FaZe through to EPICENTER semi-finals over NiP

FaZe have defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0 (Overpass 16-8, Mirage 16-11) to advance to the semi-finals at EPICENTER 2018, in which they'll go up against Liquid.

The second semi-final of EPICENTER started on Ninjas in Pyjamas's pick, Overpass, where the Swedes grabbed the pistol round to kick things off on the offense. However, FaZe replied right back, and the beginning of the match continued to go back and forth with neither team able to establish stable economy.

When it was 5-4 in favor of Ninjas in Pyjamas, Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač stepped up with a triple to reset his opponents, which set off a five-round streak going FaZe's way, including one in which the Bosnian got another three kills.

Switching over to Counter-Terrorists at 6-9, Ninjas in Pyjamas lowered the deficit when Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg showcased his seamless aiming style in the pistol round with a smooth quad-kill on the B bombsite. From that point on, though, it was all about FaZe, who went on a seven-round winning streak to close out the first map at 16-8, with NiKo ending the opener with 30 kills.

The European mixture kicked off Mirage with a 2-0 lead as Terrorists as NiKo continued to wreak havoc, clutching a 1v3 in a dangerous anti-eco after securing the pistol round with a double. Ninjas in Pyjamas quickly equalized things with an added boost of the new post-pistol economy, but FaZe retook the lead again to go 5-2.

Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund helped the Swedish side climb back with a quad-kill in a 2v4 retake scenario on B, while Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman clutched a 1v1 later on, allowing Ninjas in Pyjamas get their first lead on the second map. The last four rounds were split between the teams, which set the halftime score to 8-7 in favor of Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson & co.

The match continued to go back and forth at the beginning of the second half, with the two sides going toe-to-toe until it was 10-10. At that point, FaZe began pulling away with three rounds in a row on the back of a B retake in a forcebuy. Ninjas in Pyjamas made a Deagle buy work to clinch their 11th round, but FaZe were quickly back to winning ways and finished off the series at 16-11, 2-0.