They beat Fnatic and Complexity Gaming respectively to head into the next stage of the competition.
The first matches of the ESL Pro League Season 16 playoffs have begun, and already two big names are out of the running of the competition. Two matches – FaZe Clan vs Complexity Gaming and Fnatic vs Team Liquid – were played. Both matches saw all four teams play their hardest to keep themselves in the tournament, but only two headed on to the next stage.
Fnatic
vs
Team Liquid
The two European teams met up after qualifying from Groups A and D respectively. Fnatic opened strong in the first map, Inferno but by the end of the switchover, Team Liquid was leading by 2 points. Fnatic did try to catch up in the second half, but Team Liquid was too strong and ended the match in round 29 with a score of 16-13.
Fnatic rose to be the aggressor in the second map, Overpass. They easily led the first half by a point, and in the second half, just demolished the defence of Team Liquid that they ended the match by round 25, with a score of 16-9.
On Ancient, Fnatic led the way by the end of the first half, but the second half saw Team Liquid reciprocating what Fnatic did to them in Overpass by demolishing the squad in the second half, ending the match by round 16 with a score of 16-10.
Team Liquid heads into the quarter-final where they will be meeting CLoud9 again after the end of Group D.
FaZe Clan
vs
compLexity Gaming
The EU vs NA showdown saw the two teams fight against each other to see who can move on to the next stage. In the first map, Overpass, FaZe started with a cohesive opening volley over the North Americans. However, Complexity quickly caught up and even overcame the Europeans to lead the first half with a point advantage. After the switch, FaZe tried to ride on the momentum they had from the first half, but Complexity just went, as they say, ape crazy. A string of wins back-to-back saw them end the match by round 25, with a score of 16-9.
Inferno was a closer match for the two teams. Complexity dominated the first half with a lead of five points but FaZe got up and gained back the lead all the way to round 30, and in the process, won the map 16-14. We did say it was a close one.
The last map was Nuke, FaZe, riding high from the win they experience on the second map, immediately flexed and grabbed the lead in the first half – a five-point lead. They then easily mopped up the North American in the second half, where the map was over by an assist kill by Twistzz and rain on floppy. FaZe won 16-8.
FaZe Clan head into the quarterfinals where they will be meeting Cloud9.
