There might not be a better team in competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive currently than FaZe Clan. The ESL One New York champions added yet another championship to its resume, this time knocking off Astralis to claim the Eleague Premier crown on Friday night.
The series started on Cache as Havard "rain" Nygaard opened up the first pistol round with a quadruple kill for FaZe. Nicolai "device" Reedtz and Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjaerbye then pulled together a defensive eco round that would send Astralis ascending over FaZe and strengthening its economy. With money in the bank, Astralis continued to rattle off round wins despite some tight exchanges, including a 1-vs-1 win by Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovacs, eventually amassing a dominant 12-3 lead at the half.
FaZe began the second half with Nikola "NiKo" Kovac picking up three absurd pistol kills to help the team secure its second pistol round of the game. Astralis couldn't come back in the third-round buy which gave FaZe an open road for a comeback. That set off a cataclysmic series of events for Astralis, which saw the Danes down in economy and down in the series before long. FaZe completed the improbable comeback, winning the opening map 16-14.
Loading up its map pick Overpass for Game 2, Astralis appeared to have shook off any ill feelings following its loss to open the series. Even the pistol round went the Danes way, the first of such wins in the series. But the action quickly devolved into chaos once more for Astralis, as FaZe picked apart its opposition with upgraded pistols to claim the next two round wins. This is in large part thanks to Nikola "NiKo" Kovac, who won a 1-vs-1 with one health point left to put his team in a perfect economic standing. As if the first map never ended, FaZe continued its dominance, shutting down Astralis at every attempt en route to a 12-3 lead at the half.
Astralis picked up the first pistol round and the following anti-economy, but it was FaZe who would easily win the gun round to keep the Danes in-check. The deficit simply appeared to be too tough to overcome for Astralis, as FaZe would stymie any sort of momentum the Danish organization would build in a single round. The end result would be a 16-7 win for FaZe Clan, sweeping Astralis to earn the title of Eleague Premier champions.