FaZe Clan came out victorious in a marathon of a Grand Final at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2022.
After being down 15-7 on the first they came back with 12 on the trot to win Inferno 19-15 and did one better by winning G2’s pick of Mirage in Quintuple Overtime, 31-27 after 58 rounds of play.
On their pick of Dust2 they were in control throughout the game and won 16-14 to take the series 3-0 and with that the title of IEM Katowice 2022.
Twistzz was the star of the show for FaZe with last minute stand-in jks close behind him to help FaZe take the trophy home.
FaZe Clan Vs G2 Esports Match Details:
- FaZe Clan Vs G2 Esports
- Event : IEM Katowice 2022
- Event Type : LAN
- Location : Spodek Arena, Katowice – Poland
Map Veto:
- FaZe removed Vertigo
- G2 removed Overpass
- FaZe picked Inferno
- G2 picked Mirage
- FaZe picked Dust2
- G2 picked Ancient
- Nuke was left over
Trivia
FaZe Clan once again banked on Justin “jks” Savage as Håvard “rain” Nygaard tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and had to stay in isolation.
Map: Inferno (Pick: FaZe Clan, Winners: FaZe Clan, Final Score: 19-15)
The Grand Finals of the IEM Katowice 2022 started off with FaZe Clan’s pick, Inferno, where Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač immediately put G2 Esports in a winning position following a double kill rifle round.
The 25-year-old Bosnian continued to rack up multi-kill rounds alongside his cousin Nemanja ‘huNter-‘ Kovač as G2 ran straight into the reinforcements set up by FaZe Clan.
Down 1-9, FaZe Clan started crawling back into the game with slower type defaults which indeed kept the ball rolling for Finn “karrigan” Anderson and his men, ending the half 4-11.
The second half of Inferno was a total shutdown by FaZe Clan as they had zero room for error, getting G2 to look destitute and listless after the latter hit match-point at 15-8 only to concede a series of rounds to reward FaZe with an Overtime who were constantly looking for an opening and a shot at redemption after a trophy-less two year period, hoping to get their first championship here at Katowice.
It was Robin “ropz” Kool who aced out the 30th round for FaZe Clan as they went on to win a flawless Overtime round over G2 and go up in the series 1-0.
Map : Mirage (Pick: G2 Esports, Winner: FaZe Clan, Final Score: 31: 27)
FaZe kicked off G2’s map pick of Mirage with the same momentum that they ended Inferno with. A pistol win gave the spark to a brilliant defence as FaZe went up 7-0 without a reply from G2, making it a run of 19 rounds on the trot, carried over from the 12 on Inferno.
A streak of three from G2 brought it back slightly, but their star NiKo was missing from action as he went 2-15 in the first half as FaZe took an 11-4 lead.
Despite a CT pistol win, G2 looked shaky and the scoreline reflected that as FaZe took over once again when the guns came out and were up by 14-6.
But G2 the Kovac cousins were not done just yet, powered by huNter-’s heroics G2 found 4 rounds, but a 2v5 from jks and ropz had G2 in shambles, especially with jks only having a p250 and 3 kills with it.
With m0NESY showing up alongside huNter-, G2 were able to push the map into OT.
Calling it a back and forth affair would be an understatement as the teams went toe to toe every single step of the way, either side refusing to back down as the map went into double and triple OT. Both sides had chances to close the map out but refused to do so, and a 5th Overtime was needed.
G2 finally ran out of steam in the 58th round, as stand-in jks was able to secure a 1v2 on the B side to win it for FaZe Clan 31:27, and take a 2-0 lead in the Bo5.
Map: Dust2 (Pick: FaZe Clan, Winner: FaZe Clan, Final Score: 16-14 )
FaZe Clan got off to the perfect start by picking up their T pistol and converting, but the conversion was far from simple and required some heroics from Nemanja ‘huNter-‘ Kovač to get the rounds in the bank.
Although FaZe got onto a healthy lead and once the gun rounds began, G2 Esports took the game by the scruff of the neck, their proactive and varied approach to the defense picking FaZe apart.
Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen and his troops managed to grab a few more isolated rounds, tightening up their reinforcements to keep FaZe at bay. Although karrigan’s men never got the space to maneuver around the weakened G2, they managed to claim the half under their belt, 8-7.
Coming from the break, with fire still in their bellies, G2 Esports started to trade rounds back and forth with FaZe Clan.
It was the duo of Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov and huNter who squared off business with FaZe at 14-14 but the newly revamped roster seemed to have fell just 2 rounds short on the IEM Katowice 2022 championship as Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants picked on Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač which further sabotaged the A execution of G2 Esports, letting FaZe triumph for the first time at the Spodek Arena.
MATCH MVP:
Photo: HLTV
