FaZe eliminate Na`Vi; to ELEAGUE Major Boston grand final
With SK claiming victory over fnatic in the final quarterfinal matchup, FaZe were left to fend off Na`Vi as the semifinal matches commenced. The European side of FaZe chose to kick off the series on Inferno, which would be followed by Na`Vi's pick of Mirage. Train sat in the sidelines should a decider match be needed.
Nikola "NiKo" Kovač opened the series by securing three frags in the CT pistol round to take the lead for his team. With Na`Vi forcing up in the ensuing round, the CIS squad managed to do damage to the FaZe economy by dropping three players, but were unable to convert the round. Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko chose to call for another force-buy, which proved to bear no fruit as FaZe squashed Na`Vi's economy.
This made Na`Vi's damage in the second round pointless as FaZe farmed kills with SMGs for two rounds, taking minimal damage. The European side swiftly moved their way up to six rounds before a B site execute finally allowed Na`Vi a round of their own, with Egor "flamie" Vasilyev clutching a one-on-two for his team.
A reset was on the cards as the European squad crushed Na`Vi out of the ensuing round, following up by taking their eighth round win to strip the CIS side of all residual cash. A pistol and Mac-10 buy put Na`Vi back in the running as Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev clutched a one-on-two of his own.
This second clutch reinvigorated Zeus & co. as they began finding openings of their own, picking apart FaZe's defense to lock the Europeans out of the remainder of the half. Initially down 1-8, Na`Vi closed the gap between the two sides to start their CT half at 7-8.
A fast bracket-side hit from FaZe in the second pistol round added another to their tally, and once again heavy losses in the ensuing round left just one player alive on their team. The first gun round offered Na`Vi a chance to begin a streak of rounds on their CT side, but they were unable to chain wins together after a single round went their way.
Their economy broken, Na`Vi's force-buy also failed to shut down FaZe's aggression; however, victory in a save round from the CTs gave them one final opportunity to fight back. FaZe wasn't to be stopped as they repeatedly hit the B site to close out the map, finding the final three rounds with little difficulty.
Mirage was next up to bat, and began with FaZe taking the initial flurry of frags. Despite positioning themselves to take yet another pistol round, s1mple stepped up to clutch another round in a one-on-three. Finally Na`Vi were granted economic control in the series, and took the standard three round lead.
The situation changed once FaZe could purchase guns of their own, and two gun rounds easily went their way as they tore apart Na`Vi's B defense. With Na`Vi now on pistols, Zeus stepped up for his team by finding four CZ75 frags, completely outmaneuvering NiKo for his final kill.
The trend continued from the CIS squad — they once again were unable to chain their round wins together, and this time an A site execute called by Finn "karrigan" Anderson ensured that FaZe could claim the lead for themselves. Three rounds went in the favor of FaZe before three kills from firebox by s1mple granted Na`Vi their fifth round, but yet again Na`Vi failed to follow up. This allowed the Europeans to easily bring the half to a close by securing the final five rounds.
The trend didn't die in the second half as Na`Vi managed a second pistol round victory, following up by attempting to rush B and getting shut down by Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács. Although Na`Vi traded back a round, FaZe once again stopped them from taking two in a row.
With their economy crushed for what seemed like the tenth time, Na`Vi stood little chance as the individuals on FaZe stepped up. The final two rounds of the match saw GuardiaN clutch out two one-on-twos over his former squad to put FaZe into the grand finals of the ELEAGUE Boston Major.
FaZeNatus Vincere| FaZe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač |
43 - 23 | +20 | 98.9 | 81.2% | 1.51 |
 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard |
37 - 30 | +7 | 101.2 | 87.5% | 1.47 |
 Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer |
40 - 30 | +10 | 83.4 | 85.4% | 1.34 |
 Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács |
39 - 27 | +12 | 73.5 | 85.4% | 1.33 |
 Finn 'karrigan' Andersen |
32 - 29 | +3 | 64.0 | 72.9% | 1.05 |
| Natus Vincere |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev |
40 - 39 | +1 | 85.8 | 68.8% | 1.07 |
 Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev |
29 - 40 | -11 | 67.9 | 60.4% | 0.82 |
| Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev |
21 - 37 | -16 | 59.6 | 70.8% | 0.79 |
| Danylo 'Zeus' Teslenko |
23 - 38 | -15 | 63.2 | 56.2% | 0.74 |
| Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov |
26 - 37 | -11 | 62.3 | 58.3% | 0.73 |
The last match of the day will see Cloud9 make their first semifinal appearance at a Major as they take on SK, all to determine who will face FaZe in tomorrow's Major grand finals.
