FaZe kick off BLAST Premier Spring Final with 2-0 victory over SAW

The European squad has one more group stage match left to decide their seeding in the playoffs.

FaZe kicked off their BLAST Premier Spring Final run with a 2-0 victory over SAW in the inaugural series, which secures them a spot in the playoffs.

Following 5-8th and 5-6th finishes at ESL Pro League and IEM Dallas, respectively, the European superteam has hunkered down and is even shying away from the public eye by avoiding talking to the media and even answering questions on the broadcast.

Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool declined to comment before the match when asked about his form coming into the tournament and let his play do the talking instead, as he topped the board with a 1.51 rating and 101.7 ADR.

SAW looked dialed in early on Ancient, as after losing to an eco they struck right back and went on to take a 6-1 lead after a 1vs3 clutch by Ricardo "⁠roman⁠" Oliveira.

It looked like victory was all but secured for the Portuguese squad after a massive 10-2 half, but FaZe got right back in it. Even after an awkward 2vs3 situation from Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants and ropz got SAW on match point, they failed to close out, and paid the price after two overtimes.

Both teams floated Nuke as their comfort map and it ended up the decider, but it wasn't necessary as FaZe showed why they picked Inferno from the start. Despite losing the first pistol round, they quickly turned the tide in their favor on the attack.

Leading 8-5 after losing the second pistol round, FaZe all but ended it by winning the second-round forcebuy on the defense.

Four rounds later Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen and his men hit 13-5 and ended it then and there, sending SAW to the lower bracket.

The two teams will know their next rivals after the series between Astralis and Natus Vincere. The winners will play each other in the upper bracket, and the losers in a lower bracket decider match.