FaZe inch past new Cloud9 in overtime

Cloud9 put FaZe up against the ropes but failed to close out the series after the decider went to extra rounds.

Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov, Kaisar "⁠ICY⁠" Faiznurov and Nikita "⁠HeavyGod⁠" Martynenko were a formidable trio as Cloud9 pursued their first victory with a new lineup, but in the end FaZe pulled a rabbit out of the hat to take the Fall Groups's Group C opener in overtime.

The revamped Cloud9 looked completely lost on the attacking side of Dust2, but after rallying and nearly bringing their map pick back on the defense, they carried that momentum through the series.

ICY showed his teeth on that first map, one tailored for AWPers, and ended it with a 1.50 rating as he headlined Cloud9's comeback attempt.

Ax1Le then shined on the CT side of Inferno, where he kept his Pit position, as he and his teammates locked it down 8-4 before a strong attacking side gave them an ample 13-7 victory.

The 22-year-old and ICY, who showed a flashy and aggressive brand of AWPing, then carried their form to Mirage, but HeavyGod couldn't find the same impact as he had on the previous maps. He did win a crucial clutch early on, though, and Cloud9 still got two match points before the end of regulation.

In classic FaZe fashion when up against the ropes, Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen and his men won the final two rounds on the attack to force overtime. FaZe is as FaZe does, and so they came out on top in extra rounds with a fantastic performance from David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský, who shook off a poor showing on Inferno to thrive in the decider.

"We didn't have information on how they played, there's no stats," the Slovakian rifler said after the match. "On Inferno I got my ass whooped, I wasn't in the zone, I wasn't calling well. They abused me there so props to them."

FaZe are now in the upper bracket final, where they will play the winner of the match between G2 and Ninjas in Pyjamas, while the loser of that series will face Cloud9 in the lower bracket.