FaZe Clan and Cloud9 advance to ESL Pro League S17 Grand Final

After two spectacular semifinal series, we have the two teams that will fight for the champion trophy in the ESL Pro League S17, FaZe Clan and Cloud9.

A day full of action and emotions, we lived in the semifinals of the EPL S17, where FaZe managed to beat one of their historical rivals, NaVi. On the other hand, Cloud9 did the same with an ENCE that came emboldened after leaving on the way for two great teams such as G2 Esports and Team Vitality.

Cloud9 puts an end to ENCE’s dream and advances to the Grand Final

ENCE arrived confident in this semifinal match after eliminating G2 Esports and Team Vitality, two favorite teams in this tournament. However, they faced a relentless Cloud9 with Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov, Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov, and Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov at their best.

The semifinal between ENCE and C9 was played on Ancient (ENCE), Overpass (C9), and Vertigo (decider).

Ancient

ENCE showed great power in their map pick, Ancient, as they managed to deploy all their available arsenal by Pavle “Maden” Bošković, who finished the map with 103.5 ADR and a 1.53 Rating. While it is true that the first half was very evenly matched, as it ended with an 8-7 favorable to C9, ENCE hit back to take an excellent 16-10 victory. There is no doubt that this victory made ENCE dream of a place in the Grand Final.

Overpass

In the second map, Cloud9, with the help of Ax1le, managed to even the series 1-1 thanks to an excellent level and, above all, team play.

ENCE started the map very strong and confidently and managed to take the first half with a score of 9-6. However, on the T side, they had many problems accessing the Sites, as Ax1le and Abay “HObbit” Khassenov were responsible for closing all options. As a result, C9 evened the series with an excellent 16-12 victory.

Vertigo

Finally, the teams moved to Vertigo to define the first qualifier for the Grand Final of this EPL S17.

In this map, ENCE could not do much against the inspiration that the C9 boys were showing. Like the second map, the first half ended with a score of 9-6, but this time in favor of C9; however, the team did not give ENCE any option to return to the scoreboard. Nafany, sh1ro, and Ax1le stopped all ENCE’s approaches in this decisive map and took the victory 16-9.

FaZe Clan, with a reverse sweep, eliminates NaVi and qualifies for the Grand Final

One of the most spectacular rivalries we have witnessed in recent years, NaVi vs. FaZe Clan, gave us a very intense series in these semifinals. However, as has been the case in recent years, FaZe managed to take the victory with a score of 2-1.

The semifinal between NaVi and FaZe was played in Ancient (NaVi), FaZe (Nuke), and Mirage (decider).

Ancient

NaVi started this series with a steady pace from the first half, as they managed to crush FaZe on the T-side with a spectacular score of 13-2. Undoubtedly, this was a very hard blow for FaZe, as coming back from 14 rounds down to NaVi is not easy at all; besides, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev was at his best, as he had 96.6 ADR and 1.60 Rating. Finally, NaVi took a comfortable 16-7 victory that made them dream of advancing to a new Grand Final after several tournaments without achieving it.

Nuke

In Nuke, FaZe Clan began a spectacular comeback in the series. With a crushing 10-5 on the T side and commanded by Helvijs “broky” Saukants (106.7 ADR and 1.60 Rating), they managed to give a first blow to NaVi that, as we have observed lately, is a team that, when they are overcome they show some desperation.

FaZe took the opportunity to keep hitting NaVi on the turnaround, and they managed a comfortable 16-9 win to even the series 1-1.

Mirage

Finally, we come to Mirage, a map that any team can win in these instances and, this time, it was FaZe Clan who managed to do it comfortably.

It is very difficult to determine who was the best FaZe player on this map, as they all played at a spectacular level except Finn “karrigan” Andersen, who finished with a more than 1.30 Rating.

As we mentioned, NaVi is a team that is playing a lot with emotions in recent times, and when they fall in a game with an open result, they tend to lower their arms. However, we can’t say that the team gave up, neither more nor less, because they tried by any means, but you could see some desperation from NaVi in Mirage.

FaZe took advantage of the situation to take an excellent 16-9 victory and thus sneak into the ESL Pro League S17 Grand Final against Cloud9.

Header: ESL