Snax smacks at IEM Dallas

Somehow, FaZe’s new era might be over before it started.

Considering the amount of sickness and visa issues at this tournament, it seemed like a slam dunk for FaZe to continue their domination after the Major.

Scarcely two weeks have passed since their victory in Antwerp, and they’re already losing to an ENCE lineup that features a substitute, Snax, who topped the leaderboard.

His teammate, hades, continued on his usual “either top-three player in the world or absolute garbage” streak;  he had both a .68 rating in the map ENCE lost and a 1.55 in the first that they won.

That performance by Snax earned the team a spot in the semifinals, across the bracket from BIG, who have continued their form from the major, including their streak of bad luck in terms of draws; they’re on the side of the bracket with FaZe.

FaZe will have to go through Cloud9 before they get a crack at BIG. They’ve been great in Dallas, with the tiny exception of their 0-2 loss to FURIA.

Like we said, why they decided to play FURIA’s best map in the last six months at least only they know. Maybe it’s the ghost of Xizt doing their vetos?

If Cloud9 can get a handle on their veto, they may legitimately put up a fight against FaZe. sh1ro and Ax1Le are the first and second highest-rated players at the tournament, and they all have at least a 1.0 rating.

On ENCE’s side of the bracket, FURIA and G2 will face off. G2 qualified via kicking Vitality while they were down in another incredibly disappointing finish for the French/Danes.

NiKo looked in star form, at least, posting a 1.45 rating over the 2-0 victory, but the “struggles” of teammate m0nesy will be the story for a while longer.

Despite a brilliant start to his time on G2 and certainly impressive moments since, the hype around the 17-year-old has dulled as he’s dropped to a 1.14 average in the last three months. Not quite Xyp9x, but not quite s1mple v2 either.

FURIA won the last contest against G2, eliminating them from the Major. Now, they’ll be trying to deny G2 their redemption and earn a spot against ENCE at the same time.