FaZe and fnatic stay alive at IEM Winter; Heroic and ENCE eliminated early

Although both series finished 2-0, it was closely fought across all four maps, with individual skill seemingly the difference in both matches.

It was do-or-die time at IEM Winter today as the group B lower bracket matches took place, with FaZe facing HEROIC and fnatic facing off against ENCE. Both series were tough to call, and all maps played were relatively tight battles.

The A stream presented us with a matchup between FaZe and HEROIC, and the audience were treated to a hard fought series.

On the opening map, FaZe's pick of Inferno, it was a back and forth affair in the first half, the teams trading rounds to an 8-7 half in favour of the Danes on their CT side. HEROIC were winning the more convincing rounds, but FaZe were very strong in clutch situations to keep the half close.

The second half brought little joy for HEROIC outside of the pistol round and conversion, as they simply couldn’t match the opening kills that FaZe were so successful in finding, the European squad finding nine of the last 11 rounds to win out the map 16-13. In the end it was, as per usual, the raw skill of FaZe that got them over the line, Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen putting in a surprisingly strong individual performance.

Nuke was a similar story, with HEROIC generally looking like a better team tactically, but they struggled to hang with FaZe in duels. The key round in the second half that saw FaZe through to victory began as a 3v5 against them, before Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken came up with a 4K of headshots to turn the round on its head and break the HEROIC economy, a microcosm of the series as a whole.

HEROIC did make it competitive, but in the end karrigan and co. finished the game 16-14 to knock the Danes out of the tournament. FaZe stay alive and will take on the loser of Gambit vs Virtus.pro in the lower semi-final on Saturday at 13:30 .

Over on the B stream ENCE took on fnatic, and once again it was relatively close on each map.

First up was the fnatic pick of Overpass, and the Anglo-Swedish squad showed exactly why they chose the map. Starting on the T side they picked up the pistol and conversion, getting off to a 5-2 lead and looking like they might run away with the half, before ENCE picked up five on the bounce to keep things competitive, the half ending 8-7 in their favour.

The second half was nowhere near as close, fnatic seeming incredibly comfortable on the CT side as they won nine rounds to ENCE's three to take the map 16-11. Rifle duo Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin and William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman were the standout players on the server, with AWPer Owen "⁠smooya⁠" Butterfield not far behind.

Nuke was tightly contested, with ENCE getting off to a perfect T side start by breaking fnatic after they won the pistol, getting off to a 5-2 lead. Brollan and company then stamped their authority on the half, looking imperious as they won seven on the bounce, before ENCE stole a round at the end of the half to give themselves a great chance to close out the map.

Winning the second half pistol and converting, it seemed ENCE would cruise to a win and force a third map, but fnatic were simply too effective at finding opening kills and they strung five rounds together to put them on 14. ENCE found a way back into the half, finding four more rounds of their own, before they threw away a round to a fnatic side rushing upper on a weak force buy, which lead to Alex "⁠ALEX⁠" McMeekin and co. duly closing out the map 16-13 and thus the series. This time it was smooya who lead the way comfortably for his squad.

fnatic have earned a lower semi-final matchup on Saturday at 13:30 with either BIG or GODSENT.