After systematically dismantling Cloud9 three maps to one in the upper bracket finals, FaZe looked dominant coming into the Grand Finals. While the start was not promising in the slightest, Cloud9 ultimately regained their form and provided quite the spectacle against FaZe, as the Grand Finals went the distance. We at GosuGamers have uploaded the VOD to our channel, which you can also find below. Note that the rest of this piece will analyze the matches that occurred, so if you would like to avoid spoilers, simply watch the VOD instead!
Note that the game started as a 1-0 in FaZe's favor, as they qualified for the Grand Finals through the upper bracket. In standard best of 5 format, the first team to three wins would emerge victorious, but FaZe only needed to win two maps to take a victory given their lead. Additionally, while the previous round was played on patch 1.2, patch 1.3 was released the day of Grand Finals, so teams played on a new patch.
Map 1: Ilios
Cloud9 came out of the gate attempting to resurrect the "PharMercy" combo on the lighthouse of Ilios, but unsurprisingly, Forsak3n on Zenyatta was able to demonstrate why the combo is no longer standard. Cloud9 had immense troubles even getting onto the point, as ShaDowBurn, TwoEasy, z0mbs, and FCTFCTN repeatedly dove their team and tore them to shreds. The second point on the ruins section went much the same way, as despite Surefour and Adam's switch to more standard heroes, Cloud9 could not capture the point until far too late. While they managed to force a capture near the end of the map, FaZe came back with a Sound Barrier advantage and won the ensuing fight to take the second game.
After experimenting with both Genji and Pharah, Surefour found his home on McCree on the well stage, setting the tone for the rest of the series. While FaZe nearly took the map, Cloud9 was able to force overtime off of a Surefour 4k, and that's where the momentum of the series truly shifted. Cloud9 stepped up to take the third map despite losing 99% early on, and continued to play better as a team. In particular, Reaver and KyKy played particularly well throughout the rest of Ilios, especially with their Pulse Bomb / Graviton Surge combo (or the "Big Bang" combo, according to hexagrams). Not to be outdone, TwoEasy's Tracer provided a fantastic source of DPS for FaZe, as ShaDowBurn struggled a bit after the first two maps on the newly-nerfed Genji. Cloud9 took down lighthouse where they were previously shut out, and then the well stage where they had won prior to take map 1.
Map 2: Route 66
Route: 66 provided a share of things to come from the new metagame; Adam brought out the newly-buffed Mercy, while Grego opted for Zenyatta over his usual Lucio. While FaZe behind z0mbs's four-man Graviton Surge was able to defend the first point extremely well, Adam's Resurrection allowed Cloud9 to turn the fight around and get a lot of distance with the payload. Once Cloud9 got to the end of the point, FaZe attempted a trickle defense, but it eventually led to a Cloud9 capture of the first point while FaZe burned numerous Ultimates. While FaZe attempted the same thing at the end of the second point, Reaver and Surefour made sure they would not be able to stall any longer by getting a double kill each. Cloud9 found little resistance when finishing the third point by coordinating their Ultimates well.
On FaZe's turn at pushing, ShaDowBurn decided to go back to his beloved Genji after experimenting with Tracer on defense. Cloud9 ended up bringing the same composition, likely feeling comfortable with their win after stomping the third checkpoint. Behind some outstanding Winston and Zarya coordination on FaZe, they managed to capture the first checkpoint on their second push, wish ShaDowBurn and TwoEasy applying good DPS to secure the push. On the second point, despite a good push attempt due to z0mb's Graviton Surge, Cloud9 managed to hold numerous pushes due to Mercy's presence. KyKy and Reaver continued to show their prowess through the Graviton Surge / Pulse Bomb combo, and Cloud9 stopped FaZe from even completing the second checkpoint.
Map 3: Hollywood
On attack in Hollywood, FaZe finally switched a bit up by putting Rawkus on Mercy, while ShaDowBurn continued to play Genji despite the nerfs. Cloud9's defense consisted of Reaver on Roadhog in the place of the usual Reaper (or other secondary DPS). While ShaDowBurn's Genji was a bit lackluster earlier in the series, he popped off on the first point to assuage all doubts and once again prove that he should be in the conversation for best Genji in the world. He and z0mbs combined for four kills, completely wiping the first point to capture it incredibly quickly. KyKy landed a deep Graviton Surge that didn't manage to accomplish much despite catching much of FaZe, but Cloud9 was able to wipe them shortly after thanks in part to Surefour's McCree. TwoEasy exploded for four kills on the ensuing fight, though, and FaZe captured the second checkpoint largely thanks to him. Not to be outdone, ShaDowBurn's Dragonblades came in extremely clutch as FaZe buzzed through the last checkpoint, though TwoEasy made sure that he had the last laugh as he switched to Bastion to help close out the game.
Cloud9 brought out a similar composition on offense, though they chose to forgo Genji and brought out Reaver's old favorite: Widowmaker. Cloud9 ended up looking a bit uncoordinated as they wasted Ultimates instead of using them together, and Reaver was forced to switch onto Tracer after feeling a bit ineffective. FCTFCTN's Reinhardt ended up carrying many of the fights by simply swinging his hammer and pumping out a ton of damage, holding the point for FaZe. While Cloud9 capped the point eventually, FaZe managed to stall it until overtime, gaining a large advantage due to the stopwatch format. Cloud9 was eventually able to push the payload to near the end of the second checkpoint, but they were not able to actually capture it, leading to a solid FaZe win.
Map 4: Lijiang Tower
On the first map on the control center of Lijiang, both teams brought similar compositions, but Surefour chose to use McCree, while ShaDowBurn picked his Genji. ShaDowBurn certainly made the map interesting, grabbing a solo 4k with his Dragonblade in the middle of the game, but Cloud9 still brought it back behind their captain KyKy's Zarya. While the teams traded the objective all game long, KyKy and Reaver combined for a huge Ultimate combination and Cloud9 held strong against FaZe's attempt to keep overtime going. On the garden section, it was Cloud9 who took the preliminary fight and shut down FaZe at every single point, not giving up a single percent.
The night market provided a different story, where despite winning fights, Cloud9 found themselves in an odd position. FaZe repeatedly sent z0mbs and TwoEasy to the point in order to capture it and took a large 50% lead despite "losing" most of the fights. TwoEasy and z0mbs again provided a show by displaying their Tracer / Zarya coordination and recapturing the point. ShaDowBurn ended the game by dashing repeatedly and getting resets, finally putting a stop to Cloud9 after they took the first two games on Lijiang. The last game was on control center, where Cloud9 previously won. Cloud9 managed to stifle FaZe and took 65% of the point uncontested, but finally off the back of Genji, FaZe took a fight and got onto the scoreboard. When Cloud9 managed to recapture the point, ShaDowBurn forced overtime and dominated with his Dragonblade to save the game for FaZe. However, in a messy fight, Cloud9 overcame FaZe and took home the tournament and grand prize.
Hopefully you found this recap and review of the matches informative, and we look forward to seeing you again in both our newly announced weeklies and the next Alienware Monthly Melee, which you can find on twitch.tv/GosuTV_OW.
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