FaZe beat G2 2-1 in Fort Worth, will play Natus Vincere

FaZe secured a 2-1 series win over G2 at BLAST Rivals Season 1 in Fort Worth and will meet Natus Vincere in the semifinals on Saturday. The best-of-three featured a FaZe win on Dust2, a G2 win on Ancient and an overtime decider on Mirage.

The series opened on Dust2. The first half finished 6-6 after a number of rounds swung FaZe’s way, including an anti-eco and a 5v2 that Helvijs “broky” Saukants influenced. FaZe took control after switching to CT and reached double digits. Álvaro “SunPayus” García produced several big plays for G2 but lost a late 1v1 against Jakub “jcobbb” Pietruszewski. FaZe won the final two regulation rounds to close the map.

Ancient started with G2 building an 8-0 lead on the T side. FaZe won three rounds before halftime but trailed by a substantial margin after the break. Down 4-11, FaZe staged a comeback attempt that included a 1v2 clutch from Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, but G2 held on to win Ancient and level the series.

Mirage decided the matchup. David “frozen” Čerňanský opened with a four-kill pistol round for FaZe. The map stayed tight for long stretches with neither side keeping a lasting lead. G2 reached series point following a clutch from Nikita “HeavyGod” Martynenko. FaZe replied in the next round, and when G2 appeared set to close the match, Twistzz and frozen produced a 2v5 clutch that forced overtime. FaZe won in OT after surviving three series points.

Individual match statistics showed strong numbers from both teams. For FaZe, frozen finished with 58 kills, an ADR of 88.2 and a Rating 3.0 of 1.18. Jakub “jcobbb” Pietruszewski had 55 kills and a 72.1 ADR, Helvijs “broky” Saukants recorded 51 kills and a 68.6 ADR, Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken posted 47 kills and a 70.6 ADR, and Ryan “Neityu” Aubry had 38 kills and a 54.7 ADR. For G2, Nikita “HeavyGod” Martynenko recorded 48 kills, a 67.1 ADR and a 1.12 Rating 3.0; Guy “NertZ” Iluz had 47 kills and a 79.7 ADR; Álvaro “SunPayus” García posted 50 kills and a 68.6 ADR; Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač had 50 kills and a 65.5 ADR; Matúš “MATYS” Šimko finished with 39 kills and a 62.9 ADR.

Twistzz reflected after the match: “When we got to this event, I said I wanted to get one or two upsets, and we just got two of them. I feel like anything else we do here is the cherry on top. But I really think we can make a push for that trophy. I think we have a good feeling of how NAVI play. To be honest, the first time we played them, we were very nervous, we played scared, and it wasn’t us. The past two series, we played more like… You know, FaZe. This is how we should play.”

The BLAST Rivals Season 1 knockout stage continues in Fort Worth as teams compete for a place in the final and the event trophy.