FaZe defeat new OG roster in Copenhagen

FaZe were made to work for it on Inferno but got it done in a thirty-round affair.

FaZe have defeated OG in the opening round of Group C at BLAST Premier Fall Groups. The Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen-led squad were unconvincing in their 16-14 victory on Inferno before shifting to a higher gear on Mirage, which they won 16-9.

FaZe were one of the few teams who didn't make a transfer during a turbulent break, going into the fall season with the same five-man roster. Their only change came on Thursday when Robert "⁠RobbaN⁠" Dahlström announced his decision to quit coaching and left FaZe without a coach.

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RobbaN quits coaching

Both karrigan and Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool were full of praise for their ex-coach and his impact on the team, saying his departure will leave a big void. ropz also admitted that they don't have a replacement lined up yet but are exploring options.

On the other side of the server, much was said about OG's lack of firepower coming into the game. Both Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković and Casper "⁠ruggah⁠" Due stated in pre-match interviews that Maciej "⁠F1KU⁠" Miklas and Dion "⁠FASHR⁠" Derksen have been put in star roles alongside AWPer Iulian "⁠regali⁠" Harjău and that the trio will be their main source of fragging. The Romanian sniper delivered in his LAN debut, putting up 27 kills on Inferno and finishing the series on top of the scoreboard with a 1.14 rating.

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nexa: "regali will be key to this roster"

FaZe will now meet the winner of G2 vs. Liquid in the upper-bracket final, while OG will face off against the loser of the same game.

The bout started on OG's pick of Inferno, and the map quickly descended into a brawl. FaZe were able to win the pistol round and converted it to a 3-0 after some impressive fragging by karrigan, but OG soon answered with some crisp Deagle shots to win their first round. After getting on the board, nexa and company ran away with an 8-3 partial score to take a three-round lead into the second half, ensuring a solid platform to take the lead in the series.

A second pistol round for FaZe meant they were back in the game straight away, with OG only getting on the board with a pair of hero rounds by nexa and regali. The game was slipping away from OG, and they needed regali to warm up his AWP once again with a 1vs3 clutch on the A site to eventually tie up the scores at 14. Due to the low amount of nades, FaZe went for a successful Apps attack to reach map point, before Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard found three on the B split to close out the game 16-14.

rain started Mirage where he left off on Inferno by hitting three headshots to secure FaZe the pistol round, which they converted to a 6-1 early lead. OG, once again on the back foot early in a half, put together a solid comeback attempt, reaching seven rounds on their CT half. F1KU and FASHR were particularly impressive, with the Pole's triple spray-down in Palace ending on the highlight reels.

OG secured their first pistol round of the series to start their offense. That was about as good as it got for the European squad, though, as they immediately lost to the force buy and won just one round for the rest of the half. FaZe looked dominant throughout and shut down everything OG had to offer, ending up 16-9 victors on the map to qualify for the upper-bracket final against the winner of G2 vs. Liquid.