FaZe have secured their spot in the IEM Sydney semi-finals after besting fnatic 2-0 (Cache 16-8, Mirage 16-14).

Starting as Terrorists on the opening map, Cache, FaZe got off on the right foot with a pistol round going their way. The first two gunrounds saw the Swedes defend the A bombsite without much trouble, but the European side replied with a miraculous round victory on B with just one P250 and four Glocks.

After two more successful B attacks, the momentum swung back in favor of FaZe, who were leading 8-2 and were looking to establish a dominant half. However, fnatic put their foot down and secured four out of the remaining five rounds, with Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell putting up two key doubles along the way.

FaZe denied fnatic a comeback in the first quarter-final in Sydney

In the following pistol round, the Swedes opted for a connector split to B, where Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács was waiting with open arms and clinched three kills to help his team secure an 11-6 lead. Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström's triple on A pushed the score to 14-6, at which point fnatic switched up the pace and added two rounds to their score. It was all for naught, though, as another triple from the Slovakian sniper gave FaZe match point, which they quickly turned into a victory on map one at 16-8.

The kick-off on Mirage saw Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim secure the pistol round with a quick triple in a 3v3 afterplant situation, while Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač replied with a triple of his own in the second-round forcebuy. FaZe capitalized on that, stringing a total of eight rounds together for an 8-1 lead. Switching up the pace, fnatic finally found a way to penetrate the defense with a quick B attack and managed to secure four rounds, before GuardiaN closed the half with three pick-offs at 10-5.

Winning a 5v5 afterplant situation on A in the second pistol, Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen & co. powered to a 13-5 lead and soon found themselves at match point after NiKo put up a quick triple in the first gunround. There was still life left in fnatic, who started mounting a comeback and slowly but surely chipped away at FaZe's extensive lead until it was 15-14, when the European squad put the final nail in the coffin with a full A execute, as Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard and NiKo combined for five kills.

IEM Sydney 2018Best of 3 FaZeMatchpage 2 0 4th May 2018 fnatic 16Cache 8 16Mirage 14 News tags:

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsGuardiaN	47 - 28	+19	78.4	1.31
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	46 - 33	+13	82.7	1.26
Richard 'Xizt' LandströmXizt	38 - 33	+5	80.1	1.16
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	35 - 34	+1	80.7	1.07
Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan	34 - 38	-4	70.1	1.01

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	39 - 42	-3	101.9	1.13
Maikil 'Golden' SelimGolden	37 - 42	-5	79.0	0.93
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	34 - 40	-6	71.9	0.85
Jonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonLekr0	26 - 38	-12	59.7	0.78
Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW	29 - 38	-9	57.7	0.75

IEM Sydney 2018Best of 3 FaZeMatchpage 2 0 4th May 2018 fnatic 16Cache 8 16Mirage 14

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsGuardiaN	47 - 28	+19	78.4	1.31
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	46 - 33	+13	82.7	1.26
Richard 'Xizt' LandströmXizt	38 - 33	+5	80.1	1.16
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	35 - 34	+1	80.7	1.07
Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan	34 - 38	-4	70.1	1.01

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	39 - 42	-3	101.9	1.13
Maikil 'Golden' SelimGolden	37 - 42	-5	79.0	0.93
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	34 - 40	-6	71.9	0.85
Jonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonLekr0	26 - 38	-12	59.7	0.78
Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW	29 - 38	-9	57.7	0.75

Richard 'Xizt' Landström Age: 27 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1313 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács Age: 26 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 1162 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.62 Maikil 'Golden' Selim Age: 24 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 367 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.69 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard Age: 23 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 865 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.69 Jesper 'JW' Wecksell Age: 23 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1323 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.68 fnatic #3 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonMaikil 'Golden' Selim FaZe #4 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenRichard 'Xizt' LandströmLadislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' Nygaard Finn 'karrigan' Andersen Age: 28 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 0.95 Maps played: 1227 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.68 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 21 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 840 KPR: 0.81 DPR: 0.68