With this victory FaZe now have an 8-1 map record so far in 2023.

FaZe continued their excellent recent form by brushing Spirit aside 2-0, taking down their Russian counterparts 16-5 on Ancient before wrapping up the series 16-12 on Nuke.

The desk was in agreement that FaZe would likely take this matchup, with Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović suggesting Spirit's best chance to throw a spanner in the works was on their own map pick of Ancient. The blistering manner in which FaZe ran Spirit over on that map removed any questions as to the eventual result.

karrigan was in excellent form, topping the scoreboard in this series

FaZe's recent form, both at BLAST Spring Groups and here in Katowice, will have them hotly tipped alongside G2 to make it all the way to the grand final. First these two squads will have to do battle in the upper semi-final of Group A and with both teams firing on all cylinders, it promises to be a hard-fought battle.

The B stream hosted this matchup between FaZe and Spirit and the mind games from Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen began early on Ancient, the IGL taunting his opposition after FaZe opened their CT side with a pistol victory. Whether this got in the heads of the Russian squad or they simply couldn't handle FaZe's proactive CT approach, either way FaZe utterly dominated the first half, Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken and karrigan racking up over 100 ADR each as they romped to a 12-3 score.

Spirit picked up a CT pistol of their own and a follow up round to put themselves back in contention. However, a disappointing mistake where they got all the kills on a retake but had no time to defuse, scuppered their comeback before it could really begin. FaZe's current form is too good to squander such an opportunity, and they quickly put the map to bed 16-5.

Nuke kicked off with Spirit grabbing a defensive pistol win, before Pavel "⁠S1ren⁠" Ogloblin was called upon to clutch the following. Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool responded with an impressive clutch of his own and this enabled FaZe to get to a 4-4 score, before Spirit started to figure out their upper hold and the FaZe default, aided by several timeouts. This got the Russians up to eight rounds, but an upper rush from their European counterparts and a tasty 1v3 clutch from Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants meant FaZe left the first half with six Terrorist rounds to their name.

Much like on Ancient Spirit won their CT pistol, and much like on Ancient they squandered this boon by losing a round to the clock. They did manage to force up and win the next but that was just about all they could manage, the Russian's finding one further round win as FaZe marched to a 16-12 victory.

FaZe now await an anticipated matchup with G2 in the upper bracket, with the game going down on Sunday at 19:30 . Spirit will begin their fight in the lower bracket against BIG on Sunday at 19:30 .

IEM Katowice 2023Best of 3 FaZeMatchpage 2 0 4th February 2023 Spirit 16Ancient 5 16Nuke 12

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan	37 - 30	+7	91.8	1.36
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	37 - 29	+8	84.4	1.28
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	33 - 31	+2	81.2	1.19
Robin 'ropz' Koolropz	34 - 26	+8	71.1	1.15
Helvijs 'broky' Saukantsbroky	35 - 27	+8	60.6	1.05

Spirit	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Boris 'magixx' Vorobievmagixx	31 - 32	-1	73.5	1.02
Pavel 'S1ren' OgloblinS1ren	32 - 38	-6	72.2	0.99
Ihor 'w0nderful' Zhdanovw0nderful	30 - 31	-1	67.4	0.95
Robert 'Patsi' IsyanovPatsi	31 - 41	-10	68.8	0.82
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper	19 - 36	-17	45.8	0.64

Janko 'YNk' Paunović Age: 30 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 118 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.70 BIG #16 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeNils 'k1to' GruhneJosef 'faveN' BaumannKarim 'Krimbo' Moussa Fatih 'gob b' Dayik Helvijs 'broky' Saukants Age: 21 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 774 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.61 Robin 'ropz' Kool Age: 23 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 1203 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.61 Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Pavel 'S1ren' Ogloblin Age: 20 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 256 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.65 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Age: 23 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 1457 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.62 FaZe #3 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenHåvard 'rain' NygaardRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenRobin 'ropz' KoolHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Robert 'RobbaN' Dahlström Finn 'karrigan' Andersen Age: 32 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 0.91 Maps played: 2086 KPR: 0.62 DPR: 0.69 G2 #2 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačJustin 'jks' SavageRasmus 'HooXi' NielsenIlya 'm0NESY' Osipov Jan 'Swani' Müller Spirit #13 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovBoris 'magixx' VorobievPavel 'S1ren' OgloblinRobert 'Patsi' IsyanovIhor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov Sergey 'hally' Shavaev