FaZe hammer NiP in BLAST Premier opener

FaZe are off to a dream start at BLAST Premier Spring Series following a convincing victory over the new NIP line-up.

It was awfully deflating way to start the year for NIP. The Swedish team, who are still trying to adjust to life without Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg, gave a disappointing account of themselves as they were outsmarted and outfought by FaZe in this one-sided encounter. After ending 2019 with a last-place finish in Riffa, the European mixture is looking like a title contender once again, and fans of the team will have been pleased with the performance of youngster Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants, who at times looked like a superstar.

The bleak performance shows that NIP still have a lot of work ahead before they can call themselves a tier-one team again. They were simply taken apart by their ruthless opponents, and the defeat could have been even heavier had it not been for some key individual rounds from their players.

A 1v2 clutch from Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson in the pistol round of Overpass gave NIP an early lead, but it wouldn't last as FaZe replied immediately after wreaking havoc with a couple of Scouts in hand. Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač's charges used that early momentum and constantly shut down the Swedish offense, going into the break with 11 rounds in the bag - ten of those won by kills.

More misery was to come for NIP, who surrendered a two-man advantage in the pistol round and saw their opponents quickly hit map point. An ace from Lekr0 restored some confidence in the Swedish players but it did not alter the course of the map as FaZe wasted no time to lay the game to rest.

It was more of the same on Mirage, as FaZe were on the front foot from the offset, pinning NIP's players against the ropes. Things were starting to look ugly for the Swedes, but they tightened up their defense in the dying stages of the half to cut the deficit to three rounds.

FaZe showed no signs of slowing down and further added to their lead following a strong start to the second half. Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner still came huge with a quad-kill to give NIP their first round of the half, but FaZe remained in control and quickly wrapped things up.