FaZe edge out EG to complete IEM playoffs bracket

FaZe have come out on top of a nail-biting deciding series against Evil Geniuses (2-1; Nuke 16-12, Inferno 14-16, Dust2 19-16) to complete the playoffs bracket at IEM Beijing.

After meeting in the opening round of the group stage, FaZe and Evil Geniuses were set to clash again for the second spot in Group B, with the European side once again picking Nuke to start the series, which had turned out successfully for them the first time around.

A scrappy, fast-paced start of the match saw Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz's team get off to the better start on the defense despite losing the pistol round, a 3v1 situation to Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer, and a 5v3, as some key breaking points including a forcebuy win and clutches from Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold and Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik allowed them to amass an 8-3 lead.

FaZe beat EG the second time in a much closer affair

Another 1v3 from Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač swung the late stages of the first half in favor of FaZe, who went over to the second half with six rounds to their name and soon found themselves in the lead on the back of a fruitful start on their own defense. A halfbuy win and Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte and Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov's 2v5 leveled the score as neither team looked in control until it was 12-12, when FaZe put their foot down with a four-round streak to secure a series lead.

Inferno began with the first three rounds going back and forth, with Evil Geniuses coming out on top of the forcebuy shenanigans to go up 5-1. FaZe responded with an eco round victory in the seventh round, courtesy of NiKo's spectacular quad-kill, and went on to equalize the scoreline at 6-6 before Ethan's ace swung the rest of the half in the North American team's favor.

EG extended their lead to five with a second pistol round win, but once Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David's side got a hold of weaponry, they closed the gap to just one. As the map reached the late stages, the two teams started to trade rounds back and forth, with FaZe looking like slight favorites once olofmeister clutched two 1v2s to reach 14 rounds and put their opponents on a low buy. However, a win with just pistols swayed the momentum and Evil Geniuses held on to the series with a 16-14 triumph.

EG couldn't capitalize on their triumph at StarSeries, going out in 5th-6th

Dust2 was left as the decider and it started out streaky, with Evil Geniuses' great 5-0 start answered by a three-round run by FaZe's double AWP setup on the CT side. The remainder of the half was mostly in Chet "⁠Chet⁠" Singh's team's control, who managed to clinch five out of the last seven rounds for a comfortable 10-5 half.

Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants and NiKo combined for five in the second pistol round, while olofmeister saved the antiforce with a 1v2 clutch. That allowing FaZe to open the second half with a dominant run that ended at seven in a row, as Evil Geniuses finally got on the board and retook the lead after CeRq saved a scary 1v4 attempt from the Latvian. Neither team could finish off the job in regulation from there on, as the deciding map went to overtime. There, FaZe picked up a convincing couple of rounds on each side on the back of multikills from Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard, coldzera, and olofmeister, emerging victorious from the nail-biting finish at 19-16.

IEM Beijing 2019Best of 3 Evil GeniusesMatchpage 1 2 8th November 2019 FaZe 12Nuke 16 16Inferno 14 16Dust2 19

Evil Geniuses	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovCeRq	63 - 56	+7	74.2	1.09
Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze	65 - 66	-1	70.4	1.02
Tarik 'tarik' Celiktarik	52 - 67	-15	66.4	0.91
Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguzstanislaw	54 - 63	-9	63.7	0.87
Ethan 'Ethan' ArnoldEthan	49 - 67	-18	63.7	0.85

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	77 - 59	+18	88.2	1.27
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister	67 - 51	+16	73.3	1.21
Marcelo 'coldzera' Davidcoldzera	59 - 55	+4	80.9	1.11
Helvijs 'broky' Saukantsbroky	55 - 56	-1	62.6	0.99
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	60 - 63	-3	70.7	0.98

With FaZe clinching the final spot in the playoffs, the semi-final pairings look as follows:

Astralis vs. FaZe
Vitality vs. 100 Thieves

Marcelo 'coldzera' David Age: 25 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.19 Maps played: 1075 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.61 Evil Geniuses #1 Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzTarik 'tarik' CelikVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Helvijs 'broky' Saukants Age: 18 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 243 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.63 100 Thieves #8 Justin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadSean 'Gratisfaction' KaiwaiJay 'Liazz' Tregillgas Astralis #2 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Tarik 'tarik' Celik Age: 23 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1193 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.67 Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold Age: 19 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 774 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.67 Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte Age: 21 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 827 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.67 Vitality #5 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireAlex 'ALEX' McMeekinMathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Age: 19 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 855 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.62 FaZe #9 Olof 'olofmeister' KajbjerNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' NygaardMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Chet 'Chet' Singh Age: 23 Team: Evil GeniusesC Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer Age: 27 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1325 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.65 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard Age: 25 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1161 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.69 Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz Age: 25 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 1004 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.66 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 22 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 1130 KPR: 0.81 DPR: 0.67

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