FaZe Yet To Miss A Grand Final Since CS2, Can Astralis Prevent Their Streak?

The highly anticipated rematch between FaZe Clan and Astralis is set to take place in the IEM Chengdu 2024 Semi-Final. In their previous confrontation in the Group Stage, Astralis came out on top with a dominant 2-0 victory.

New Astralis Roster Paying Off Already

The Danish organization failed to qualify for the PGL Copenhagen Major, missing out on playing in front of their home crowd. Following the early exit from the RMR, Astralis made a significant roster change, benching former in-game leader Benjamin “blameF” Bremer and shouldering the leadership role onto Nicolai “device” Reedtz. They have also brought in ex-Monte prospect Alexander “br0” Bro. 

Community members thought the fresh iteration of Astralis would be a downgrade, but the Danes have proved them wrong. The newly formed roster bulldozed their way through FaZe Clan and Virtus.Pro, two of the best teams in the world, in very convincing fashion to receive a free ticket to the Semi-Final. 

It is worth noting that three Astralis players are among the top five performers in the Group Stage:

• Martin “stavn” Lund – 1.61 rating in 5 maps
• Nikolai “dev1ce” Reedtz – 1.45 rating in 5 maps
• Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov” 1.35 rating in 8 maps
• Evgeniy “FL1T” Lebedev – 1.35 rating in 5 maps
• Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard – 1.35 rating in 5 maps

We’ve got 3 players in the Top 5 Rating 2.0 at IEM Chengdu 🔥 pic.twitter.com/n8xzOhyr75

— Astralis Counter-Strike (@AstralisCS) April 11, 2024

The three star players on the team are living up to their expectations, with stavn putting up monstrous numbers. 

FaZe Start Their Tournament Slow, As Usual

Finn “karrigan” Andersen and the ship are known to be slow starters in tournaments. They usually lose matches early and slowly gain momentum to win when it matters. This formula has worked for FaZe, as the founding fathers of Counter-Strike: 2 have reached the Grand Final of every tournament they have played in since the sequel’s release. 

After losing to Astralis in the Group Stage, FaZe breezed past Cloud9 and FlyQuest to set up a match against their former teammate, Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken and Team Liquid. Though the match was closer than anticipated, the experienced roster could close it out in FaZe Clan fashion. 

However, falling back on karrigan’s underwhelming performance in the PGL Copenhagen Major Grand Final, the 33-year-old has been showing apparent levels of inconsistency, finishing the Team Liquid series with a KDR of 29-58 and a 0.60 rating. 

Not funny game at all im mentally drained as f***, only thing I’m proud of how I reset for 3rd map. Would have been a devastating loss if we didn’t go to semi finals 😢

— karrigan (@karriganCSGO) April 12, 2024

Will Astralis Manage FaZe Clan On The Main Stage?

The FaZe roster is known to show up in front of a crowd as if it’s their comfort space. Though the Astralis trophy-winning Astralis players have plenty of experience on the stage, they have not made a deep run in ages, and we could very well see some rustiness or nerves show.

Many community members appreciate the clash between the two IGLs, karrigan and dev1ce. Both players are reading the game extremely well, and a fierce battle of mind games is to be expected.

watching the faze vs astralis series, this is truly some of the finest IGLing i’ve ever seen in my life. Imagine putting this device guy in a 2ndary caller role… I bet he’d make even a mid-tier IGL seem like a super genius with his amazing reads and mid round adjustments.

— voo “cs2” csgo (@vooCSGO) April 10, 2024

Should Astralis hand FaZe a victory in the series, karrigan would receive a nice birthday present, as he would turn 34 on the day of the Grand Final. 

Header: Astralis Twitter