FaZe ease past Liquid, OpTic survive G2, Gambit dominate Renegades
Håvard "rain" Nygaard, known for his pistol play, began his match against Team Liquid with a spectacular quadruple kill, which was followed up by two triple kills by Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács in rounds two and three. Nick "nitr0" Cannella put up a magnificent display with the AWP on the B site, and won Liquid their first round. This didn't last however, as the Americans were immediately reset by FaZe.
GuardiaN continued to show off with his AWP with rain chiming in, to extend FaZe's lead to six rounds. Oddly enough, Josh "jdm64" Marzano pulled out a big play with the M4A4, and Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken corroborated with a triple of his own to give Liquid a small foothold in the game. A beastly play by Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski with the CZ-75 continued to keep the North American team alive in the half, which led to Liquid ending with a 5-10 score at the side switch by the hands of Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer.
Instead of rain, it was Nikola "NiKo" Kovač who had the big pistol round, as the Bosnian shut down Liquid's B attack to secure FaZe's 11th round. FaZe wasted no time, as rain and GuardiaN led the European superteam to win the remaining rounds and take the map 16-5.
LiquidFaZe| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
17 - 16 | +1 | 80.0 | 66.7% | 1.04 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
13 - 18 | -5 | 78.0 | 47.6% | 0.73 |
| Josh 'jdm64' Marzano |
10 - 18 | -8 | 48.3 | 52.4% | 0.58 |
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
10 - 18 | -8 | 53.3 | 52.4% | 0.49 |
 Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
5 - 20 | -15 | 48.3 | 33.3% | 0.35 |
| FaZe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács |
23 - 9 | +14 | 97.0 | 76.2% | 1.74 |
 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard |
20 - 12 | +8 | 99.3 | 85.7% | 1.56 |
 Finn 'karrigan' Andersen |
17 - 11 | +6 | 92.1 | 85.7% | 1.42 |
 Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer |
14 - 11 | +3 | 83.5 | 81.0% | 1.31 |
 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač |
15 - 12 | +3 | 63.8 | 71.4% | 1.10 |
This win solidified FaZe's #1 seed in Group B, allowing them to skip the round of six and advance to the semi-finals. This game also removed any chance of Liquid advancing to the playoffs as they only garnered four points and exited the tournament in last.
OpTic kicked off their final group stage match in Burbank with a fast lead on the Terrorist side of Overpass. Óscar "mixwell" Cañellas propelled his team to a 6-0 start, with OpTic growing a large economy. G2 answered back in round seven with a close round win, and managed to convert it and put OpTic onto an eco. Alexandre "bodyy" Pianaro was the point man for G2 in their slow comeback, but the Frenchmen's dreams were crushed by Aleksi "allu" Jalli, who all but secured the half for OpTic. G2 fought back late in the half, and managed a 6-9 score before starting their T side.
bodyy kept up his good form, picking up a triple in the pistol, and later in round 19, to allow G2 to take the lead in the game. OpTic however took the lead right back, with Emil "Magisk" Reif acquiring three big frags in connector. Kevin "HS" Tarn contributed with kills of his own, and after a superb retake led by mixwell, OpTic crept their way up to a 14-10 lead. bodyy did all he could to keep his team in the game, as Magisk put OpTic onto 15. Adam "friberg" Friberg put in three frags in round 27, but G2 hung on to win three more rounds until allu finally put G2 down, OpTic winning 16-14.
G2OpTic| G2 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Alexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro |
33 - 21 | +12 | 107.2 | 66.7% | 1.52 |
| Richard 'shox' Papillon |
20 - 21 | -1 | 75.7 | 76.7% | 1.16 |
| Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub |
18 - 22 | -4 | 67.2 | 73.3% | 0.98 |
| Nathan 'NBK-' Schmitt |
17 - 24 | -7 | 62.6 | 56.7% | 0.80 |
| Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire |
17 - 22 | -5 | 70.0 | 60.0% | 0.80 |
| OpTic |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emil 'Magisk' Reif |
28 - 26 | +2 | 111.7 | 86.7% | 1.38 |
 Kevin 'HS' Tarn |
24 - 19 | +5 | 83.3 | 76.7% | 1.20 |
 Oscar 'mixwell' Cañellas |
20 - 21 | -1 | 69.7 | 70.0% | 1.05 |
 Aleksi 'allu' Jalli |
21 - 19 | +2 | 65.6 | 70.0% | 0.96 |
| Adam 'friberg' Friberg |
17 - 20 | -3 | 66.5 | 66.7% | 0.95 |
OpTic's win against G2 gave the European mixture a 3-2 record and a spot in the playoffs. Due to their second seed, they will face SK in the round of six tomorrow. With G2 falling in the final game, they lost their chance of advancing, and will leave IEM Oakland in the group stage.
Gambit got off to a roaring start on Inferno, picking Renegades off one-by-one to take a flawless pistol round for themselves. Dropping only one player in their first three rounds, Gambit’s economy blossomed. They kept their SMGs going into the first gun round, but Renegades was able to battle back despite some losses to take the next two rounds.
The Aussies weren’t able to push past those two rounds quite yet, as Gambit eagerly moved forward with four of their own. Justin “jks” Savage and Keith “NAF” Markovic took two frags apiece to put Renegades’ third round on the board, but those were the last CT rounds that the squad would obtain. Gambit began demolishing Renegades’ CT setups as they pushed their way to a 12-3 half, locking Noah “Nifty” Francis’ team out of the first half.
The comeback attempt from Renegades began with their T side pistol, which Nifty took control of as he grabbed four frags for himself. From here, Renegades were able to rack up five more rounds as Gambit struggled to get their economy under control on the CT side. Once their money stabilized, the CIS squad had no issue closing out the match, stringing together the remaining four rounds to claim victory 16-9.
RenegadesGambit| Renegades |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Aaron 'AZR' Ward |
14 - 21 | -7 | 68.8 | 72.0% | 0.94 |
| Justin 'jks' Savage |
14 - 17 | -3 | 60.0 | 72.0% | 0.89 |
| Noah 'Nifty' Francis |
14 - 17 | -3 | 58.7 | 64.0% | 0.85 |
| Karlo 'USTILO' Pivac |
14 - 19 | -5 | 64.3 | 60.0% | 0.77 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
13 - 19 | -6 | 69.9 | 56.0% | 0.72 |
| Gambit |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rustem 'mou' Telepov |
24 - 11 | +13 | 85.0 | 84.0% | 1.56 |
 Mihail 'Dosia' Stolyarov |
21 - 12 | +9 | 92.1 | 80.0% | 1.42 |
| Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov |
19 - 13 | +6 | 91.5 | 88.0% | 1.37 |
| Dauren 'AdreN' Kystaubayev |
17 - 17 | +0 | 82.7 | 64.0% | 1.07 |
| Bektiyar 'fitch' Bahytov |
12 - 16 | -4 | 55.7 | 80.0% | 1.01 |
This surprising stomp allowed Gambit to pull off the miracle of qualifying for the playoffs over the Renegades themselves. With one more point, the CIS squad will face Cloud9 in the round of six tomorrow, while Renegades, despite having the same record as Gambit, will leave the tournament in the 4th seed of Group B.
