by FaZe Clan, one of the most successful and popular esports franchises in the world, have once again demonstrated their dominance in the competitive scene with a decisive victory over Complexity Gaming at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups.
The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive matchup, which took place on January 20, was the opening game for the Group B fixtures. Top esports betting sites pegged the American franchise as close favorites and COL as outsiders. It ended with FaZe Clan securing a commanding win, sweeping Complexity across Inferno and Overpass (2-0).
The first map of the game, Inferno, was selected by FaZe. The match started with the European franchise taking an early lead over their North American counterpart. COL tried to make a comeback but ended the first half of the map with a 5-round differential (5-10) in favor of FaZe.
The second half was a different ball game as FaZe had COL on a choke hold, allowing the franchise to secure only a round of victory. FaZe decimated the Johnny “JT” Theodosiou-led franchise, finishing the map with a 10-6 statline.
By the end of Inferno, FaZe Clan’s Helvijs “broky” Saukants was by far the best player from both teams, recording the most kills and one of the lowest deaths. He led his team with 25 frags and 13 deaths while Justine “FaNg” Coakley led Complexity with an 18-17 kill-death ratio.
Three of FaZe’s players ended the map with a rating of over 1.0 – broky (1.69), Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken (1.34), and in-game leader Finn “karrigan” Andersen (1.08). Complexity’s Hakon “hallzerk” Saukants and JT made the cut, but both players posted a lower rating than FaZe’s third-best rating, posting 1.04 and 1.02, respectively.
Overpass, the Complexity-selected map started out in favor of coach Robert “RobbaN” Dahlstrom, with the first half closing with a 10-5 FaZe lead. Ricky “floppy” Kemery was the standout player for Complexity as he tried to force a comeback with a 1v3 clutch kill. However, FaZe regained control of the game and finished off the game with a 16-9 scoreline.
Newly recruited Patrick “es3tag” Hansen was largely responsible for FaZe Clan’s second map success, as he put up a strong debut performance. The Danish player who was the franchise’s latest addition as a stand-in from Ninjas in Pyjamas was a last-minute decision owing to the misunderstanding that followed the Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke/ replacement issue. He recorded 31 kills on the second map and suffered only 9 deaths, the lowest in both maps.
He attained a rating of 2.02, having recorded an ADR of 130.3 and KAST of 88%, and an overall rating of 1.45. He was awarded the player of the match as he proved to be a great addition for FaZe over his former team.
His outstanding performance as a stand-in player could benefit the 27-year old in the long run. In 2020, Justin “jks” Savage performed exceptionally well as a stand-in for FaZe at IEM Katowice, contributed to the team’s victory, and increased his own value in the process. The Australian player was later acquired by G2 Esports on a full-time basis.
With their win over Complexity, FaZe will advance to the Group B Upper Bracket Final. The franchise will take on the winner between Liquid and OG in the other Group B fixture.
