FaZe sweep OG 3-0 to secure IEM New York title

The European squad won their first event since the addition of Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye with a confident 3-0 victory over OG.

In an unexpected grand final battle between the 13th and the 17th ranked team in the world, FaZe took down OG 3-0 to claim the victory in the $140,000 event. Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and co. have been unable to win an event since November of last year, when they were victorious at BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen.

OG will have to suffice with reaching their first grand final since forming the team 10 months ago, as they were unable to repeat their win over FaZe from the group stage, which ended 2-0 in favor of Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's side. The BO5 grand final was a different story, as it started competitively on Mirage (22-20), but FaZe were dominant on Inferno (16-5) and comfortable on Dust2 (16-11), taking the tournament in an impressive fashion, having defeated Heroic, BIG, and Vitality earlier.

NiKo and co. claim their first title since BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen

OG grabbed a 6-1 lead on the CT side of Mirage, FaZe's pick, as Aleksib led the way with a 3-0 opening duel record. NiKo's men found their footing after that, with a 3v5 win which included a Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants 3K allowing his team to finish the half just slightly behind, 8-7.

After the switch, FaZe pulled ahead by winning the pistol, but OG found success towards B, abusing the Kjaerbye - Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David partnership. The two Major MVPs were unable to find a solution for the whole half, eventually seeing the game go to overtime. The B site struggles continued for FaZe, but they were bailed out by solid T-sides as the back-and-forth continued. Eventually, Kjaerbye stepped up with a quad kill on B to conclude Mirage in his team's favor, 22-20.

Following a rough first map, coldzera came alive on Inferno, starting with an 8K-1D score as his team took a 5-1 lead, overcoming the second-round loss. OG added a second to the tally only after finding themselves down 10-1, again with pistols, somewhat recovering the half at the end (12-3). Aleksib's pistol triple on the B-site hold gave his team a lifeline, but FaZe responded with four back-to-back gun rounds and ended Inferno 16-5.

Dust2 was hard-fought from the start. OG picked up the early lead off of the pistol, 3-0, before FaZe showed impressive form with the rifles to take the lead 6-3. Mateusz "⁠mantuu⁠" Wilczewski's AWPing and Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså's rifling allowed OG to find their footing in the second part of the half, seeing the team ranked 13th in the world edge into a 8-7 lead.

Following the side swap, FaZe established themselves thanks to NiKo's hat-trick of frags on the pistol and Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard's key double on the A hold in the first buy (12-9). They powered on to match point, 15-9, and close out the series thanks to NiKo's 1v1 clutch for the final score of 16-11.

IEM New York 2020 EuropeBest of 5

OG

Matchpage

0

3

11th October 2020

FaZe

20

Mirage

22

5

Inferno

16

11

Dust2

16

OG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangsåvalde	57 - 62	-5	75.2	0.99
Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittNBK-	53 - 62	-9	67.1	0.97
Aleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenAleksib	49 - 69	-20	68.3	0.91
Mateusz 'mantuu' Wilczewskimantuu	55 - 64	-9	56.3	0.89
Issa 'ISSAA' MuradISSAA	45 - 58	-13	57.1	0.82

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	70 - 57	+13	85.5	1.24
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	63 - 50	+13	71.1	1.19
Helvijs 'broky' Saukantsbroky	59 - 51	+8	75.2	1.16
Markus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeKjaerbye	62 - 51	+11	73.7	1.10
Marcelo 'coldzera' Davidcoldzera	59 - 51	+8	66.3	1.05

IEM New York 2020 Europe final standings:

1. FaZe - $70,000
2. OG - $30,000
3-4. Vitality - $12,000
3-4. fnatic - $12,000
5-6. BIG - $5,000
5-6. Complexity - $5,000
7-8. Heroic - $3,000
7-8. G2 - $3,000