FaZe have moved up to a 2-0 record in Group C of ESL Pro League Season 14 after taking down Evil Geniuses in a closely contested series, continuing their good form after besting mousesports in their opening match.

EG came out the victors of an Inferno opener that went the distance, but FaZe responded in kind with a dominant showing on Mirage to tie up the series. Although EG were the ones leading at the start of Dust2, the latter portion of the map was all FaZe, who also put a halt to a small comeback effort at the end of the map to take the series over the line.

“Doing as good in Cologne as we did, we got a lot of confidence, that will of course translate into our online form as well,” Håvard “⁠rain⁠” Nygaard explained in an interview after the match. “Our confidence was at an all-time low before Cologne, we kept losing matches and couldn’t win a single series no matter what, so getting a good result there really helps us now with that confidence, like how we want to play. Especially for the younger players as well, we finally feel winning in this team, which we didn’t feel for a while.”

FaZe will take on fnatic in their next match

The series kicked off on Evil Geniuses‘ pick of Inferno, with the North American-European combine securing a pistol win only to fall to a quad-kill round from Russel “⁠Twistzz⁠” Van Dulken on a FaZe force-buy. A 3-1 lead went the way of FaZe before Michał “⁠MICHU⁠” Müller secured a 1vs3 clutch to get his team back in the running, and from their EG were able to remain contentious in the half, ending just one round shy of FaZe as the sides swapped over.

A USP-S ace from Vincent “⁠Brehze⁠” Cayonte gave EG early control for the second time on the map, and despite once again falling to a force-buy from FaZe, Damian “⁠daps⁠” Steele‘s crew were able to counter in the ensuing round to regain their footing. From there, rounds for FaZe were few and far between as Evil Geniuses were able to retake and defend bombsites to attain match point, shutting down a last-ditch comeback effort from Finn “⁠karrigan⁠” Andersen‘s side to take the map over the line.

FaZe responded in firm fashion on Mirage, running rampant on the T side for a flawless streak of seven rounds to open the map. EG answered back with three of their own, but only managed to add one more to their tally at the end of the half as FaZe took pole position with an 11-4 lead. The gap closed ever so slightly following the break, but multi-kill rounds from Olof “⁠olofmeister⁠” Kajbjer and Helvijs “⁠broky⁠” Saukants put an end to any hopes of an EG sweep to the series, allowing FaZe to force a Dust2 decider.

An on-fire Owen “⁠oBo⁠” Schlatter helped Evil Geniuses lead from the front-foot on the final map, with the 18-year-old boasting a 14-1 K-D en route to a 7-3 lead for his side; however, FaZe were able to claw back, reducing the deficit to just one round by halftime.

The second half of the map saw FaZe regain the upper hand, with multi-kills from karrigan proving key in helping his team to a 14-10 lead. It seemed EG were on the comeback trail as Brehze scored a pair of triple-kill rounds, with an additional B bombsite hit forcing FaZe to save, and granting EG 13 rounds. The saved rifle and AWP came back to haunt daps and company though, and the two guns proved key in shutting down a long hit to grant FaZe match point, which they converted into a series victory in the ensuing round.

The Group C standings now look as follows:

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Source: https://www.hltv.org/news/32254/faze-survive-eg-scare-in-esl-pro-league