BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Challengers Stage

Favorites deliver: FaZe and G2 enter qualification matches on Paris Major day one

8-5-2023 19:31

The opening matches from the second round of play finished without any surprises.

G2 and FaZe both secured their presence in the 2-0 pool following their victories over Complexity and paiN, respectively. Both European teams came into the Challengers Stage of the Paris Major as favorites to make it through he next phase and have so far lived up to expectations by ending the first day of play undefeated.

m0NESY dominated Complexity with a 2.23 rating on Inferno

FaZe and paiN battled it out on Nuke as both teams looked to claim a 2-0 start to their Major campaign. The match was a scrappy one with imperfect macro play and chaotic post-plant scenarios, from which the European mix was eventually able to come out victorious with a 16-12 scoreline.

Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's men started off their day with a narrow victory over Monte following a match that went all the way to 30 rounds before FaZe closed it out, coming back from a 10-14 deficit on Ancient. They are now set to enter the best-of-three qualification matches to secure a spot in the second Swiss group.

Paris Major Challengers Stage round 2 matchups set

Meanwhile on the B stream, G2 struggled a little on Inferno's CT side, failing to run away with the half despite a solid start for the European squad. Complexity impressed with a great performance in their offensive side, but fell flat after the break as Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen's men cruised to a 16-9 victory.

G2 managed to show a much better performance in their second fixture compared to the level they showed against The MongolZ. Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and company beat the Mongolian squad after recovering from a 6-11 deficit on Inferno due to a poor start on the CT side.

The current standings in the Swiss stage are:

Group Challengers Stage

2W - 0L