The grand final matchup is set for the Roobet Cup 2022. At 1 p.m. ET on Thursday, FaZe Clan and BIG will battle it out for $150,000 — the bulk of the $250,000 prize pool.
The substantial prize pool and propitious timing of the Roobet Cup, organized by Relog Media, attracted some big names. Few will be surprised to see that FaZe Clan, the world no. 1 team, booked their ticket to the grand final despite a shaky start to the tournament. In contrast, the no. 11 rated BIG are the story of the event.
Both FaZe and BIG began in Group A. BIG eked out two wins over FaZe and Entropiq to win the group. FaZe rallied from their loss to BIG by beating OG and escaping the double elimination group. More surprises awaited in the playoffs. BIG beat Eternal Fire and then posted a massive win over Cloud9 in the semifinals. What’s more, they did it with a stand-in.
FaZe took a 2-0 win over forZe before matching up against Astralis in the semifinals. Despite losing the first map, FaZe brought it back with two convincing wins to reach the grand final.
Roobet Cup grandfinals
In another event, particularly a LAN tournament, FaZe would be heavily favored to lift the trophy. At the Roobet Cup, the grand final may be more hotly contested. For starters, BIG have already notched a best of three victory over the world no. 1. FaZe also don’t look to be at their best, perhaps suffering for the online setting of the event.
The story of the grand final may end up being the AWP duel between Florian “syrsoN” Rische and Helvijs “broky” Saukants, two of the top performers at the Roobet Cup. SyrsoN has struggled to find star-level impact in recent months, but there’s no trace of weakness in his play this event. And broky is what fans have come to expect of him: an all-star.
The battle of brains between two experienced in-game leaders — Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz and Finn “karrigan” Andersen — will also be pivotal in the grand final. Expect the team with the cleaner T sides to prevail and snag the trophy.
