FaZe eliminate NAVI from IEM Sydney

It took FaZe three maps and a stumble on Mirage, but they're through to the lower bracket final.

Natus Vincere, without their star AWPer Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev, failed to make it past FaZe. They did, however, leave a good sensation with a dominating display on Mirage, their map pick, which they won 13-4.

Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen and company are therefore still alive in the tournament, having sent Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy and his men home with 13-7 victories on Overpass and Inferno.

FaZe dominated the dawn of the series, going on a 6-0 rampage on the attacking side of Overpass, their map pick. Natus Vincere didn’t back down, however, and won five of the final six rounds. It was ultimately in vain, as once the teams switched sides FaZe took over on the defense to finish it 13-7.

In a similar fashion, Natus Vincere dominated their map pick of Mirage, with Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen and Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy leading the way on the scoreboard. Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan found impactful openers on both sides, and even B1ad3 got a triple in the dying embers of the map, on the CT side, to make sure FaZe didn’t find it in them to start a comeback.

Inferno quickly became FaZe’s playground as they got off to a 7-1 lead on the defense before Natus Vincere were able to link two rounds in a row, ending the first half 9-3. From there on out it was smooth sailing, as a 4-4 scoreline in the second half assured FaZe's continued participation in Sydney when the map ended, 13-7.

Date	Matches
IEM Sydney 2023
18/10/2023	GamerLegion 07:30 FaZe	Match

FaZe now have one final group stage match for all of the marbles against GamerLegion. The loser will go home, and the winner will get a berth in the first round of the playoffs.