Cloud9 eliminate the favorites of FaZe

A semi-finals spot at IEM Dallas 2022 was up for grabs when FaZe and Cloud9 faced each other in an elimination game. The two top-tier teams went toe-to-toe throughout three maps and after a hard-fought battle and a couple of comebacks, Cloud9 narrowly managed to edge out the FaZe Clan.

The first map of Overpass, Cloud9's pick, was a very close affair. After an 8-7 first half in FaZe's favor, the map would need another fifteen rounds in the second half. FaZe won that one as well and just barely managed to take down the Russians despite a surprisingly strong individual effort from "nafany".

The fight moved on to FaZe's pick of Inferno where Cloud curiously chose to start on the T side. The choice was fruitful as the Russians put themselves in a fantastic position by winning the half 8-7. "Ax1Le", who was also great on the T side, was absolutely magnificent on the defense. The young rifler was winning almost every duel versus the FaZe stars towards the end of the game, and with that fantastic performance, Cloud9 closed the game after 29 rounds.

After having won on each other's map picks, the two star-filled rosters headed to Mirage. Here we saw an extremely strong start from "ropz", who was 9-0 after just four rounds. It was, however "Ax1Le" that stole the show as he once again stepped up massively for his team. With several impact rounds and an ace, he helped his team overcome multiple deficits and in the end take the map and the series after a closing 8-0 run.

Highlight of the Bo3-series:

FaZe - Cloud9 1-2 | IEM Dallas 2022

16-14 (Overpass) | nafany - 1.35 Rating / 30-21 K-D / 96.4 ADR

13-16 (Inferno) | Ax1Le - 1.64 Rating / 34-18 K-D / 115.6 ADR

13-16 (Ancient) | Ax1Le - 1.58 Rating / 29-19 K-D / 104.8 ADR

MVP: Sergey "Ax1Le" Rykhtorov - 1.42 Rating / 85-57 K-D / 101.3 ADR