FaZe Clan and Astralis swept their respective quarterfinal matches Tuesday to advance to the semifinals at the Roobet Cup.
Neither FaZe nor Astralis won their groups in the previous stage, but they took down previously undefeated opponents in their first playoff stage action. FaZe beat Group C champion ENCE 2-0 and Astralis triumphed over Group D champion forZe by the same tally.
Next up is Wednesday’s semifinals, where FaZe and Astralis will meet head to head. BIG and Cloud9 are set to play in the other semifinal, with the winners reaching Thursday’s grand final for a shot at $150,000.
The top two teams from each group of the $250,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event advanced to the single-elimination playoffs. All matches are best-of-three.
FaZe Clan opened with a 16-10 win on Ancient. After ENCE stormed ahead 11-4 on the second map, Overpass, FaZe stormed back with 12 of the last 13 points to win 16-12.
Helvijs “broky” Saukants of Latvia starred for FaZe with 57 kills and a plus-28 kills-to-deaths differential — both game highs. His teammate Robin “ropz” Kool of Estonia added 45 kills on a plus-9 K-D. Pavle “Maden” Boskovic of Montenegro led ENCE with 40 kills.
Astralis took the lead in its match with a 16-8 victory over forZe on Mirage. On the next map, Nuke, Astralis had to rally from down 14-7 to force overtime. They went back and forth until Astralis won four straight points to secure a 22-19 win.
Benjamin “blameF” Bremer guided the all-Danish Astralis roster with 60 kills and a plus-18. Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke added 51 kills with a plus-9. For the all-Russian forZe side, Evgeny “Norwi” Ermolin and Andrey “Jerry” Mekhryakov had 45 kills apiece.
The tournament continues Wednesday with both semifinal matches:
–BIG vs. Cloud9
–FaZe Clan vs. Astralis
Roobet Cup prize pool:
1. $150,000 — TBD
2. $50,000 — TBD
3-4. $15,000 — TBD
5-8. $5,000 — Eternal Fire, 9z Team, ENCE, forZe
9-12. no money — OG, Complexity Gaming, MOUZ, FURIA Esports
13-16. no money — Entropiq, Movistar Riders, Imperial Esports, Outsiders
–Field Level Media
