End of the road for Navi, as FaZe hold on by the skin of their teeth
Navi won FaZe's map pick of Overpass 16-13 and FaZe won Navi's map pick of Mirage 16-5 taking the series all the way into the decider, where Navi closed out the series once and for all with a 22-19 win on Anubis. The poetic beauty the series enveloped was just something else as the newest map in the map pool decided the fate of some of the most historic players in CS:GO.
Starting off on the T-side of Overpass FaZe took the pistol and the immediate semi-buy rounds but Navi put up a tight defense once the gun rounds began putting up streaks of 5 and 3 rounds to close the half, 9-6 in their favor. Navi flew off to a great start on their T-side putting FaZe at an early 12-6 disadvantage and extending it to 14-9. karrigan led the way for FaZe, going head to head with s1mple and clutching out a round, closing the gap 13-14. Navi however, closed out the map 16-13, going 1-0 in the series.
The trio of perfecto, s1mple and b1t finished on HLTV ratings of 1.37, 1.25 and 1.22 on Overpass.
Mirage was a completely different story as Navi looked completely lost on their own map pick. Navi could only secure 4 rounds on their T-side in the first half as FaZe did an excellent job of keeping track of where Navi's lurks were. karrigan's calling was brilliant as almost all of Navi's executes were disrupted with FaZe's superior positioning. After a dominant 11-4 1st half, FaZe dropped just a single round in the 2nd half, finishing Mirage with 16-5, equalizing the series at 1-1.
s1mple's AWP was given no room to work with. All of FaZe's players delivered across the entire map with ropz and broky finishing on HLTV ratings of 1.57 and 1.37.
Going into the decider Anubis, FaZe started with a strong 3-0 lead but unlike Mirage, Navi didn't let FaZe bury them deep as they rose back, stringing up 4 rounds in a row thanks to electroNic's calling and b1t's aggression. broky made his AWP sing, fragging out and neutralizing most of Navi's threats as the 1st half ends at an even 7-8.
FaZe started with a pistol round win in the 2nd half, but npl and electroNic shine for Navi as they tore through FaZe's defense winning 6 rounds back to back and when FaZe were right on the brink of winning a crucial round, npl stepped up pulling off an insane 1v2 clutch, putting FaZe just a stone's throw away from elimination at 9-14.
Source: BLAST.tv
FaZe showed great character and strength putting up 5 rounds in a row, looking to mount monstrous comeback with a spot in the playoffs of the last CS:GO Major on the line, as they closed the gap 14-15 with just one round away from forcing the decider into overtime. Navi fall prey to time, as FaZe pull off the impossible, coming back from 9-14, forcing the match into overtime.
Going into overtime, karrigan called a great CT-side as FaZe got a slight 17-16 advantage in their CT-side as broky yet again propelled them forward with his AWP. FaZe then almost pulled off a flawless 2nd half on their T-side in overtime as karrigan pushed through, just running through Navi's defense with ropz, Twistzz right behind to trade it out. Navi reverse swept the 2nd half, forcing the series into a 2nd overtime.
FaZe caught Navi off guard with their change of pace in the beginning of the 2nd overtime as they secure match point yet again, with Navi needing to reverse seep the half again just to stay alive in the series at 21-19. s1mple faced with a 1v2 clutch, could not pull it off as FaZe closed out a nail-biting encounter at 22-19 in double overtime, taking the series 2-1 and ending s1mple's CS:GO journey. broky racked up 40 frags on Anubis with an ADR in excess of 100 and nearly clutching out a 1v4, which would have been a graffiti-worthy play.
karrigan, a player who is considered crowd's favorite in front of most crowds, will play in the Accor Arena, as FaZe go through to the playoffs of the last CS:GO Major.