio RMR (Group A)
(Nuke) | {cflag:LV} Helvijs “broky” Saukants – 1.39 Rating / 36–23 K-D / 89.1 ADR
On Mirage Sprout and Spirit faced each other also in Group A. Both with fresh victories from yesterday. A stellar CT side in the second half from Sprout was enough to secure a 16-12 win leaving Robert ‘Patsi’ Isyanov fighting in vain as the best player on the server. Sprout hereby lived up to the hype, that Fnatic’s in-game leader mezii gave them yesterday in an interview.
mezii: Sprout can surprise a lot of teams and qualify
Sprout is now 2-0 up and only one win away from Rio.
Sprout – Spirit 16-12 | IEM Road to Rio RMR (Group A)
(Mirage) | {cflag:RU} Robert ‘Patsi’ Isyanov – 1.40 Rating / 28–19 K-D / 101.2 ADR
