FaZe Clan are ESL Pro League S17 champions and claim the Intel Grand Slam S4

FaZe Clan have been crowned ESL Pro League S17 champions after defeating Cloud9 in the Grand Final with a 3-1 score and also claimed the Intel Grand Slam trophy that had eluded them for so long. In addition to the title and the $100,000 earned for winning the EPL S17, the team takes home a juicy $1,000,000 prize thanks to the Intel Grand Slam.

Recall that teams must win four tournaments organized by ESL at the highest competitive level to lift the Intel Grand Slam trophy. FaZe Clan did it in IEM Katowice 2022, ESL Pro League S15, IEM Cologne 2022, and now in ESL Pro League S17.

FaZe Clan scores a resounding victory over Cloud9 and wins $1,200,000 in prize money

Winning an Intel Grand Slam undoubtedly allows the FaZe Clan boys to enter the CS:GO history books. Plus, with the fact that the BLAST.tv Paris Major is the last Major in the CS:GO era; it makes the win much more important, as they were the last to win the Intel Grand Slam in this era.

This is a heartwarming win for FaZe Clan, as the team has been looking for it for many months. There is no doubt that this is a reward for consistency and dedication, especially from Finn “karrigan” Andersen, who, while he did not have the Grand Final he would have dreamed of (speaking of personal performance), knew how to manage his youngsters to lead them to victory strategically.

Grand Final Recap – FaZe Clan vs. Cloud9

Before we start, we cannot fail to mention the great performance of Robin “ropz” Kool (EPL S17 MVP), Helvijs “broky” Saukants, and Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken. These three youngsters showed maturity and determination throughout the tournament, but in the Grand Final, they looked like three veterans like Håvard “rain” Nygaard and karrigan.

The final series, which was played best of five (BO5), was played on Overpass (Cloud9), Inferno (FaZe), Mirage (Cloud9), and Ancient (FaZe).

Overpass

In Overpass, we had a feast and had a taste of the spectacular grand final we would have because, in the first half, both teams showed a really good level of play. However, FaZe Clan took a partial victory 8-7 on the T side.

With that, we all thought that Cloud9 would have difficulty changing sides, as we all know that Overpass is a “CT Side” map. However, the CIS guys managed to wake up and squeeze FaZe Clan at some point in the match, so much so that Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov kept C9’s hopes alive until the end by winning round 28 and making the score 15-12.

Finally, FaZe Clan won the remaining round and took the win on Cloud9’s map pick with a score of 16-12.

Inferno

In Inferno, we noticed something strange from the beginning of the map, as Cloud9 decided to start on the T side, which rarely happens on this map. As a result, FaZe Clan took the opportunity to start with a devastating pace in the first half and take a partial victory of 11-4. Broky performed spectacularly in the A Site, finishing with a K-D of 18-4, 88.4 ADR, and a 1.80 Rating.

Switching sides, FaZe Clan managed to put the map on match point quickly, as they won four of the first six rounds played. Then, cloud9 tried to wake up, but it was too uphill for them, and they ended up falling with a score of 9-16.

FaZe Clan was one map away from lifting the ESL Pro League and Intel Grand Slam trophies with this victory.

Mirage

Cloud9 tried to spoil FaZe Clan’s party on the third map, as it was their second map pick, and they couldn’t afford to lose it. In the first half, FaZe Clan started with a lot of determination to get their championship trophy, but they could not stop Cloud9’s offensives and ended up with a tight 8-7 victory.

In the second half, Abay “HObbit” Khassenov put on the hero’s cape for Cloud9 to lead his team to win nine of the last ten rounds to take the 16-11 victory. With that, C9’s hopes were still intact, and they would try to send the series to the fifth and deciding map.

Ancient

FaZe Clan was crowned in their second map pick, Ancient, after a spectacular demonstration of talent by Twistzz, ropz, and rain, who led the team to victory.

As with the other maps, the first half was hotly contested, as it ended with a close 8-7 victory for FaZe. However, five consecutive winning rounds at the start of the second half would give momentary peace of mind to the North American team. However, Cloud9 woke up and hit back with four consecutive rounds to score 13-11. Finally, FaZe won the last three rounds and claimed their EPL S17 and Intel Grand Slam championship trophies.

Header: ESL