FaZe through to PGL Cluj-Napoca playoffs with 3-0 record

FaZe exposed MOUZ's lack of repertoire on the T side, giving up just four of 24 rounds on the defense.

FaZe made it through the PGL Cluj-Napoca group stage unscathed and have punched their ticket to the tournament's playoffs with a 3-0 record, a feat that left David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský shocked after the 2-0 victory over MOUZ in the third round of the Swiss stage.

Known to be a team that activates in the playoffs, this time around Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen and company won their match as favorites against SAW in the opening round before taking revenge on Eternal Fire, the team they lost to in the IEM Katowice lower bracket final, and overcoming MOUZ in the 2-0 pool.

FaZe is still tweaking the map pool

Despite the 3-0, FaZe are still a work in progress as Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski is still adjusting and getting in reps for situations he hasn't found himself in before. Some discomfort has crept up, most notably on Nuke, a map FaZe have tried to avoid and will now have some time to work on before the playoffs, but the American rifler is otherwise confident.

"It's just a tournament where we need to figure out or map pool," EliGE told the PGL broadcast after the series. "This was just the second Mirage we played in officials, and MOUZ wanted to test us out on that. Inferno, we obviously did a lot of work on that between BLAST Bounty and now. Everything is working out pretty well, and we're feeling out the map pool and seeing how we play on the other maps.

"I'm obviously struggling on Nuke, but outside of that, I'm pretty much comfortable with 100% of my game on all the other maps, barring some specific rounds where there's obvious discomforts from changing such a big piece of the team, ropz, and bringing me, who is a completely different player. I think it's just natural that there's going to be some growing pains in me trying to get comfortable, but I'd say pretty much on all maps, I'm feeling 100%."

EliGE had his highest-rated series with FaZe

EliGE had what was probably his most well-rounded game in a FaZe jersey with a 1.43 rating across both maps, in no small part because of his 11 first kills to just one first death — ten on the T side. He was also a stalwart on the CT side in a defense that read MOUZ like an open book and dismantled neophyte IGL Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin.

frozen, too, is continuing his run of good form with a 1.27-rated performance in the qualifying match. "The team is just doing great around me, everyone is playing really well, and frozen's having a great tournament," EliGE told HLTV after beating Eternal Fire, and the Slovakian player is keeping up the form as is the rest of the team.

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EliGE: "[At] Katowice there simply wasn't enough time"

FaZe exposed MOUZ's wobbly T-side

If MOUZ showed the upside of their improved firepower with Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi in the first two series of the tournament against 3DMAX and BIG, today they showed what it's like getting outgunned without a plan to fall back on.

A couple of antics by Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman and Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo were all MOUZ really had to show for on the attack as Brollan's calling fell flat. They went 4-24 in T rounds and gave up a 9-3 CT lead on Ancient before getting blown out of the water on the T side of their own Mirage map pick 2-10 at the half.