G2 and FaZe faced off for the first time since the high-profile transfer of NiKo to the Berlin-based organization, with the Bosnian player and his new teammates securing a 2-0 win over FaZe. This victory puts Damien “⁠maLeK⁠” Marcel’s men through to the IEM Beijing-Haidian semi-finals, where they will face the winner of the Astralis vs. Natus Vincere bout, while FaZe will now set their sights on the upcoming BLAST Premier Fall Showdown, where they will go up against MIBR in the first round.

The match started with FaZe poised to win the first map of the series, G2’s pick, Dust2, to take the high ground going into their own selection, but they threw a 14-7 lead that would come back to haunt them. G2’s 9-6 lead in the second half of Mirage and a forcebuy victory in the second round on the attack, which ended up in a 10-7 lead and an economic advantage, proved too much for FaZe to deal with as they fell behind, losing the second map 8-16 as G2 secured their presence in the next round of the bracket.

NiKo spearheaded G2’s comeback effort on the CT side of Dust2

A triple kill by Håvard “⁠rain⁠” Nygaard in a B defense on the first map of the series, Dust2, got FaZe ahead. G2 won their first round with rifles, but were quickly on the back foot again, 1-4, until Kenny “⁠kennyS⁠” Schrub and Audric “⁠JaCkz⁠” Jug were able to turn around a 2vs3 situation, but FaZe kept a strong line as NiKo and company were only able to break the defense in counted occasions. rain led the charge for his team, ending the 10-5 half with 24 kills and 165 ADR.

FaZe charged ahead in the second half, winning the pistol round, but they fell apart against G2’s forcebuy the following round. Two Desert Eagle kills in the third round titled the balances back in his team’s favor and a huge flank by Markus “⁠Kjaerbye⁠” Kjærbye in a 3vs3 situation kept FaZe in the driver’s seat as they went up 14-7. G2 were then able to stabilize and start putting in rounds on the way to a comeback as NiKo came alive with over 20 kills in the half and they made it all the way to 14-14, even hitting match point, before FaZe forced overtime. A flawless start from G2 then set the tone in extra rounds, although it took all six for them to secure the map, 19-17.

FaZe were first out of the gate on their pick, Mirage, this time on the attacking side, going up 4-0, but as G2 found their stride they were able to bring it to a tie winning four of their own. The squad led by Nemanja “⁠nexa⁠” Isaković then took the lead, which they extended against an eco round by the Terrorists, 6-4. G2 then stood their ground, giving up just two more rounds to switch sides with a 9-6 lead.

FaZe cut their deficit to two rounds winning the second pistol round, but a flawless A execute on A by G2 set kennyS and company up to run away on the scoreboard, winning three rounds in a row before FaZe could retaliate. Unable to follow up, the CTs kept falling behind as G2 secured their advancement to the next round of the playoffs, winning Mirage 16-8.

Source: https://www.hltv.org/news/30660/g2-through-to-iem-beijing-haidian-semi-finals-over-faze