Three more teams are expected to qualify for the Champions Stage of the PGL Antwerp CS:GO Major today. The first of them came from a battle between the Counter-Strike veterans from FaZe Clan and an up-and-coming roster of Copenhagen Flames.
Entering the Major in Belgium on a championship run after winning IEM Katowice and ESL Pro League season 15 in the past three months, most fans were expecting FaZe to at least reach the playoffs in Antwerp. And today, they did just that. But the young Danish squad wasn’t far from pulling off an upset. In the end, the game ended with a 2-1 result in favor of FaZe.
The eventual winners were probably fond of the map veto process since, on two out of the three chosen maps (Nuke and Ancient), they have a 100-percent win rate in the last three months, according to HLTV. The match started on Inferno, however, where FaZe have played 12 games in the last three months, winning nine of them.
And their Inferno win rate was lowered after they fell short against Copenhagen Flames in today’s series. The Danish side pulled off an impressive CT side, winning 10 rounds in the first half. After switching sides, FaZe decided to play aggressively, which at first put them back on the scoreboard and almost made the game even. Afterward, however, Copenhagen Flames pulled back at the beginnings of the rounds, effectively catching FaZe players out of position, which secured them a lead in the series with a 16-13 triumph.
After catching the wind in their sails, though, FaZe didn’t intend to stop and showcased an almost impenetrable defense on Ancient’s CT side, where they won 12-3. In the first half, rain stepped up and was a great anchor in the cave position, where he produced some impressive plays. After switching sides, though, the Danish players started to catch up until FaZe’s rapid and successful aggression on B closed out the map with a 16-13 result.
After two back-and-forth maps, the majority of viewers probably expected the third one to play out in a similar fashion. But they were proved wrong. On Nuke, which is heavily CT-favored, FaZe began on the T side, where they grabbed an eyebrow-raising 13 rounds. Copenhagen Flames didn’t have an answer to karrigan’s tactics and, despite grabbing the second pistol round and two following anti-ecos, couldn’t get back on their feet. FaZe decisively finished the map with a 16-6 score.
With this win, FaZe became the third team to book their tickets to Antwerps Sportpaleis arena, where the Champions Stage will begin on Thursday, May 19. Copenhagen Flames will have one more chance to follow in their footsteps tomorrow against a currently undecided enemy. Tomorrow’s matchups will be drawn after today’s games conclude.
You can check out the PGL Antwerp Major’s standings, scores, and schedule here.
