SK to ESL One Cologne final over FaZe

SK have secured their place in the ESL One Cologne grand final after defeating FaZe 2-0 (16-4 on Overpass and 19-16 on Cache).

Starting out as Counter-Terrorists on their map pick, Overpass, SK picked up four rounds before FaZe managed to grab their first with a nearly-flawless A execution. However, for the next seven rounds, the Brazilians continuously denied their opponents. 

Down 10-1, the European squad finally managed to break through SK's defence once more, but Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo's men would not let FaZe string any rounds together as they picked up a dominant 13-2 half-time lead.

Despite FaZe winning the pistol round, thanks to Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač finding two clean kills, the European team were shut down in an anti-eco as SK aggressively pushed A with Tec9s. From that point, the Brazilian squad were in control, and they easily locked down the map with a 16-4 scoreline.

SK have made it to the grand final

As for Cache, FaZe's map pick, Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard opened it up with two kills of his own. Still, SK turned the pistol around in their favour and picked it up without losing any more players.

After losing the subsequent two rounds, the European mixture got to a 3-3 stalemate with rain finding an important quad-kill in the sixth round. Both teams then traded rounds back-to-back before SK broke FaZe's economy with a crucial split second 2v2 clutch to reach a 7-5 lead.

rain then almost pulled off a last second defuse, but FaZe would only respond in a semi-buy that saw NiKo finding three kills and rain other two in yet another 2v2 clutch situation. However, SK won the last round of the first half and grabbed a three round half-time lead.

With a flawless CT pistol round, the Brazilian men eventually picked up a comfortable 12-6 score. FaZe did not want to throw in the towel and picked up the gun round, but could not follow it up.

rain had an impressive performance on Cache

However, Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli and co. seemed to be back to the game as they won the next round with pistols and also other three, but SK stopped their streak to reach their 14th round.

A back and forth round was followed with FaZe coming out as victors, breaking SK's economy to reduce the deficit at 13-14. From that moment onward, despite FalleN's men reaching match point, it were the European men who won three rounds in a row to take the map to overtime.

Although FaZe picked up the first round of extra-time, SK were the ones who got the lead before switching sides. As Terrorists, the Brazilians were flawless and closed out the map, 19-16, to book a spot in the ESL One Cologne grand final.

ESL One Cologne 2017Best of 3 FaZeMatchpage 0 2 8th July 2017 SK 4Overpass 16 16Cache 19

Broken tag

Broken tag

Aleksi 'allu' Jalli Age: 25 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 936 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.65 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard Age: 22 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 633 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.70 Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo Age: 26 Team: SK Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 603 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.60 SK #1 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloJoão 'felps' Vasconcellos Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 20 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 608 KPR: 0.82 DPR: 0.69 FaZe #2 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenAleksi 'allu' JalliNikola 'NiKo' KovačFabien 'kioShiMa' FieyHåvard 'rain' Nygaard