ropz returns with victory for FaZe at IEM Katowice

The confidence in the FaZe camp got boosted before their upper semi-final against Fnatic at IEM Katowice. Their newest addition to the squad, Robin "ropz" Kool was back in the lineup after being isolated with Covid-19 in the first days of the tournament.

The Estonian immediately made an impact on the server, where he helped his teammates to dominate Fnatic on Overpass. The entire FaZe team ended the map in positive K-D during the 21 rounds it took FaZe to destroy Fnatic.

Losing their own map pick 5-16 did not give high hopes for Fnatic for the remainder of the match, but on Inferno, things started to change. Owen 'smooya' Butterfield heated up, but not with his usual AWP rifle. Instead, the Englishman proved to be lethal with both the AK47 and M4S1-S rifles to deny FaZe on their T-side. Fnatic delivered a very uplifting performance to equal the score, while FaZe had to scratch their heads after a disappointing effort, that underlined the inconsistency that the team sometimes suffers from, best showcased by Håvard "rain" Nygaard, who went 25-11 in the first map, while falling completely through in the second going 4-19!

So what FaZe were we about to see on Mirage? Well, a good one! In-game leader Finn "karrigan" Andersen spearheaded his team on both the T- and CT sides to inspire FaZe to a very important win, that qualifies the team for the playoffs and the Spodek Arena next week.

With the victory FaZe advance to the group final against NAVI, where the winner will go directly into the Semi-Finals. Fnatic will face Astralis in the lower bracket tomorrow.

FaZe - Fnatic 2-1 | IEM Katowice

16-5 (Overpass) | rain – 1.95 Rating / 25-11 K-D / 133.6 ADR

10-16 (Inferno) | smooya - 1.46 Rating / 25-14 K-D / 95.0 ADR

16-9 (Mirage) | KRIMZ - 1.31 Rating / 23-17 K-D / 94.7 ADR

MVP: Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken - 1.24 Rating / 56-41 K-D / 79.0 ADR