Aditya ChaudhuriFaZe make light work of the ENCE challenge in the Pro League final.
FaZe Clan’s CS:GO team continued their strong start to 2022 as they took home their second trophy of the year after brushing aside the ENCE challenge in the ESL Pro League Season 15 final. The win sees FaZe continue their good run after winning IEM Katowice earlier this year. This is their second win in as many tournaments and sees them reach the top of the world rankings, dethroning Natus Vincere, who spent almost nine months as the No.1 team.
After struggling for the entirety of 2021, FaZe entered 2022 with a new roster that saw Robin ‘ropz’ Kool sign for the team, and it was the Estonian player who won the MVP award at the ESL Pro League 15.
The tournament had drama right from the beginning, with one of the favourites, G2, failing to qualify for the playoffs. Group A saw Ninjas in Pyjamas, Entropiq and Fnatic qualify, while G2 were the surprise elimination from the group. The surprises didn’t stop there, as heavyweights Team Vitality and Outsiders both failed to make it out of Group B as FURIA, ENCE and FaZe went through. Movistar Riders, Players and Team Liquid made sure they made the playoffs from Group C, while it was Heroic, NAVI and Astralis who made it out of the final set Group D.
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The first round of playoffs saw ENCE 2-0 Fnatic, while FaZe held off a challenge from Players to move ahead following a 2-1 win. Danish quadruple Major champions Astralis got the better of Entropiq, while Team Liquid shocked Heroic with a straight 2-0 sweep.
Movistar Riders faced ENCE in the first quarter-finals, and the Spanish team were beaten 2-1 by ENCE. NIP held off a strong Team Liquid challenge to secure a semi-final spot as well. FURIA shocked Astralis with a 2-1 comeback win, while FaZe demolished NAVI 2-0 to move to the semi-finals. FaZe and ENCE both made the finals after brushing aside their semi-final opponents 2-0.
In the Best-of-Five final, it was ENCE’s pick of Vertigo to kick things off. Even though it was a strong start for ENCE on the T-Side, it was rain who turned the heat on ENCE, and after being ably supported by broky and ropz, FaZe took the opening map 16-11 to go 1-0 up.
Next up was FaZe’s pick of Overpass, and even though it looked like ENCE would make short work of the FaZe challenge after a 10-5 opening half, FaZe fought back to take the map to overtime. ENCE’s hades and Spinx, though, were just too strong for FaZe, and ENCE levelled the series 1-1 after taking Overpass 19-17 in overtime.
ENCE’s second pick of Mirage didn’t bother FaZe much either, with FaZe running through Mirage with the help of ropz, Twistzz, broky and a 1v3 clutch from their veteran in-game leader karrigan that saw them seal the map 16-9 and take a crucial 2-1 lead in the finals series.
The fourth map was FaZe’s pick of Dust2, and even though ENCE started strongly through some strong play by hades and Maden, FaZe romped ENCE in the second half with some impeccable calling from karrigan that saw FaZe take the fourth map 16-12 and win the ESL Pro League Season 15 following their 3-1 demolition of ENCE.
With their win, FaZe have become the first team to qualify for the BLAST Premier World Final 2022. The teams are back in action during the ongoing RMR events for the upcoming PGL Antwerp Major.
