FaZe outlast Spirit in DH Masters Spring as Dima stands in for mir in map three

FaZe edged out Spirit 2-1 in Group C of DreamHack Master Spring, with the Russian squad forced to field Dmitriy "⁠Dimaoneshot⁠" Bandurka over Nikolay "⁠mir⁠" Bityukov in the third map.

With both teams beginning their DreamHack Masters Spring journey with victories in their opening matches, the FaZe versus Spirit contest shaped up to be an entertaining clash. The Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač-led side passed their first test against GODSENT with their new addition of Aurimas "⁠Bymas⁠" Pipiras, but this time around they were facing off in opposition to a Spirit squad in red-hot form.

After a commanding Train win, Spirit entered FaZe’s map pick of Dust2 brimming with confidence. However, a highly-contested battle was soured by mir suffering from internet issues at 14-14. Shortly after reconnecting and forcing overtime, the 24-year-old disconnected again, with the team’s coach Nikolay "⁠Certus⁠" Poluyanov stepping in for the remainder of the map. For the deciding map, Nuke, Spirit utilised Dimaoneshot as a stand-in, but the Russian squad could not overcome FaZe despite making it competitive as the series concluded 19-17, 2-1.

The series commenced with Spirit taking an early 3-0 lead on their map pick of Train. A crisp quad kill from Boris "⁠magixx⁠" Vorobiev helped extend the offensive side’s advantage to 5-0 before FaZe secured back-to-back rounds of their own. A third seemed all but confirmed for the European squad, but a mir 1v3 clutch swung the momentum back into Spirit’s favour. Both teams then traded three rounds apiece to close out the half, with the Russian squad claiming a 10-5 halftime lead.

FaZe survive upset scare to Spirit

A dominant CT pistol opened the half with two quick rounds for Spirit to distance themselves further from FaZe, but NiKo’s men replied in kind with a double to attempt to prevent the defensive side from running away with the map. However, Spirit refused to slow down as they continued to kick off each round with consistent opening kills, securing four final rounds to close out Train 16-7, with mir concluding his performance with a 1.60 rating.

A Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard triple kill kicked off a period of dominance from FaZe on the CT side of Dust2, with a 6-2 advantage briskly materialising. Spirit quickly turned proceedings around, however, as a magixx ace followed up by a mir quad kill led the Russian side to win all but one of the remaining rounds, with Spirit pulling slightly ahead 8-7 at the halfway mark.

It didn’t take long for Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov and co. to add to their lead once they switched to the defence as a string of four rounds went overwhelmingly Spirit’s way. With the map and series slipping away from FaZe after a brief back and forth (10-14), the European mixture knocked their performance up a gear to chain together successive rounds and level the score.

A spanner was thrown in the works in the next for the Russian squad as mir unfortunately dropped out of the server which prevented the star rifler from attempting a 1v2 and potentially put his team on 15 rounds. However, after a lengthy technical break, a fantastic Artem "⁠iDISBALANCE⁠" Egorov AWP triple kill forced overtime. Further connection issues resulted in Spirit’s coach, Certus, stepping in for the remainder of the map, with FaZe closing out Dust2 shortly after at 19-15.

iDISBALANCE's Nuke heroics could not edge Spirit over the line

With mir plagued with internet issues, Spirit enlisted the services of Espada player Dimaoneshot as their fifth player on the decider of Nuke. FaZe picked up a quick 3-0 start on the CT side, but a chopper 1v2 clutch unexpectedly allowed for his team to go on a six-round streak. Spirit struggled to find any further success on the offence as FaZe recomposed to win the half 8-7, with Bymas locking down a triple kill hold on the B site in the final round.

A flawless pistol round instantly levelled the score, with Spirit adding four more rounds to their tally before FaZe could respond. The two teams then traded rounds, which included yet another phenomenal 1v3 AWP triple kill from iDISBALANCE, extending Spirit’s lead to 14-11. The back-and-forth continued until the end of the map, with many triple kills at the hands of Bymas and a Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants 1v1 clutch keeping FaZe alive; but Spirit once more forced overtime.

Despite some Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev heroics, Spirit was unable to continue racking up the necessary rounds in overtime to record an unlikely win, with an eventual broky 1v2 clutch securing the victory for FaZe.

DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 - EuropeBest of 3

FaZe

Matchpage

2

1

26th May 2020

Spirit

7

Train

16

19

Dust2

15

19

Nuke

17

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	70 - 73	-3	90.1	67.7%	1.11
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	63 - 68	-5	70.3	69.9%	1.02
Marcelo 'coldzera' Davidcoldzera	52 - 61	-9	60.9	69.9%	0.95
Aurimas 'Bymas' PipirasBymas	53 - 59	-6	61.5	64.5%	0.90
Helvijs 'broky' Saukantsbroky	48 - 54	-6	54.3	69.9%	0.89

Spirit	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Nikolay 'mir' Bityukovmir	49 - 33	+16	92.8	75.4%	1.45
Artem 'iDISBALANCE' EgoroviDISBALANCE	73 - 53	+20	74.8	72.0%	1.19
Boris 'magixx' Vorobievmagixx	60 - 56	+4	71.0	75.3%	1.09
Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhevsdy	68 - 60	+8	74.5	74.2%	1.07
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper	51 - 58	-7	69.1	74.2%	1.02
Dmitriy 'Dimaoneshot' BandurkaDimaoneshot	13 - 25	-12	55.5	66.7%	0.68
Nikolay 'Certus' PoluyanovCertus	0 - 2	-2	6.0	75.0%	0.63

Group C

TEAM

M

P

FaZe

2

6

Spirit

2

3

GODSENT

1

0

fnatic

1

0