NiKo shines as FaZe beat Astralis to claim semi-final berth

9-11-2018 00:02

FaZe are through to the semi-final stage of IEM Chicago after beating Astralis 2-0 in the battle for the top spot in Group A.

The standout match of the night, featuring two top five teams in the world looking to claim a spot in the last-four stage, kicked off on Mirage, where FaZe drew first blood with a fast A execute in the pistol round. Astralis responded in the third round with a full buy, but they could not follow it up and were faced with a hard economic reset.

Astralis brought FaZe's streak to an end only in the ninth round after going for a double AWP setup, but Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač's men remained in control of proceedings, shutting down any chances of the Danes stringing rounds together to claim an 11-4 half-time lead.

Now playing on the CT side, FaZe further added to their lead after winning the opening two rounds of the half. Astralis still sought a response, but FaZe strung three rounds together to lock down the map at 16-7.

NiKo led the way for FaZe on both maps

The second map, Inferno, followed the same pattern as the first, as Astralis hit back in a third-round buy after losing the opening rounds. But unlike on Mirage, the Danes did not take their foot off the gas. Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander's men ran all over the defence and strolled to a 7-4 lead before FaZe tightened up their defence to win four rounds in a row and head into the break with an 8-7 advantage.

Things then went from bad to worse for Astralis, who lost the pistol round and a force buy. FaZe rode that momentum to secure a 14-8 lead, but all of a sudden they ran out of steam. The European mixture looked out of options and stopped exerting map control, giving Astralis a way back into the game.

FaZe put a halt to Astralis' momentum by hitting match point with a B execute in a 4v5 situation, but they could not deal the finishing blow as the Danes won the final three rounds of regulation to force overtime.

The EPICENTER champions looked an improved side in overtime and showed some structured play for the first time in a while for a perfect 3-0 Terrorist half. Astralis still tried to respond in the second half but hit a brick wall as they attempted to enter the A site, and will now have to fight for their tournament lives in the quarter-final stage, scheduled for Friday, against the third-placed side from Group B.

IEM Chicago 2018Best of 3

Astralis

Matchpage

8th November 2018

FaZe

Mirage

Inferno

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander gla1ve	38 - 45	-7	73.6	59.6%	0.96
Nicolai 'device' Reedtz device	33 - 38	-5	68.6	63.2%	0.90
Emil 'Magisk' Reif Magisk	31 - 42	-11	71.9	64.9%	0.88
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen dupreeh	33 - 41	-8	67.6	61.4%	0.82
Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth Xyp9x	26 - 35	-9	42.6	59.6%	0.72

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač NiKo	56 - 35	+21	111.9	80.7%	1.60
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard rain	46 - 32	+14	85.0	82.5%	1.33
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács GuardiaN	33 - 24	+9	61.1	78.9%	1.13
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer olofmeister	38 - 33	+5	70.2	71.9%	1.07
Finn 'karrigan' Andersen karrigan	28 - 37	-9	57.3	73.7%	0.89

eZaF

2018-11-09 00:03

13 replies

wack

6 replies

4 replies

clan

2 replies

top1

1 reply

ASSTRALIS ERA OMEGALUL

2018-11-09 00:04

as Fuck

2018-11-09 00:06

fast as fuck

am fast as fuck boiiii

ez4Faze. Grand slam for FaZe

2018-11-09 00:29

2018-11-09 02:07

+1 I have hope for FaZe

2018-11-09 08:00

YAAZ!

ez4niko

gg faze, well played

LETS FUCKING GO

what a beast

expected

Look who's choked this time. Mirage was awful for Astralis as for some reasons they missed quite a lot of easy shots. You don't do this at this level of CS. I don't know what's happening to Astralis at the moment but they are losing their form and Faze have rediscovered themselves. NiKo is a beast. GGWP.

Yeah the worst thing for astralis fans is faze was beating them at their own game astralis is supposed to be the best in all the midround scenarios and they just got snuffed and after that north game you cant even blame it all on bad form

2018-11-09 01:05

Astralis is the best team in the world. Glaive is one of the best igl and a tactical powerhouse. But astralis was not the best team in regards to mid round calls. It was always faze, mostly because of karrigan's igl style and having a player like olof who is a master at mid round scenarios.

2018-11-09 05:52

3 replies

Gla1ve is a tactical powerhouse? All he does is doing what zonic teaches him. Zonic is the powerhouse, gla1ve is just a lieutenant.

2018-11-09 06:24

2018-11-09 07:46

Their strengths weren't the mid round calls, it was their team play that gave them monstrous CT sides Faze is supposed to have shit T sides and just banged them out

2018-11-09 12:59

And some people say that dev1ce is better than NiKo lmfaoooo

astralis 2k18 lul

Fake fans sad

2018-11-09 01:17

2018-11-09 03:53

NiKo PogChamp NiKo strats:NiKo go kill work!

fuck off

Mad astralis fan

2018-11-09 04:42

no im actually a faze fan but his comment sucks dick get his twitch emotes and shitty reddit memes out of here

2018-11-09 05:03

sup now danes?

Finally! golden won her first major!

My boi NiKo <3

ez 4 faze , faze is back

god

not 1st :(

Was a great game FaZe were just the better team today

I like the pushes, very nice

2018-11-09 00:05

sometimes it just be like that

cry is free astralis fans

halo brutus wat doink

2018-11-09 00:09

This reminds me, when media shittalks on themselves on behalf of their opponents to make them look bad.

2018-11-09 00:11

Niko and Rain are back boys

2018-11-09 00:07

5 replies

NiKo never left

2018-11-09 08:02

Olof , GuardiaN and olof are back tho ! And karrigan is so good with the AUG SG553

2018-11-09 09:16

You mean karrAUGan

2018-11-09 09:31

+1000000

2018-11-09 19:28

Olof is doing great, I think rain is still a bit shaky, and GuardiaN still isn't back to how he was earlier in the year, but they all must be doing well right here right now and that's what matters And yeah karrigan is looking awesome all things considering

2018-11-09 19:30

eZaF4FaZe

Finally some shake-up in this scene! Are we seeing some cracks at the Astralis era?

2018-11-09 00:08

could just be a one-off like navi at cologne well see how they close out the year since faze might not even make ecs or epl finals

2018-11-09 01:06

They still have a chance to make it for epl finals coz they made it for ecs finals in Arlington

2018-11-09 02:58

i dont think they are even guaranteed in ecs but it is likely they will be in, because they could lose their next two, and have nip win 2 of their next 4 and mouse 1 of their next two and theyll be out in pro league they have to win both against heroic to even have a prayer

2018-11-09 03:11

Yea u r right, they did not played good in online leagues so they have to win almost every game to qualify

2018-11-09 03:18

No one gives a fuck about online leagues tho.

2018-11-09 08:31

nice job niko

myyyy boiiii

NiKo > No1 team in the world

Unlike s1mple, he is not convinced his brain is in the wrist. Way more complete a player than s1mple, who is just a madfragger, surely the best madfragger in CS.GO, but that is all he is.

2018-11-09 10:08

Faze on fire

niceee

Astralis flipped the switch during the showmatch against C9 cause they realized that even C9 players are individually better

2018-11-09 00:10

they picked c9 for ez money losing that made them question their entire lives

2018-11-09 01:07

so easy

really easy for #1

0-2 For #1 team in the world

2018-11-09 00:12

Take the L astraLis

2018-11-09 00:14

rain finally stepped up I love it... keep it bro

2018-11-09 00:18

it seems he is finally recovering lately, but let's wait and see.

2018-11-09 00:33

Its just oofmeister, he gave Astralis the L on Mirage.

Hmm Astralis showing cracks maybe?

2018-11-09 00:27

lol wtf

2018-11-09 00:28

RiP the streak LUL

2018-11-09 00:30

2018-11-09 00:35

astralis obviously throwing cuz they know they would just have to face faze again in the final so they saving strats kappa

2018-11-09 00:36

Yup, that is most likely going to be the final. This match was just warmup for the two teams involved. Looking forward to it. But first they have to plow through mouz and fnatic. Fnatic may be a problem for them, as I think they are hard to read atm, but I believe mouz is a walkover.

2018-11-09 10:12

Mibr won against FaZe on Mirage. Astralis lost against FaZe on Mirage. Ez maths boys MIBR >>> Astralis

2018-11-09 00:38

2018-11-09 00:48

seems cute how you use nursery concepts so easily on the stats eliminating every other factor xD , grow up friend .

2018-11-09 01:02

i guess mibr fans will have to take any victory they can get

2018-11-09 01:08

Lmao +1

2018-11-09 01:53

LDLC > MIBR

2018-11-09 01:24

Can confirm man, amen.

2018-11-09 02:47

rip

2018-11-09 00:44

Fucking knew it. Ez 4 my bois

2018-11-09 00:47

Botigan lol

2018-11-09 00:50

you may rip on him, but i think he manages to have very good impact despite his stats people keep saying hes on the chopping block but to be real idk who would fit the role better. Id rather have him than taco or styko, and i dont think faze wants to bring kio back or pay some ludicrous buyout for nbk or something

2018-11-09 01:09

It could be a support like cromen so olof can be a fragger instead or an igl like bntet so niko can go back focusing on destroying them pus

2018-11-09 02:17

bntet xD rly breh

2018-11-09 13:49

astralis saving too much maybe??

2018-11-09 01:18

Faze up

2018-11-09 01:45

Lets fucking goo!

2018-11-09 02:06

Finally!!

2018-11-09 02:15

Niko god!!!

2018-11-09 02:27

-karrigan +adren/kio/krimz/cold

2018-11-09 02:35

reported

2018-11-09 09:11

Niko igl>karrigan Adren played under zeus ange1l also played as igl Kio played under french igls also played as igl Cold played under fallen also played igl They sure can help niko and bring more firepower

2018-11-09 14:24

Cold? HAHA n0

2018-11-09 09:34

Good for him!

2018-11-09 03:16

nikgod

2018-11-09 03:50

112 ADR vs Astralis. GOD NiKo <3 I cried ;__; I'm so happy

2018-11-09 04:00

lol +21

2018-11-09 04:05

Anyone else noticed NiKo is getting chubby again?

2018-11-09 05:15

+1.

2018-11-09 05:24

Probably he plays more and does less exercising

2018-11-09 07:56

2018-11-09 07:59

Comeback to choke in OT, lul. FaZe's inferno T side become complete shit at some point, as always. They really need better IGL and coach which will bring decent strats, structure, etc.

2018-11-09 05:27

Astralis Era is Defenetly over

2018-11-09 05:41

Just think about the firepower they'll have when they remove BOTiggan. That's gonna be insane

2018-11-09 05:53

Remove your faze flair please

2018-11-09 07:13

+1 FaZe is at their best with their current line-up

2018-11-09 07:57

LUL if you actually think that you're in delusional fanboy world

2018-11-10 16:18

The fuck are you talking about?

2018-11-12 06:12

Niko goat

2018-11-09 05:55

Faze astralis' worst nightmare

2018-11-09 07:27

Gg to both teams....glad the scene is interesting again and not an "astralis ez win" as it was in the past months

2018-11-09 07:58

eZaF for NiKo

real top 1 player, igl and top fragger every match

2018-11-09 08:33

2018-11-09 08:56

EASY RIP ASTRALIS ERA

2018-11-09 09:07

All Astralis flairs suddenly disappeared LUL

2018-11-09 09:26

11-1 thank god. It was gettimg too easy for Astralis. They will probably still win it all though

2018-11-09 09:28

7 replies

90% of them were online but FaZe always did a good fight against Astralis today they played better.

2018-11-09 10:11

7 out of the last 11 wins were on lan... But you are right, Faze were really allowed to shine by a poorly playing Astralis.

2018-11-09 11:57

nah actually 3

2018-11-09 14:32

Ecs finals(2) and Esl finals(2) were both at lan.. Faceit major(2) and blast(1). I dont know how you are getting 3

2018-11-09 16:38

"11-1" so why is fazes 2-0 count as 1 win and astralis' as 2? I dont get it

2018-11-10 15:11

You are right. 11-2

2018-11-10 16:16

1 bo3 = 1 match so basically 3-1 in last 4 bo3's

2018-11-10 16:29

Not like it's a crucial match or something, but it dows show how scary Faze is when rain steps up.

2018-11-09 10:10

Faze had a big advantage: they removed Nuke, that was the key, it s impossible to beat Ast on nuke. Also it s hard to beat Faze when olof and niko plays very well, actually they are pulling rest of the players after them. Olof it s the king on mid in Mirage it s impossible to beat him. Karrigan it s doing a decent game now, all he needs it a to practice shooting. Astralis...seems that they world it s a little bit moved, they showed like 5th 6th place. I would like to see them in the final - bo5.

2018-11-09 12:05

nothing is impossible. but it certainly makes things a lot easier for faze when niko is unleashed. i didn't watch the game but im going to assume he either wasnt calling at all or he did very little of it and karrigan was calling the shots leaving niko to frag. and with olof playing well also faze becomes a very hard team to beat. they'v just shown really weak form since bringing olof back in i think its taken him a while to get back to his standard and he still has work to put in but they are all looking a lot better than they did last few events. 2-0 astralis atm is unheard of

2018-11-09 20:39