Vitality deny FaZe comeback to clinch last playoffs spot at ESL One Cologne

26-8-2020 21:15

The Frenchmen earned themselves a quarter-final matchup against Sprout after eliminating the Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye-infused side in a close and bloody affair.

FaZe leave the tournament after a shaky group stage in their debut with the Dane. Their first campaign with the new lineup saw the European team concede the opening round to a strong-looking Heroic and drop to the lower bracket, where they beat MIBR before eventually falling to Vitality in the deciding series.

It was an especially disappointing tournament for Kjaerbye himself, who clearly struggled with his new team and role throughout the group stage, putting up a 0.86 rating in his first event back after taking a break in May to deal with health issues.

Meanwhile, Vitality managed to recover from a tough loss to Astralis in the upper bracket semi-final with the triumph against FaZe and earned a place on the favorable-looking side of the playoffs, where the Frenchmen will clash with Sprout in the quarter-finals on Thursday at 18:30 .

Two massive multikills from RpK pushed Vitality to overtime on Dust2

A bloody affair on Dust2 set the tone for the deciding series. Vitality looked like the stronger team to kick things off once they were able to break FaZe's economy twice and climb to a 9-3 lead, but the European side did not roll over as triples from Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard and Kjaerbye in two A attacks put them within three at halftime.

Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač's USP-S triple in a seemingly unwinnable 3v4 A retake then pushed FaZe to equalize things at 9-9, at which point the two sides started trading rounds back and forth. Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy shone for the French side while rain and Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David delivered a couple of big plays for their team, and it turned out that neither squad would be able to close things in regulation as Vitality's eldest member broke the 30-kill mark with four in the last round.

Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut, who had up to that point been rather quiet on the server, took over from the 31-year-old veteran in overtime, where he put up a double and two huge quad-kills to secure the opening map for Vitality at 19-16 as they headed over to their own pick, Nuke.

FaZe looked to strike back there with a good start on the defense while NiKo picked up another pistol triple, but when it got to the gunrounds things started to go horribly wrong for the European side as they kept conceding advantageous scenarios. Vitality turned around two 2v5s as well as two 1v2s, courtesy of smart play from Kévin "⁠misutaaa⁠" Rabier and Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire, and despite losing to just Deagles in one round they built up a nice cushion of five rounds before switching to the favored side.

ZywOo's triple in the second pistol round made things look even more dire for FaZe, who quickly found themselves up against match point at 7-15. NiKo's squad still showcased great resilience, with the Bosnian consistently creating gaps in the defense as FaZe mounted a promising comeback attempt, but they ultimately fell at the last hurdle once they gave up an opening in yard, with Vitality breathing a sigh of relief as they closed the series 16-14, 2-0.

ESL One Cologne 2020 EuropeBest of 3

FaZe

Matchpage

26th August 2020

Vitality

Dust2

Nuke

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač NiKo	54 - 50	+4	97.4	1.22
Marcelo 'coldzera' David coldzera	43 - 41	+2	68.6	1.04
Helvijs 'broky' Saukants broky	41 - 46	-5	68.5	0.94
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard rain	37 - 43	-6	59.0	0.88
Markus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye Kjaerbye	36 - 48	-12	72.9	0.85

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Cédric 'RpK' Guipouy RpK	57 - 42	+15	87.8	1.26
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut ZywOo	49 - 42	+7	84.1	1.22
Richard 'shox' Papillon shox	48 - 41	+7	73.2	1.16
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire apEX	36 - 45	-9	77.2	0.98
Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabier misutaaa	38 - 43	-5	56.0	0.92

EZ4VITALITY

2020-08-26 21:16

20 replies

Very close Nuke though. FaZe doesn't really look improved with Kjaerbye, still doing silly mistakes.

2020-08-26 21:18

17 replies

Over time they should become better than they were with Bymas but who knows

2020-08-26 21:19

3 replies

Yeah im hoping it will work out eventually, not sure it will as long as NiKo is igl

2020-08-26 21:20

2 replies

I agree. They have fire power, but no one to utilize it. They need a leader, someone who can unlock every players potential. Not someone who uses mm tactics.

2020-08-27 09:03

1 reply

2020-08-27 16:35

That's because they dont have a Igl, this negative IQ choker thinks his pug strats will take them to the top. FaZe should just stop listening Niko and bring a real IGL instead of letting him decide who's coming to the team, disgraceful

2020-08-26 21:29

9 replies

Imagine if they just do -rain +blameF or smth they'd become nuts

2020-08-26 21:38

7 replies

-kyerbye horrible player +BlameF

2020-08-26 21:46

4 replies

Col would never let that happen tho

2020-08-26 22:40

good joke COL is 10x better team then trash faze

2020-08-26 22:41

+1 shakerbye

2020-08-27 06:11

They should have seized nexa and hunter when they approached NiKo to join last year. Not getting them was their biggest mistake ever. Either nexa or blameF and they would be unstoppable pretty quick

2020-08-27 12:10

-rain? Are you insane?

2020-08-26 22:46

+1 he is stupid

2020-08-27 05:51

>stop listening to Niko >Niko doesn't want to be on the team anymore >Niko is free agent Faze ruined and has more difficult competition

2020-08-27 11:00

Absolutely right

2020-08-27 05:47

kjaebye is still new. so coms may be a little off

2020-08-28 01:12

They had 5 days of pracc before this event according to Niko on twitter.

2020-08-28 08:34

19-16 and 16-14 and say ez. are all the vitality fans are retards?

2020-08-27 15:11

men is joke chill)

2020-08-27 15:12

Atleast Faze was close ;)

14 replies

a couple of months ago they were beating vitality consistently :/

2020-08-26 21:25

12 replies

vittality improved, faze stayed the same

2020-08-26 21:27

Vitality were in a slump of their own a couple months back I think? They're looking a lot better now anyways

10 replies

Vitality looked way better back then, zywoo was always getting good stats and their team was always helping too, now their star player is getting outshined or not doing well.

2020-08-26 22:04

When is back then? 2018 when Vitality was getting wrecked in qualifiers with Happy? Vitality was better than FaZe all of 2019 and were only worse when they slumped after ALEX left in early 2020. They were not “way better” in early 2020.

2020-08-26 22:50

Yeah but hes just a normal player in the team now....for example on dust 2 there werent the situations to shine, he just got killed as every other normal support player does as well, sure he isnt the zywoo we know rn but vitality just play a style where the old guys can shine as well which is apperantly working out better than the old zywoo go kill strat

2020-08-26 23:30

6 replies

Agreed. RpK was going nuts earlier.

2020-08-27 00:48

"Just a normal player" Dafuq are you on about hltv.org/stats/players/11893/ZywOo?start..

2020-08-27 09:07

Yeah brainless lmao. "He lost a few aim duels so he's average" KEKW

2020-08-27 10:58

U didnt read properly:) i never said hes a normal player....but his role is pretty normal...not as outstanding as for example s1mples where navi play, buy, die around and for him...

2020-08-27 11:16

Ah okay, thought you said he was a normal player. But true, he hasn't been setup like he used to, even though I'd say he doesn't have a normal role like every other player. They know his skill and still puts him in better positions than some other

2020-08-28 08:27

Your normal 1.35 yearly rating average player xD

2020-08-27 12:12

The reason Zywoo got such good stats is because they would literally set him up for success, and while it does look good on the stat sheet, they can never pick up the important series wins. If anything I'm fine with this Vitality where everyone in the team can shine. Navi is a good example of relying on a star player to carry them to Trophies.

2020-08-27 00:17

Yes, FaZe was close. But they could win it. When you think about CT side, they could get at least 3 more rounds. But they were saving. When you think about Vitality, they was two times in 2v4 on T side, and they win it both times. BECAUSE THEY GO FOR IT, AND THEY WAS NOT SAVING LIKE FAZE. Then they win 2v5, FaZe would save in same situation, but Vitality go for it, and they win it. So when FaZe can’t win the those easy situations, it’s hard to win map. And there was also 2v3 situation for FaZe, bomb was down for Vitality, two members of Vitality were low on health, but save call for FaZe. If FaZe wouldn’t save almost every round on their CT side, and instead saving they tried to go for it, I think we would see wining them Nuke. So if they wouldn’t loose those situations, when they go men advantage, and also if they would save almost every round, they will win it. But this game was great, nearly great comeback from FaZe, they are playing great in these clutches, when they are loosing against 15.

2020-08-27 09:28

expected

gg faze

Expected from choko and choke clan omegakekw

:( gg

Kjærbot ruined kick soon

well he is the worst aimer on the server... before the game even started. U can cleary see that thru whole tournament

LETS GO!! RPK AND ZYWOO ARE BEASSSTS

2020-08-26 21:17

SHAKERBYE LUL

its okay boys, we put up a good fight and it showed that we arent a fully dead team, faze just need some time to adjust with kjaerbye and then the world will see a total domination from FaZe! #FaZeUP

+11

2020-08-27 05:53

People have said this same thing about every change they've made since removing karrigan, what exactly makes it true this time? Especially seeing as kjaerby himself looked awful this tournament.

2020-08-27 06:48

gg FaZe ! Keep going Vitality and a big gg to rpK :)

That was the clownest game that I've seen in a long time. Much laugh wow, thanks both teams.

Le tank best

Close to choke but we're good #VforVictory

LE TANK AT HIS WORST

2020-08-26 21:21

le TANK

I'm crying. Hopefully FaZe will do some dirty shit at Pro League. I really want to see FaZe that Stomp every team. It's been a while...

2020-08-26 21:22

Same +1

EZ 4 Le Tank

2020-08-26 21:24

le tank & zywoo duo 250kg beasts.

2020-08-26 21:23

They are not even 90 each.

2020-08-26 21:30

They have to be over 100kg.

It's about 85-87 each. Even boombla is less then 100 now. Also rpk is not fat, he has a lot of muscles.

2020-08-27 11:23

Faze woxic when

Thinking the same. Would be a good addition instead of Kjaerbye

2020-08-26 21:36

I don't understand the teams that play without the main awp player

2020-08-26 21:42

Bad work ethic/attitude regarding mouz claims so till he proves teams otherwise he propably wont find a top tier team

2020-08-26 23:32

I mean if Woxic has half a brain, he would get his shit together and behave. No team is gonna recruit you if you're toxic no matter how high you skill ceiling is.

2020-08-27 01:46

36-48, what a replacement.

nt faze

Everyone shit talking about Kjaerbye who is on the team for less than a month when in the same time rain the first ever man faze clan sign as an organization playing like bot consistently... I mean come on mens!!

Kjaerbye sinking FaZe as expected

2020-08-26 21:37

-ynk

2020-08-26 22:00

And who now will be kicked out from Faze? :D

2020-08-26 22:17

Kjaerbye lol

2020-08-26 22:52

faze have CS:GO ex-players..like ronaldinho gaucho.. plays with the name.. not for rating..

2020-08-26 22:22

Kyaerbye is so good

2020-08-26 22:29

well . bymas is not bad . just faze need igl who have brain .

2020-08-26 22:32

Niko wasting the years away. He will never be #1 in the world as long as he is IGLing and he is not winning anything either. He is wasting his career away.

2020-08-26 22:33

gg lol

same shit different players. kids in threads hating on kjaerbye when anyone with a brain can actually see the main problem with this team

2020-08-26 22:54

No Support players, too many star players ..no one really picking up the shitty roles

2020-08-26 23:33

Trash fans already saying - Kjaerbye LUL

2020-08-27 00:01

-coldzera +Alex

2020-08-27 03:20

Alex had a problem with traveling and tournaments heavy schedule, the same will happen with any top team cuz they play a lot

2020-08-27 07:07

Le tank

2020-08-27 04:41

RPK Boomer God

2020-08-27 05:57

Le tank was too hot

2020-08-27 07:15

Tanked

2020-08-27 09:13

Tell me more about how RPK is a boomer and needs to retire lmfao

2020-08-27 10:55

When Faze have lead they let the other team comeback and whenever they try to comeback they get denied OMEGALUL

2020-08-27 11:07

Kjer was terrible, and by saying that faze got a small amount of time to practice with the new roster is very silly. Why? Well, why you have to change rosters, when ESL 1 Koln is by the doors. Like 3 days left to 1 of the biggest event, and FaZe thought that change rosters will be good idea. Wow, that's wow, the desicion making is absolutely disaster.

2020-08-27 14:35

2020-08-27 19:32