3DMAX take revenge on FaZe to qualify for Stage 3 in Austin

FaZe haven't made their first two attempts at qualification count and are set to meet Falcons' slayers in the third.

3DMAX defeated FaZe in a clean 2-0 series to secure a spot in Stage 3 of the BLAST.tv Austin Major and send Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's team to the do-or-die fifth round.

There, FaZe are set on a collision course with MIBR in what will be their third attempt at qualification, after they couldn't convert their first two chances against Legacy and the French squad.

With the round four victory, 3DMAX took revenge for two uncompetitive losses to FaZe since April, in the PGL Bucharest quarter-finals and IEM Melbourne group stage.

This time the Frenchmen flipped the script with a convincing win on Nuke, where they didn't let FaZe have a say on the Terrorist side despite a David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský 1v3 clutch, as Lucas "⁠Lucky⁠" Chastang spearheaded their eight-round defense with 16 kills and 140 ADR.

Inferno was a tougher nut to crack from the start, but 3DMAX recovered from the slow start on the offense in a couple of post-plants that went down to the wire, and closed it out off the back of great defensive play from Pierre "⁠Ex3rcice⁠" Bulinge on the A bombsite as well as a crucial Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro clutch for match point:

"A good preparation against FaZe," bodyy said on BLAST's broadcast about what made the difference from 3DMAX's previous encounters against FaZe. "Very good prep, the staff has been doing an amazing job, we only have to focus on ourselves. A very big team effort today."

Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev played a rough series throughout, averaging a 0.75 rating, and took to X after to take responsibility for the loss. "No excuses, playing like garbage," he said.