FaZe find form to eliminate 9INE from Paris

The European combine won the first of their three must-win matches.

FaZe have eliminated 9INE in a two-map series to join the 1-2 pool of Monday's matches. FaZe thus keep their Major playoff dream alive, but their work is far from done as they need two more consecutive victories to secure their Accor Arena spot. With many favorites also struggling, FaZe will need to show up like they did against the Poles.

"I think every team in the 0-2 pool had a long team-talk in their rooms after the first day, to discuss how we want to play and try to take it from there," said Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken on their bounceback plan. "Biggest thing was to not play scared, and we did that."

For 9INE, this is the end of the road at the Major. The Polish team came into the tournament as an unknown but in-form team, and despite not securing a Legends Stage victory, they will no doubt be proud of putting Polish Counter-Strike on the world map once again.

The match started with a curious decision by 9INE to keep their perma-ban Inferno in the veto instead of Ancient, where they have a 7% win rate and 14 consecutive losses in the past three months. Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen decided to call them out on that and picked into their weakness, and while the Polish side did show some solid plays on the map, their lack of experience ultimately cost them in the end. Just four defensive rounds were not enough for them to come back, as a confident FaZe CT side repelled their attacks on their way to a 16-10 victory.

Anubis was up next, and 9INE got off to an even worse start than on Inferno, finishing the first half 2-13 down after mustering two low-buy victories. Despite struggling to close out the game as their attacks seemed slightly out-of-sync, a team like FaZe should never drop an advantage like that. 9INE got six in a row before Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool made sure FaZe stay alive at the Paris Major for another day with a 1vs2 clutch.

FaZe now move to the 1-2 pool, where teams such as ENCE, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and the winner of FURIA vs. G2 await them. With that kind of star-studded lineup, we are in for a bloodbath on day three of the Legends Stage.

The current standings of the Swiss stage are: