FaZe survive Complexity scare in EPL to advance to quarter-finals

The European mix moved past the North American squad despite Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince's standout performance.

FaZe secured their first win of the playoffs at ESL Pro League Season 16 with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Complexity, eliminating the North Americans after initially dropping Overpass 9-16 before answering back with 16-14 and 16-8 wins on Inferno and Nuke, respectively. The Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen-led lineup now move forward to the quarter-finals, where they're set to go up against Cloud9 on Wednesday at 19:00 .

FaZe's Intel Grand Slam hopes remain alive despite the scare, with Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken gunning to be the first player to achieve the feat on two separate occasions. The Canadian was also the difference-maker in taking the series to the deciding map, recording an impressive 1.37 rating and 92 ADR on Inferno.

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Complexity, meanwhile, head home from ESL Pro League Season 16 in 9-12th place, with Grim having a sublime performance in spite of the loss, the 21-year-old averaging a 1.37 rating across the three maps. The North American squad will now turn their attention to the upcoming IEM Road to Rio Americas RMR, with that Major-qualifying event playing out from October 5-9.

The series opened with Complexity's pick of Overpass, with the two teams exchanging three-round sprees to start things off. A zoned in Complexity, spurred on by a crucial 1vs2 by Grim in the seventh round, allowed the North Americans to break free of the initial stalemate, however, with Complexity using this to guarantee a first-half victory at 8-4. FaZe recovered towards the end of their defensive effort, though, clinching the three remaining rounds to trail by just one round at the interval.

Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou and company extended their lead even further at the onset of the second half, well-executed setups on the CT-side leaving their foes scratching their heads as they moved to a 13-9 scoreline. Any chance at a FaZe comeback from here on out was soon thrown out of the window, with relentless aggression by Complexity going unanswered as the side locked in their map pick, 16-9. Grim, in particular, had a stellar showing on Overpass, with the American carrying his team on his back with a 27-15 K-D and 1.73 rating .

FaZe nabbed their third pistol round of the series once Inferno rolled around, but were immediately shut down once again as Complexity jumped out to a 5-3 start. Things soon went from bad to worse for FaZe as their T-side progressed, with the European mix only being allowed to post two more rounds by the half's end. Grim's impressive showing from Overpass carried over to the second map of the series, with the 21-year-old adding a whopping 23 kills to his tally by the end of Complexity's CT-side.

Twistzz tapped down four on the A site to get the second half underway, the map soon descending into a back-and-forth skirmish with both teams adding two-round streaks to have Complexity lead 12-7. FaZe slowly started to claw themselves back into the game, however, karrigan's men winning four rounds on the trot to bring the score back to 11-12. The European roster had just enough fuel in the tank to get the map over the line from this point on, with FaZe winning five of the next seven rounds to clinch Inferno 16-14 and send the game to the deciding map of Nuke.

It was Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool's turn to step up for his team once Nuke began, the Estonian rifler being a dependable rock on the CT-side to power his team to a 6-3 showing to start. FaZe grasp on the game was hard to shake for the rest of the half, with Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard now taking over in the fragging department with 19 kills on the board by the break to gift his side a 10-5 advantage.

FaZe won their sixth pistol round of the series to get their T-side going, not letting things slip as they followed up with a two-round conversion to sit 13-5 up. A last-second 1vs2 clutch by Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli in the 20th round kept the North Americans' dreams alive, with the side bringing things back to 8-13. Regardless, the deficit proved too much to overcome, and FaZe quickly stole the three rounds they required to win Nuke 16-8.

FaZe's next game in the tournament has them facing off against Cloud9 on September 29 at 19:00 . The Russian squad notably sent the Europeans packing from IEM Dallas back in June, with Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov and co. hoping to repeat that feat in their upcoming meeting to disrupt FaZe's ongoing Intel Grand Slam run once more.