FaZe Clan, the victors of Intel Extreme Katowice 2022, have advanced past Players (the roster of Gambit Esports) to the quarterfinals of ESL Pro League Season 15. The three map brawl ended in a convincing win for the international roster of FaZe.
The bottom side of the EPL Season 15 bracket is highly competitive. The No. 2 ranked FaZe knocked the No. 3 ranked Players out of the tournament, and will advance to the EPL quarterfinals where they will face the No. 1 ranked Natus Vincere, according to HLTV’s world rankings. Friday’s showdown between FaZe and Na’Vi could very well decide the outcome of the entire event.
Natus Vincere are coming in hot after a weak showing at IEM Katowice. They advanced through the EPL Season 15 group stage in 5-0 fashion, whereas FaZe dropped two games. The match between the two titans of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will take place at 1 p.m. ET on Friday.
FaZe topple Players to reach EPL quarterfinals
FaZe defeated Players in a tough best-of-three the went the distance. Despite the back-and-forth nature of the series, none of the maps — Inferno (16-4 for FaZe), Mirage (5-16 for Players), Overpass (16-9 for FaZe) — were especially close. FaZe simply recovered from the crushing defeat on Mirage, and their CT side of Overpass proved to be too much for Players to surmount.
“They adapted very well for us,” Players’s Abai “HObbit” Hasenov said. “They just smashed us and we couldn’t do anything.”
HObbit also shouted out FaZe Clan’s recent shuffle that saw Robin “ropz” Kool joining the team.
“They’re the number two team in the world, and I agree with that 100%,” he said. “They are playing very well. They did a good shuffle with ropz coming to their roster.”
The core FaZe trio of ropz, Helvijs “broky” Saukants and Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken continued to impress in their win. Finn “karrigan” Andersen’s T side calling was also a highlight of the series.
