FaZe ease past Heroic to advance to IEM Katowice grand final

Led by a star performance from Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants, the European mixture made quick work of Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller's side in a two-map series.

FaZe are through to the best-of-five grand final of IEM Katowice after dispatching of HEROIC 2-0 in the semi-finals (16-11 Inferno, 16-5 Nuke), continuing a dream run through the event where they have had to field Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage in place of Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard at various points.

The win sets Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's side up against G2 in the grand final, where the two new-look rosters will meet for the first time. A grudge match between the Danish in-game leader and Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač will take to the stage in the Spodek Arena on Sunday at 17:00 .

"This is the third time in the final of Katowice, and I can't wait to play in front of this crowd," karrigan said after the game. "We don't know who we play with yet, we have to wait for what ESL says and we'll take it from there. A best-of-five tomorrow against NiKo, and one of us at least is going to win the trophy which I'm happy because we have been together with NiKo in the final two times, but tomorrow I hope we can cement our name here and be legends of the game."

broky ran rampant on Inferno, dismantling Heroic in the first half

The series kicked off on Inferno, where broky immediately put FaZe in a winning position following a quad kill pistol round. The Latvian continued to rack up multi-kill rounds alongside ropz and jks as FaZe laid waste to the HEROIC defenses, a pair of 1vs2 clutches from the AWPer helping them establish a 10-2 lead before HEROIC began to claw back.

Three rounds at the end of the half from the Danish side were answered back following the side swap, with FaZe extending their lead to 13-5. An effort to fight back into the map was made as HEROIC won six of the next seven rounds, ropz only narrowly missing out on clutching a 1vs3 due to the bomb timer. A complete comeback was not to be though as broky once again stepped up with four frags with the AWP to get his side match point, with a double from ropz sealing the deal in the ensuing round.

Nuke was no different as round wins only came sporadically for HEROIC, who's attempts to abuse A site were denied on a number of occasions by multi-kill rounds from karrigan. With broky shutting down outside aggression and ropz holding ramp at bay, cadiaN's troops managed to garner five rounds by halftime, a pistol win all but required to keep themselves in the running.

broky and ropz stepped up to deny any chance of that following a swift ramp take, and with FaZe gaining the upper hand, HEROIC were left looking entirely out of sorts for the remainder of the map as the European side won another four rounds in a row before ropz closed things out with another 1vs2 clutch.

IEM Katowice 2022Best of 3 HEROICMatchpage 0 2 26th February 2022 FaZe 11Inferno 16 5Nuke 16

HEROIC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
René 'TeSeS' MadsenTeSeS	34 - 40	-6	80.7	0.97
Martin 'stavn' Lundstavn	25 - 39	-14	68.1	0.75
Casper 'cadiaN' MøllercadiaN	22 - 36	-14	53.0	0.73
Ismail 'refrezh' Alirefrezh	20 - 37	-17	44.6	0.59
Rasmus 'sjuush' Becksjuush	19 - 38	-19	52.8	0.57

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Helvijs 'broky' Saukantsbroky	46 - 17	+29	86.4	1.58
Robin 'ropz' Koolropz	42 - 21	+21	86.8	1.46
Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan	38 - 30	+8	90.2	1.30
Justin 'jks' Savagejks	33 - 28	+5	74.0	1.20
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	29 - 25	+4	71.1	1.15

FaZe #9 Helvijs 'broky' SaukantsFinn 'karrigan' AndersenHåvard 'rain' NygaardRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenRobin 'ropz' Kool HEROIC #8 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerIsmail 'refrezh' AliMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenRasmus 'sjuush' Beck Helvijs 'broky' Saukants Age: 21 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 619 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.61 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard Age: 27 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 1533 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.69 Justin 'jks' Savage Age: 26 Team: ComplexityB Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1178 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.63 Robin 'ropz' Kool Age: 22 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 1048 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.62 G2 #5 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenIlya 'm0NESY' Osipov Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Casper 'cadiaN' Møller Age: 26 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1412 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.63 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 25 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 1563 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.67 Finn 'karrigan' Andersen Age: 31 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 0.92 Maps played: 1930 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.69