The FaceIT London Major finished its 4th day of the Legends stage yesterday. We saw 2 more teams qualify for the Champions stage, while two other teams are no longer a part of the FaceIT Major. Let us recap the matches that we saw the previous day and how it will impact standings in the tournament.
Complexity and Team Liquid qualify for The New Champions Stage
Complexity win 16-8 against BIG Gaming on Nuke.
🔥 Take a look at the final moments from our match vs @BIGCLANgg as we advanced to the New Champions stage! 🔥#FACEITMajor #coLcs pic.twitter.com/dazHIQbSah
— Complexity ✭ (@Complexity) September 14, 2018
Two North American teams Complexity and Team Liquid are the first to qualify for The New Champions stage. The two teams will wait and watch the other teams grind through the Legends stage. Having an early qualification gives them ample time to rest and prepare for their opponents.
Complexity has only played Inferno and Cache till now at the Major. So when BIG managed to get Complexity to play on Nuke, it was probably a good sign for the German team. However, having less exposure on different maps at the Major only meant that Complexity was able to hide their strategies from others. BIG was in for a rude awakening with Complexity’s fabulous T side where they managed to secure 9 rounds. For a CT sided map like Nuke, this was more than enough for Complexity.
BIG was never really able to replicate the initial success of Complexity. With BIG unable to break the CT economy, Complexity soon marched home with a victory. The final score of the map was 16-8 in favour of Complexity.
Team Liquid surprise the favourites with an Overtime win against the Danes.
NAF has been in excellent personal form at the FaceIT London Major.
Team liquid is widely considered to be the strongest North American hope for the FaceIT London Major. The team has shown remarkable progress and achievements in the past few months. This match against Astralis came down to Liquid’s dominant T half on Inferno. Widely considered to be a very CT sided map, Liquid was able to gather 13 rounds on their T side. For many, the game was already over. There was no way Astralis was supposed to make a comeback into this game.
However, that is exactly what Astralis did. Led by some amazing individual skill as well as great mid-round calls, Astralis made the comeback to take the match into Overtime. At this point, it would have been anyone’s game; but Team Liquid was able to easily win 4 rounds in the Overtime to win the match. This was a surprise victory and Astralis will have a few more chances to qualify for The New Champions stage.
Mousesports and Winstrike are no longer at the Major.
One of the world’s best players – Niko needs to find his form in order for Faze to return to winning ways
Faze Clan and Mousesports were two of the strongest teams before the Major. However, there has been no chemistry on Mousesports and their map pool is suddenly very weak after Styko’s departure. Mousesports is a decent team, but they just lack any kind of form right now. Faze Clan is not doing too well either but they are improving. The biggest problem for Faze Clan remains that several members on their roster seem to be burnt out at the moment.
Faze chose Mirage as their map of choice and it was the right decision. Without the tight angles and a heavy CT favoured map, Mousesports was not able to make the right calls in several instances of the game. Ropz and Oskar did not particularly have a great time on the map and that reflected itself on the scoreboard. Oskar is usually a very consistent performer on this roster, but he had a very off day. Faze Clan does have one thing going for them and that is Olofmeister. Rejuvenated after his break, Olofmeister seems to be in amazing form right now. His personal performance has improved over time, but the team’s performance has seen a steady decline. For now, Faze Clan is safe, but they still have a long way to go before they qualify for the next stage.
Winstrike tried making a comeback but lost in Overtime to Cloud9
Winstrike was able to make a phenomenal comeback against Cloud9. The first half didn’t go as planned for the CIS team. They were down 3-12 at halftime, but that did not break their resolve. They were able to mount a phenomenal comeback helped largely by some risks as well as lack of tactics on Cloud9’s T side. But Cloud9 did manage to sneak in a few rounds here and there, which essentially allowed them to reach 15.
In Overtime, however, it seems Winstrike was not able to keep up the momentum. They barely managed one round in overtime and that was the end of the FaceIT London major for the team.
The Round 3 Mid Matches
The outcome of the Round 3 mid matches was not a make or break situation. The losers ( & winners ) of these matches still have to play at least one more match in the tournament. These were the matches for the Round 3 Mid segment.
- Vega vs Fnatic
- Tyloo vs HR
- Na’Vi vs NIP
- G2 vs MiBr
HR, Na’Vi and MiBr won their respective matches without much opposition. They were able to cruise past their opponents easily and go one place closer to the New Champions stage. Na’Vi was extremely dominant on train against NIP and S1mple looks all set to take down Fnatic in Round 4. After Draken’s open challenge to CIS teams, S1mple will definitely look to perform at his optimal level. G2 never really looked like a team which has any type of synergy or construct of the basics in Counterstrike. Several plays left fans confused and G2 was never able to get a foothold into the map. They missed crucial shots which were necessary for the French to win important rounds.
Draken has issued an open challenge to CIS teams; Na’Vi will look for revenge
Day 3 Matchups are already out and there are two matches that we would like to recommend for viewers. Make sure to watch the Fnatic vs Na’Vi [ for the epic storyline of Draken vs S1mple] and Astralis vs MiBr [ two of the contenders for the Major winner title]. You can catch all the action live on Twitch.
