FaZe secure opening IEM Cologne victory

The world's highest-ranked team are set to battle it out against Spirit in their group's semi-finals.

FaZe's bid for the IEM Cologne crown has gotten off to a solid start, with the international roster besting their South American opponents 00NATION in two maps during their opening series, surviving a comeback scare on Ancient 16-13, and impressively taking Inferno, 16-10.

After reaching the main group stage through the Play-In, 00NATION will now need to survive Group B's lower bracket to have a chance at making the playoffs at IEM Cologne, with their first obstacle coming in the form of Liquid who are playing with Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis as a stand-in.

Ancient kicked off with a swift 3-1 run by FaZe, who certainly weren't lacking firepower early on, with Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants and Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard putting up some remarkable multi-kills in the process. 00NATION were then able to bounce back and take four straight, including a sixth round 1vs2 clutch from Santino "⁠try⁠" Rigal. From there, it was pure FaZe dominance for 12 consecutive rounds, highlighted by a Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken ace and a 1vs3 clutch from broky in the 18th, clinching ten map points at 15-5.

Staring almost certain defeat, 00NATION didn't let up and gave everything into their comeback attempt, dragging the game on all the way to the 29th round as Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo rallied his team forward. In the end, FaZe were able to find the single round they needed to win and narrowly fended off the Brazilians' comeback, closing out Ancient 16-13.

Similar to the first map, FaZe once again found the lead early as they rolled to a 5-1 advantage as the attackers. The Brazilians secured the next two and looked like they were about to embark on another spree, before a heroic rain Deagle triple-kill on a full-eco put a halt to 00NATION's potential scoring run. The remaining part of the half went largely FaZe's way, who won five out of the last six, comfortably holding an 11-4 lead at the switch.

A three-round spree for 00NATION opened up the second period, however Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's side would convert the next four through their superb site defense, claiming map and series point at 15-7. The Brazilians would once again launch a late comeback attempt, but it ultimately wasn't meant to be as FaZe wrapped everything up in style, taking Inferno 16-10 and the series 2-0.