FaZe move on to BLAST Premier Finals upper semis over ENCE

FaZe took down ENCE in a three-map series to advance to the upper bracket semi-finals at BLAST Premier Spring Finals.

Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač's team has set up a matchup against Vitality next in the upper semi-finals on Thursday, leaving the Finns to have to fight their way through the lower bracket, where G2 is awaiting them in the first round, slated to be played on Wednesday at 16:30 .

Despite the current state of the scene, in which many teams have played each other at least once in the past three months, it was a rare occasion that ENCE and FaZe met. It was the first time these lineups clashed following the former team's addition of their sixth member Elias "⁠Jamppi⁠" Olkkonen and the latter's replacement of Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer with Aurimas "⁠Bymas⁠" Pipiras.

It was far from a straightforward victory for FaZe, who only managed to close out Dust2 at the very end of regulation and let go of five match points on Mirage, before finally putting their foot down on the deciding Nuke with an incredibly dominant 15-round streak.

rain was crucial on FaZe's CT sides

It was FaZe's newest member, Bymas, who was on display at the beginning of Dust2, as ENCE went down 0-4 early on their map choice, but soon the Finns evened things out after a few B attacks forced the defense to save weapons repeatedly. Late in the half, the European side managed to secure a lead going into the second, but it was only by one round in the end after Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi found two 1v2 clutches.

ENCE claimed their first advantage on the back of a second-round forcebuy victory, courtesy of Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli's Scout play on long, but it didn't last long. FaZe sped away again on the back of consecutive clutches from Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants and Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David, and even though ENCE managed to make them sweat as the map reached even footing at 14-14, NiKo's team clinched a narrow 16-14 victory.

Mirage followed and a back-and-forth forcebuy battle ensued, with ENCE coming out on top thanks to clutches from Jani "⁠Aerial⁠" Jussila and Jere "⁠sergej⁠" Salo. But despite a great early lead, the Finns ended up behind by three rounds by the end of the half once FaZe went on a streak, closing the first half with seven in a row.

Forcebuys were the name of the game at the start of the second half, and this time Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard's side came out on top with two consecutive triples from the Norwegian in 2v3 scenarios. suNny then stepped up with a triple and a 1v2 of his own to claw back before FaZe regained control and reached match point, but great resilience from ENCE saw the map reach overtime, where the Finns completed the comeback off a couple of crucial plays from Jamppi.

Yet another forcebuy win gave ENCE the advantage on the offense of Nuke, but allu's squad shortly started running into a wall as FaZe tightened up the defense to a point where they didn't lose more than one player per round as they went on a massive streak to switch sides at a 10-5 lead. The dominant run continued when NiKo gave FaZe two solo entries on ramp in the second pistol round, allowing his team to storm to a 16-5, 2-1 closing.

BLAST Premier Spring 2020 Europe FinalsBest of 3 FaZeMatchpage 2 1 15th June 2020 ENCE 16Dust2 14 16Mirage 19 16Nuke 5

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	76 - 49	+27	85.4	1.35
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	70 - 55	+15	92.6	1.33
Marcelo 'coldzera' Davidcoldzera	57 - 48	+9	72.4	1.10
Helvijs 'broky' Saukantsbroky	52 - 46	+6	65.6	1.07
Aurimas 'Bymas' PipirasBymas	44 - 52	-8	56.5	0.93

ENCE	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Miikka 'suNny' KemppisuNny	57 - 58	-1	83.0	1.04
Aleksi 'allu' Jalliallu	54 - 55	-1	67.9	0.96
Elias 'Jamppi' OlkkonenJamppi	53 - 61	-8	60.9	0.95
Jere 'sergej' Salosergej	44 - 59	-15	62.0	0.84
Jani 'Aerial' JussilaAerial	41 - 67	-26	55.3	0.74

Marcelo 'coldzera' David Age: 25 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.18 Maps played: 1190 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.61 Helvijs 'broky' Saukants Age: 19 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 358 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.61 Miikka 'suNny' Kemppi Age: 25 Team: ENCE Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1134 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.69 Aurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras Age: 16 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 46 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.66 Elias 'Jamppi' Olkkonen Age: 18 Team: ENCE Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 456 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.65 Jere 'sergej' Salo Age: 18 Team: ENCE Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 623 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.64 Jani 'Aerial' Jussila Age: 27 Team: ENCE Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 626 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.67 FaZe #3 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' NygaardMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidHelvijs 'broky' SaukantsAurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras Vitality #10 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' Rabier Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer Age: 28 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1420 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard Age: 25 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1276 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.69 Aleksi 'allu' Jalli Age: 28 Team: ENCE Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 1482 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.64 Time is adjusted to your selected timezone G2 #1 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNemanja 'huNter-' KovačKenny 'kennyS' SchrubFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 23 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 1245 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.67 ENCE #14 Aleksi 'allu' JalliJani 'Aerial' JussilaMiikka 'suNny' KemppiJere 'sergej' SaloElias 'Jamppi' Olkkonen