It feels like the Major just started. The first day in the Arena is over, and the first two semifinalists have been found.
FaZe faced off against NIP in the first quarterfinal of the event (say that real fast three times, we dare you).
A three-map affair that somehow felt both very close, and like FaZe never had any chance of losing it. Probably because they played NiP.
There were strong moments for the Swedes though; NIP won the first half of both map one and map three, the two they lost. hampus put on a strong performance overall, ending the series with a 1.14 rating and a very impressive Overpass performance.
FaZe’s stars weren’t at their best, especially on Nuke, but they didn’t need to be. Their CT side on both Nuke and Inferno was disgusting; they went 10-1 on Nuke and 9-0 on Inferno after their first-half losses in order to relatively easily claim the series.
In the semifinal, FaZe be matched up against Spirit, who claimed a pretty dominant victory over FURIA.
The CIS roster continued their Cinderella run in 2-0 fashion, closing the series out with another ridiculous Ancient game.
With all five members in the positive, Spirit is downright scary and FURIA once again couldn’t show up in games that actually mattered. degster and s1ren were especially effective, each posting a map with over a 1.5 rating.
The second semifinal won’t be decided until Friday when ENCE takes on Copenhagen Flames and NAVI plays Heroic in order to see which of those two teams will make it to the weekend. But with Spirit already qualified, the biggest surprise of the round has probably already happened.