frozen leads the way as FaZe send Spirit to Showdown

The European squad will now face GamerLegion in a lower-bracket grudge match.

Questions abounded regarding FaZe after their opening BLAST Spring Groups loss to GamerLegion. Even their usual late comeback antics didn’t work, and they were sent down to the lower bracket after just two maps. Luckily, a maimed opponent awaited in the elimination match: Spirit, missing two key players in Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets and Boris "⁠magixx⁠" Vorobiev.

The Russian-majority side can still be proud of their opening match against Liquid despite elimination, as they played the American-European team over three close maps and were not far off even in defeat. But FaZe didn’t give them a chance.

The addition of David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský was well received and proof of concept came at the last event of 2023, where FaZe were runners up, but his opening game against GamerLegion cast some doubts as to how the integration into the team is fairing as he trailed in his side’s upset loss. The fog has dissipated for now after a superb individual performance.

frozen also gave some insight into how he's adapting inside the team. "Checking the areas where I can push the limits," he said of his time in FaZe so far, " the officials I’ve played here and in Abu Dhabi make me grow because I’m allowed to be a second caller in the team. So just test out the waters, what I can do, what I can’t do, what I can command. I’m finding my place."

frozen dominated the series against Spirit from the start on Anubis to the end on Nuke. By halftime on the former, he had 14 kills and 125 ADR as FaZe cruised around Spirit’s pick. Their 9-3 lead at the half became a 13-4 victory with frozen earning a 2.05 rating for the map.

The Slovakian rifler didn’t let up on Nuke, which FaZe also dominated, and his 17 kills and 145 ADR in an 8-4 lead on T side paved the way for a clean CT side to end it 13-4. frozen got his second +2.00 rating, a 2.01, which was good for a 2.02 rating across the series.

FaZe will now play a grudge match against GamerLegion as they crawl their way through the lower bracket with hopes of meeting Liquid in the group's final match.

"They played well, they had some good reads," frozen said of their first encounter with GL. "Overpass was more of our fault. We re-watched the game and it was terrible. The mid-rounds, the missed nades… on Ancient, towards the end of the map, they had good reads — they were moving well around the map.

“They played well, don’t get me wrong, but I think we made them look good. I’m looking forward to playing them again.”