FaZe take first place in group A

1-3-2017 23:38

FaZe went 2-0 in the IEM Katowice 2017 tiebreakers to secure the first spot in group A while Astralis defeated Immortals in the match for second place.

The map for the tiebreaker came down to Train after all three involved teams—FaZe, Astralis and Immortals—vetoed two maps each.

FaZe and Immortals were first to play the MR3 $10,000 set, with the European team starting on the Terrorist side. The first round went to Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's team, but Immortals instantly replied by shutting down the attack on A in the following round. After six rounds, the match was tied 3-3, leading to another round of MR3 overtime.

The Brazilians got some momentum in the second overtime set, but they couldn't close out the win as Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey clutched a 1v2 when Immortals were on match point. Off the back of that, FaZe secured a third overtime set in which they finally closed out the match 10-7.

Astralis - FaZe was up next and karrigan's team tried to throw a curveball by rushing inner with UMP's in their first CT round. The Danish team managed to deter that offensive and secure the round, following it up with B rush to go 2-0 up.

FaZe got one round back on before the switch and then ran over Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander and co. on the Terrorist side to win the tiebreaker 4-2, securing the first place in group A and a spot in the semi-finals.

FaZe secured the first spot in group A

Lastly, it was the tiebreaker between Immortals and Astralis to decide which team would advance from the group in second place. The set started with a lockdown round from Astralis who got a 2-1 lead on the CT side. The one round lead wasn't enough for them, however, as Immortals equaled it in the second half to extend the tiebreaker for another set.

It was the same story in the second overtime as the teams tied the score 6-6, and not even the third set of overtimes was enough as both teams picked up two rounds as CT and one on the Terrorist side. The fourth overtime once again started good for Astralis who picked up the first round, overwhelming A, but even a Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz triple kill wasn't enough to secure the following round as well.

In the fourth overtime, Astralis were finally able to close it out with a 13-11 scoreline.

Final standing in group A:

	Team	Won	Lost	Tiebreak
1.	FaZe	4	1	2-0
2.	Astralis	4	1	1-1
3.	Immortals	4	1	0-2
4.	fnatic	2	3	n/a
5.	Ninjas in Pyjamas	1	4	n/a
6.	OpTic	0	5	n/a

Professeur writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter.

Grats to FaZe for reaching semifinals, NiKo absolutely playing amazing when he doesn't need to call and just focuses his game, surely he will get even better than this.

2017-03-01 23:38

4 replies

Nice, tomorrow better matches.

2017-03-01 23:40

lul

faze up

2017-03-01 23:44

Yes

2017-03-02 00:03

Rip nip

Gz allu and co!

eZaF

ez 4 NiKo

Lost all respect i had for tiebreakers

2017-03-01 23:39

eZaF 4 FaZe

gl faze & imt

Sick, worst format. rip this event

SWEDISH CS LUL FNATIC IS BACK LUUUUL

2 replies

you have no money dude

2017-03-02 08:38

1 reply

2017-03-02 16:25

ez for faze and nikokoko

wp imt and faze

Fking love you FaZe!! Please win this and let all haters change their thoughts about you! #FaZeUp

2017-03-01 23:41

youtube.com/watch?v=Rb9bsjL7wVU

2017-03-01 23:43

IMT > fnatic because of just 1 bo1. It's so dumb! Stop it already!

2017-03-01 23:45

7 replies

FaZe in semis because of one mr3 game that's just retarded

2017-03-02 00:25

"Because of one mr3 game" FaZe went 4-1, had the best round difference out of the three 4-1 teams, AND won BOTH of their tie breakers. You fucking idiot.

2017-03-02 01:35

2017-03-02 08:35

Astralis also went 4-1 and won against FaZe so round difference was meaningless but Astralis lost against Immortals

2017-03-02 11:43

What? You are retarded.

2017-03-02 08:43

it's not IMT fault fnatic blow away a 12-3 lead AND pistol round win to lose 16-14

2017-03-02 00:45

fnatic played 5 games from which they won 2 and lost 3. immortals won 4 lost 1. how the fuck was that 1 bo1?

2017-03-02 08:28

So FaZe through to Semi's or how is this format?

2017-03-01 23:47

Yes, FaZe to the semi

2017-03-02 01:16

Happy for Niko and FaZe. Even with little training time the results are already showing. And IMT too, happy for this guys, they try hard for a long time. Hope FNX can bring even more experience for this team. Why tiebreakers??? The results would be the same with round count. Just made the players play another game, they are playing the whole day. Unnecessary this extra games.

5 replies

because 1st in group get to semis and theres seeding too ....

2017-03-02 00:46

round difference in cs is problematic. it's not like goal difference in football. in cs if you start on the less favorable side you can lose rounds you never would have lost in case you started on the easier side. also if the team knows they're already out they have less motivation to play. so one team gets an advantage playing against them in the end compared to other teams who played them when they still thought they could go through

2017-03-02 08:32

3 replies

Make sense, I don't think in this scenario, you're right. I only think this is hard for players, they play a lot of match yesterday and in the end still need play tiebreakers for seed. All of then are tired, no one played 100%. But if is more fair for competition, think they all agree with this format.

2017-03-02 15:34

yes this format is not optimal. the "head2head" format mostly used nowadays is better.

2017-03-02 16:10

They should create a standard template to be used in all official competitions. The Swiss System was cool in Major qualifier, in tournament not so much. head2head it's a little problematic too. For example the qualifer for IEM Katowice, G2 and Envy play in semis, and one was eliminated. Same thing happen in qualifer for Dream hack. Sometimes a little team has a "free pass" for a big tournament. However, always will be some fail that people will criticize

2017-03-02 16:24

FaZe gonna win IEM Katowice 2017?

2017-03-01 23:48

allu-rain-NiKo trio is on beastmode k1o best supportplayer EU karrigan one of the best IGL #RUNFAZE

2017-03-01 23:49

Atleast Fnatic and NiP are both out not just NiP, feelsbadolof. Let's go AST <3

2017-03-02 00:01

Nice.

NikoShow

lets gooooo fazerino

2017-03-02 00:11

Sweden in 2017 LUL

2017-03-02 00:13

NA in 2017 LUL

2017-03-02 00:24

NA has always been shit Sweden won 4 majors and is shit now

2017-03-02 00:48

Sweden isn't shit, They're just not gods anymore

2017-03-02 05:00

FaZe is more sweden than NA so FaZe = Swedish scene Expected from monkey, we still better

2017-03-02 10:01

FaZeUP

FaZe one love :P

2017-03-02 00:14

This format is retarded gsl is way better FaZe already in semis because of one (not even bo1 game) mr3 game. That's just spastic.

2017-03-02 00:27

11 replies

+1 Virtus.Pro will win the whole event tho :)

it's not about VP or even FaZe it's just retarded that mr3 game decides who is going straight to the semifinal also it should be a regular bracket with 4 quarterfinals, first places are on the other sides of the bracket - that's it

2017-03-02 01:19

2017-03-02 01:18

yeah? and start quarterfinals on 10 am

2017-03-02 01:29

at majors all quarterfinals are being played the same day I don't see a problem let's assume that single bo3 can take 3h 11 am 2 pm 5 pm 8 pm last game ends max at 11 pm

2017-03-02 05:29

Yea.. I'm baffled by this format.. I usually dont care how a format works as long as it's good CS, but this one annoys me.. Nothing against FaZe, and they could very well have won it if the format were different. It just seems odd :S

2017-03-02 17:38

I know you are crying because FaZe will rape VP if they meet like they have at every LAN in the past. Oh ye they got to semi because of mr3.. No they went 4-1 in groups and would have been #1 with round difference anyway so they technically topped their group twice to get to the semi after 1 week practice. Imagine how much rape after 1 month LOL gg! #eZaF

oh yeah typical retard it's not about the team who advanced, it's about retarded format mr3 game (it's not even a bo1 lol) is so random it doesn't make sense and it shouldn't decide who makes the semifinal Astralis were #1 in their group because they won h2h against FaZe (16-8) but lost to Immortals and they were all tied up - that's why they needed these tiebreaker games. Round-robin format is retarded.

2017-03-02 05:36

you are correct that this format is not good in cs. it works in other sports but cs is different and the "new" head2head format is way better. but you are incorrect with your overly simplified claim that faze topped the group with one mr3 game. they did not and you know it. they had a three-way tie and had to solve it somehow. faze came out victorious. they had best round difference anyway!

2017-03-02 08:36

fnatic fucked it all up with their choke, immortals would have had 3 wins and astralis would probably be 1st because they beat faze

2017-03-02 06:01

yeah if fnatic won that game it'd be astralis faze fnatic

Dont like the format at all. Why would 1 group be played in 1 day instead of having groups played over 2 days, with half of the matches each day. If a team is having worse day, maybe they'd play better the other day.

2017-03-02 01:06

mimimimimimimimimi

2017-03-02 01:34

And in football world cup they should play an half time a day coz players can be in a bad day? The format might be not the best but ur argument is invalid.

2017-03-02 01:52

indeed. I understand the complains about this format but people are making retarded claims here

2017-03-02 08:39

How about the mental side of things? Players need to be at their best on tournaments like these, and I don't think playing 5 matches in a row or so is helping them in any way. You'd be surprised what rest does to human's brain.

2017-03-03 03:02

gg nice format =D

2017-03-02 01:33

Well it's a good thing I'm not an Optic fan

2017-03-02 02:14

Faze has gotta be my fave team now.. only need to replace allu with simple now..

2017-03-02 02:54

So today you started as a Faze fan and you want to replace player who does his job and is also a team player?

2017-03-02 12:07

better than round difference good format

2017-03-02 04:00

Haha GL FAZE R, NiP 1-4 Lul

2017-03-02 07:02

faze is the best team now? with niko?

2017-03-02 07:13

Nope. They just won 4 matches. That's it. They won something in the past (different lineup), but other teams have bigger achievements and are simply better.

2017-03-02 07:41

Yes,they are indeed the best team.

2017-03-02 13:32

Ninjas in Plane. Same for Optic. Good thing is, I don't like both teams.

2017-03-02 08:04

This format sucks tbh

2017-03-02 09:56

OpTic 0 5 xd NA

2017-03-02 12:18

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ swapsk#incsgo.com (r.e.m.o.v.e #) 50dollars f.r.e.e C-0-D-E:HLT#V2 (r.e.m.o.v.e #) 10% DISC C-0-D-E:HLT#V1 (r.e.m.o.v.e #) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

2017-03-05 19:02