FaZe falter in qualification game
European juggernaut FaZe missed out on the chance to lock in their spot for the Legends stage following their 2-1 loss to ENCE. Taking down Monte and paiN en route to their showdown with ENCE, FaZe looked to have brushed off the rust that was evident at the RMR but they will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the qualifier where they went from 2-0 to 2-3. With Liquid and Complexity both now staring down the barrel of elimination, Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken remains in the best position to give NA something to cheer about in the next stage with a 2-1 record now.
Opening up on Overpass, FaZe looked to be breezing through their own map pick as they stormed out to an early 6-1 lead on the T-side. Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer's side slowly managed to claw it back on their defensive side, pulling it back to a respectable enough 9-6 half heading onto their offensive.
FaZe began to pull away once again at the start of the second half, winning the pistol round and stretching their lead out to 14-6. It looked as if FaZe was going to embrace their inner NA nature, slowly starting to choke their lead on the brink of match point with the most ridiculous throw being a Guy "NertZ" Iluz 1v3 while he was trapped in water. The choke was not to come to fruition, with FaZe closing out 16-12.
ENCE looked far more comfortable on their own map pick of Nuke. Opening up on the T-side, ENCE utterly dominated their higher-ranked foes after losing the opening three rounds, they would only drop one more round for the remainder of the half. Pavle "maden" Bošković stylishly closed out the half with a 1v4, donning the AWP on the lower site for the final two kills.
In a reverse of Overpass, it was FaZe who would be the team that would claw their way back into the map in the second half. Methodically working through their T-side, FaZe worked their way back into the game by only conceding the odd round which would be followed up with a FaZe win and coming within two rounds of tying things up at 13-11. It was not meant to be, however, as ENCE closed out 16-13.
FaZe came out of the gate strong on Anubis, starting on the preferred T-side and winning the second-round force buy after losing the pistol. ENCE appeared the more solid of the two sides after conceding three of the first four rounds, pushing on to a 7-4 lead before momentum swung back to FaZe who narrowed the deficit down to go in at halftime narrowly down 8-7.
Finn "karrigan" Andersen opened the half with a 3k on the pistol for FaZe, but it would be ENCE that took control from that point onward. Going on to win the following six rounds to give themselves a 14-8 lead. With nothing more to offer, FaZe failed to find an answer and ENCE earned their spot in the Legends stage with a 16-8 win.
ENCEFaZe| ENCE |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Pavle 'Maden' Bošković |
60 - 52 | +8 | 80.9 | 67.9% | 1.14 |
 Guy 'NertZ' Iluz |
56 - 53 | +3 | 74.2 | 71.6% | 1.09 |
 Paweł 'dycha' Dycha |
49 - 54 | -5 | 80.0 | 72.8% | 1.03 |
 Marco 'Snappi' Pfeiffer |
52 - 53 | -1 | 76.4 | 70.4% | 1.02 |
 Álvaro 'SunPayus' García |
52 - 52 | +0 | 59.1 | 74.1% | 0.97 |
| FaZe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Robin 'ropz' Kool |
80 - 50 | +30 | 103.7 | 75.3% | 1.50 |
 Helvijs 'broky' Saukants |
60 - 50 | +10 | 70.8 | 76.5% | 1.14 |
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
41 - 54 | -13 | 60.0 | 71.6% | 0.89 |
 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard |
42 - 58 | -16 | 60.4 | 72.8% | 0.87 |
| Finn 'karrigan' Andersen |
39 - 59 | -20 | 66.6 | 65.4% | 0.86 |
