OG send FaZe to Last Chance Stage in Copenhagen

OG emerged victorious over FaZe, 2-1 in their BLAST Premier Fall Groups knockout stage match. The Nemanja “⁠nexa⁠” Isaković-led squad pulled off the comeback on Ancient and took the first map 16-10, dropped their opponents’ map pick 9-16, before ultimately clinching the series 16-11 on Inferno. OG will face off against Astralis on Saturday for a spot at the BLAST Fall Final.

In the deciding map, Inferno, Shahar “⁠flameZ⁠” Shushan delivered a series-winning performance for his team. The 19-year-old provided crucial firepower on both sides and came home with 24 kills and a 1.43 rating.

Helvijs “⁠broky⁠” Saukants and Russel “⁠Twistzz⁠” Van Dulken were FaZe‘s most impactful players throughout the whole series, with the pair dropping 1.23 ratings across all three maps. FaZe‘s defeat to OG means they must win a best-of-three in the Last Chance Stage to directly qualify for the BLAST Fall Final in November.

OG scored the first two rounds to open Ancient, but a 1vs2 clutch from broky in the third gave FaZe the eco-round win and helped them level the game in the fourth, 2-2. Finn “⁠karrigan⁠” Andersen‘s squad kept going and built up a 7-2 lead over OG, whose slow-paced offense struggled to keep FaZe‘s defense at bay. nexa‘s side found their footing behind more organized utility usage and solid fragging across the board late in the half. This gave OG firm control of the last six rounds, which nexa‘s men translated into a narrow 8-7 lead by halftime.

Coming out of the break, OG rode the momentum from the first half and established a 12-7 lead thanks to impactful kills from Abdul “⁠degster⁠” Gasanov and Adam “⁠NEOFRAG⁠” Zouhar. FaZe finally broke their opponents’ winning streak and reduced their deficit to 10-12 after a three-round spree, in which Håvard “⁠rain⁠” Nygaard even dropped an ace in the 21st round. Despite FaZe‘s best efforts, their opponents’ early round presence constantly proved to be a thorn in the side of karrigan‘s crew as OG emerged victorious on Ancient, 16-10.

FaZe‘s dynamic playstyle constantly kept OG guessing early on Mirage, as the karrigan-led side established superior map control and outgunned their opponents to go up 8-1. Facing yet another massive deficit, OG were able to string together four of the last six rounds of the half and lessened FaZe‘s advantage to five ahead of the switch. NEOFRAG was unable to bring his defensive prowess from the first game over to Mirage, as the Czech rifler only attained a 0.55 rating at the end of the first.

flameZ had a fantastic game on Inferno and attained a 1.43 rating

Just like in the first half, FaZe won the pistol but were immediately set back on team economy by OG‘s success in the following round. nexa‘s crew took advantage of their opponents’ inferior weapons and scored four straight, which reduced their deficit to 9-11. On the brink of another comeback, FaZe wasted no time in shutting down OG‘s advances into site and wrapped up Mirage 16-9 to force a decider on Inferno. Both Robin “⁠ropz⁠” Kool and Twistzz stepped up huge as the defenders and drove their team to victory behind 14 and 10 CT side kills, respectively.

Both teams found themselves level after eight rounds, with neither FaZe nor OG able to create a significant lead early. nexa and company started to pick up steam through their well-coordinated pushes into site, which helped them score three of the next four to amass an 8-5 lead. FaZe didn’t back down in the final rounds of the first period and shut down OG‘s B site pushes to enter the break trailing by just one.

Back-to-back triple-kills from flameZ and nexa opened the second half as OG extended their lead to 10-7. FaZe quickly negated their opponents’ progress and brought the score back to within one, but were unable to get past flameZ‘s A site hold as OG recovered their advantage and held a 13-9 lead. FaZe showed a few signs of life in the dying embers of the match but in the end it wasn’t enough to overcome OG who took home Inferno, 16-11, and the series 2-1.