FaZe to StarSeries semis over G2

FaZe are through to the semi-finals at the SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 Finals after defeating G2 on three maps (16-7 on Inferno, 11-16 on Nuke and 16-10 on Train).

The series began on Inferno, G2's map pick, where Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli opened the game up with an ace to give FaZe the first round of the game. G2 then responded thanks to a sloppy A hold from FaZe, with Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro getting three kills to his name, but the European mixture pegged back and secured a two-round lead.

Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub won a 1vs3 clutch with a p250 in the following round after yet another blunder from FaZe, with allu responding with a clutch of his own. It was a scrappy affair at this point, and it looked like G2 would stamp their authority on the game after winning three rounds in a row, but then FaZe upped the pace, winning five rounds straight before the Frenchmen took the final round thanks to some key AWP tags by Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon.

Up 9-6, FaZe picked up where they left off and won the first five rounds to increase their lead to 14-6. With a trio of kills, shox helped G2 to overturn a 3vs5 situation, but FaZe would instantly counter that round, resetting their opponents' economy and locking down the map at 16-7.

FaZe beat G2 in a series in which all pistol rounds went their way

Nuke began with FaZe winning the pistol round on the Terrorist side after coming out on top of a brawl in the trophy room. G2 would hit back in the third round thanks to two kills from Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire with an AK-47 he had picked up the round before.

G2 put together a small run of rounds and jumped out to a 4-2 lead, but had to call a timeout shortly afterwards as FaZe won two in a row, the first of which in a 1v2 situation won by Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač. The French lineup would continuously shut down FaZe in the next rounds, closing out the half with a 9-6 lead.

FaZe got out of the gate looking scary and secured the pistol round as Terrorist - maintaining their 100% pistol success in the series. Once again, G2 hit back on a force buy, but this time around they failed to follow it up as Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen clutched a 1vs2 situation.

It looked like FaZe would exert a grip on the game, but apEX had a different plan and picked up a quad kill to give G2 their 11th round of the map. FaZe would string three rounds together to cut the deficit to 11-13, but one last push from G2 was all it took to break the European mixture's resistance and take the series to a third map.

apEX led the charge on Nuke

Train began in the same manner as the previous two maps - with FaZe winning the pistol round. This time around, they would win both anti-ecos and a gun round on top of that, forcing G2 to call a tactical pause at 0-4.

G2 won the next gun round but could not follow it up, which severely dented their economy. Facing a considerable gap, G2 took a huge gamble and went on a force-buy, which luckily for them paid off. bodyy was then gifted a 1vs2 clutch, but FaZe were not going to let a comeback happen and won four of the next six rounds to take a 10-5 halftime lead.

FaZe further added to their lead by winning the pistol round as CT without losing a single man. With their backs against the wall, G2 were once again successful in a force-buy round, with shox racking up three kills with a tec-9.

Rounds then went back and forth, wreaking the economy of both teams, with G2 eventually winning three in a row to bring the scoreline to 9-12, powered by some strong individual rounds from Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt. But a comeback was not on the cards as FaZe won four of the next five rounds to close out the series and advance to the semi-finals.

PotM: Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli was the man of the match after strong displays on both Inferno and Train, getting countless picks, even onto Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub, and also winning key clutches on the opening map.

SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 FinalsBest of 3 G2Matchpage 1 2 8th April 2017 FaZe 7Inferno 16 16Nuke 11 10Train 16

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Aleksi 'allu' Jalliallu	63 - 49	+14	88.7	1.32
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	53 - 44	+9	77.3	1.19
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	62 - 52	+10	83.3	1.16
Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan	51 - 53	-2	69.2	1.03
Fabien 'kioShiMa' FieykioShiMa	42 - 51	-9	70.1	0.99

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Richard 'shox' Papillonshox	54 - 51	+3	75.0	1.06
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	56 - 56	0	74.3	0.99
Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS	53 - 54	-1	67.8	0.98
Alexandre 'bodyy' Pianarobodyy	44 - 57	-13	73.7	0.88
Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittNBK-	42 - 54	-12	66.8	0.86

Nathan 'NBK-' Schmitt Age: 22 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1111 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.66 Alexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro Age: 20 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 348 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.68 Aleksi 'allu' Jalli Age: 24 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 874 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.65 Richard 'shox' Papillon Age: 24 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1045 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.66 Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire Age: 24 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 944 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.71 Finn 'karrigan' Andersen Age: 26 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 933 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.69 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 20 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 546 KPR: 0.82 DPR: 0.70 Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub Age: 21 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 1002 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.63