Astralis beat FaZe to top Group B in Cancun

Astralis have booked their spot in the semi-final stage of the ECS Season 4 Finals after defeating FaZe 16-13 on Overpass.

The final match of the day in Cancun, featuring two teams in the top three in the world ranking, saw FaZe get out to a quick 3-0 lead after winning the pistol round and the subsequent anti-ecos. The European mixture was then caught off-guard by Astralis' aggression in the first full gun round, with Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye getting two kills on a retake to give his team the round.

Astralis followed that up with two more rounds, restoring parity at 3-3, but they could not take the lead as Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač opened up the B site with two great entry frags. The Danes would reply immediately, however, courtesy of a quad-kill from Ruben "⁠RUBINO⁠" Villarroel, and they kept their defense very tight, not letting their opponents build up their bank.

RUBINO was Astralis' top performer against FaZe in a messy game

Down 5-7, FaZe found their way back into the game on an extremely shoddy buy, eventually tying up the game 7-7 before Astralis secured the final round of the half.

Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen came up huge in the second pistol round, pulling off a 1v2 clutch with the bomb planted to equalise the score. FaZe took the next round, but they could do nothing against the Terrorists' third-round buy.

The game then entered a scrappy period of play as rounds went back and forth, with neither side able to find a breakthrough. But then Astralis' offence came out firing on all cylinders as the Danes won five out of six rounds to seal a surprising victory 

ECS Season 4 FinalsBest of 1 AstralisMatchpage 16 13 15th December 2017 FaZe 16Overpass 13

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ruben 'RUBINO' VillarroelRUBINO	32 - 15	+17	116.6	1.78
Markus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeKjaerbye	20 - 14	+6	73.5	1.30
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	21 - 13	+8	75.2	1.21
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	19 - 18	+1	80.1	1.15
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	13 - 18	-5	51.0	0.80

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	21 - 20	+1	71.7	0.99
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsGuardiaN	16 - 20	-4	65.2	0.86
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	14 - 21	-7	74.2	0.85
Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan	14 - 21	-7	50.5	0.76
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister	13 - 23	-10	55.0	0.67

Astralis #3 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzMarkus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye Markus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye Age: 19 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 887 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65 FaZe #2 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenOlof 'olofmeister' KajbjerLadislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' Nygaard Finn 'karrigan' Andersen Age: 27 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 0.95 Maps played: 1114 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.68 Ruben 'RUBINO' Villarroel Age: 23 Team: Dignitas Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 727 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.68 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 20 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 727 KPR: 0.82 DPR: 0.68