Esports Update: The Hard Rock Hotel in Cancun, Mexico was the location this past weekend as FaZe Clan fought tooth and nail to claim first place, and a $250,000 prize, at the Esports Championship Series Season 4.
FaZe Clan the bookies’ favourite
FaZe Clan came in as the overwhelming favourite, given their ability to win essentially every tournament they enter without the presence of SK Gaming, who did not qualify for this event. The road to victory, however, was more difficult than anticipated, beginning with a narrow 16-12 victory over Team Liquid on Mirage to open Group B play. That match included an absolutely absurd 40-kill game from NiKo, breaking the record for kills in a major game without overtime. From there, FaZe squared off against Astralis, who are considered the third best team in the world when they have their full lineup – but on this occasion, they were forced to use RUBINO as a stand-in for dev1ce due to a medical issue.
In a shocking turn of events, Astralis pulled out the 16-13 victory on Overpass, one of FaZe’s best maps, with RUBINO topping the scoreboard at 32 kills. It was a stunning performance as it is incredibly rare for a stand-in to perform well at all, let alone lead both the team and the entire scoreboard in kills. This forced FaZe into a do-or-die best-of-three with Cloud9, arguably the second-best team at the tournament given Astralis’ stand-in, to reach playoffs.
Opening on Mirage, Cloud9’s pick, FaZe claimed 11 first-half CT rounds. While Cloud9 claimed the first three rounds of their own CT side, it was all FaZe from there, as FaZe grabbed five of six to take the quick and easy 16-8 win. Overpass was little different, as FaZe dominated the CT side, grabbing 11 of the 15 rounds. While Cloud9 did show some fight on their own CT side, FaZe continually ground out their T rounds, leading to the eventual 16-11 victory.
Rain continue to impress
In the semifinals, FaZe found themselves against Fnatic, who have slowly been performing better and better with new in-game leader Golden, coupled with a resurgence in form from KRIMZ. FaZe showed their dominance on the first half of map one, Overpass, amassing thirteen rounds for the one-sided 13-2 half, primarily off the back of rain’s defensive holds within the B-site. Fnatic never recovered, and FaZe quickly wrapped up the 16-7 win. Rain had an insane game, grabbing 35 kills and would have almost certainly broken the record for kills in a more competitive game.
The second map of Train was once again about FaZe’s solid CT defence. After gathering a fairly mediocre six rounds on the T side, FaZe proceeded to only lose two rounds on their CT side, giving them the 16-11 win. Rain once again led the way at 26 kills, this being less surprising given his regular top-tier performance on this map where he is considered of the best players in the world.
Mousesports an unexpected finalist
The Finals saw FaZe Clan against a surprising mousesports squad, who upset Astralis in the semifinals. In one of the best finals of the year, the best-of-three opened up on Nuke, by far the least-played map in the map pool. After securing the first three rounds of the T side, FaZe struggled to get anything going, as mousesports rolled on the CT side with an 11-1 run for an 11-4 half. FaZe also had a dominant CT side, but the final round went the way of mousesports for the 16-14 victory.
Oskar led the way for mousesports, dropping an impressive 31 kills. The second map of Inferno saw each team claim eight T rounds and 7 CT rounds, with mousesports winning two of the last three rounds to force overtime. One overtime was not enough as each team split 3-3, forcing double OT, where FaZe Clan finally looked dominant, winning every round on the way to the 22-18 thrilling win. Rain outpaced oskar by one kill, securing 32 kills, a surprisingly low number yet everyone on each team was fairly even, to top the scoreboard.
The final map of Mirage essentially turned into suNny against olofmeister, as each player had an absolutely insane performance. Each team secured a few rounds before the opponent answered with a run of their own, with mousesports claiming the final two rounds of their CT side to force overtime. While suNny eventually led the way with an incredible 41 kills, FaZe clan narrowly edged mousesports by claiming the final round, giving them the 19-17 win and the title.
It was too close for comfort for FaZe Clan, given their expected domination of the tournament. Rain deservedly won the MVP of the event, as he led the way in almost every map for FaZe. One surprise was mousesports’ run, and it will be interesting to see if they can continue to perform in the New Year.
