FaZe Clan Rolls Through Cloud9 in the ESL One New York Semifinals
The crowd was electric as Cloud9 entered the Barclays Center, the dream of an All-NA final alive with Team Liquid advancing earlier in the day. The one obstacle? The European FaZe Clan, who entered into the semifinals with two crushing Friday performances under their belt.
Map One: Mirage
FaZe 16:4 C9
FaZe looked as though they would easily take the first three rounds with Olofmeister clearing out mid, but C9 battled back and somehow closed out round three to prevent a 3:0 line. This continued to be a theme on Mirage with C9 consistently showing sparks of brilliance, in part due to stellar individual play by Stewie2K (See the MVP section below for more on Stewie.)
However, these small wins were no match for the dominance of FaZe. Wins for C9 were few and far between for the team that seemed almost frantic at some points.
After leading 11 to 4 at the half, FaZe easily cleaned up on T side to close out Mirage with a 16:4 map victory.
Map Two: Overpass
FaZe 16:3 C9
Picking up where they left off on Mirage, FaZe came out of the gate even stronger than before with C9 having no answer to their aggression.
In an effort to try something, anything new, C9 switched up their strategy and earned a quick round win with a double AWP setup. C9 kept the AWP in Stewie’s hands, hoping his play style would provide some counter to FaZe.
Unfortunately, FaZe was just too much for the American team, leading 12:3 at the half and easily closing out the second, and decisive, map with a final score of 16 to 3.
Casters Lauren Scott & Jason O’Toole did their best to rouse the New York crowd but a massive blowout of the hometown favorites kept them silent. C9’s new roster showed they could use some more time to mature together as they look forward to events later in the year, while there may be no end in sight to FaZe’s current potential.
And just like that, FaZe is headed to the Grand Finals to take on yet another NA team in Team Liquid. Can an American team win for the first time at ESL One? With their dominant performance today, FaZe leader Karrigan let the world know, “We feel very comfortable going into the grand final tomorrow.”
FaZe MVP: Rain
Rain seemed to be omnipresent, winning every trade when his teammates fell. While FaZe seemed to comfortably have the game in the bag, Rain was the dominant anchor of the team, skillfully swaying the closer fights in favor of the Europeans.
C9 MVP: Stewie2K
Stewie showed the most individual skill of the series, coming out of the gate with tactical play on Map One and ultimately holding responsibility for the teams sole AWP for some rounds on Map Two. Even though victories were few and far between, most of the team’s wins can be directly attributed to Stewie’s play.
Congrats FaZe, see you in the finals. Cloud9, see you next time.
