FaZe beat Renegades to seal semi

FaZe are through to the last-four stage at StarSeries i-League Season 4 after defeating Renegades on two maps.

The series start on Inferno, FaZe's map pick, but it was Renegades who came out the livelier of the two sides. A 1v2 clutch from Noah "⁠Nifty⁠" Francis in the pistol round but the Australians in the lead, and two key kills from Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad inside the A site in the first gun round allowed them to extend their lead to 5-0.

FaZe then put a double AWP setup to great use as they picked up two rounds in a row, the second thanks to a quad-kill from Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács, but Renegades quickly regained control of proceedings, restoring a five-round lead.

Down 2-7, FaZe finally picked up the pace, taking advantage of the fact that Renegades were struggling to apply pressure on the map. With a crushing economic control, the Europeans won the remaining rounds of the half to secure a narrow 8-7 lead.

FaZe came back from the break with added intent and increased their lead with a B execution, with Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač getting three more kills under his belt. However, once the game reached the gun rounds it was a completely different story. Any round edged out by the Europeans was quickly countered by Renegades, who brought the scoreline to 13-13.

Then, it took a stroke of luck for FaZe to break Renegades' streak as they planted the bomb just in the nick of time and with Nifty almost killing the player doing the plant. That was the sort of break that FaZe had been looking for, with the Europeans following that up with two more rounds en-route to a 16-13 finish.

FaZe march on to the semi-finals

The next map, Cache, started with Renegades taking the pistol round with a fast A execution thanks to jkaem finding three frags. The Australians then gifted a round that seemed to be in bag as they allowed Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer to overturn a 1v2 situation with the bomb planted.

That clutch marked the beginning of a fantastic run from FaZe, who set up a very tight defence and cruised to an 11-2 lead before Renegades bagged the final two rounds to keep their hopes alive.

Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard opened up the action in the second half with three quick kills in A, propelling FaZe further into the lead and piling even more pressure on Renegades' players. A triple-kill from NiKo in the first gun round then put FaZe on match point, with the cash-strapped Australians simply helpless to prevent their opponents from locking down the map.

StarSeries i-League Season 4Best of 3 FaZeMatchpage 2 0 23rd February 2018 Renegades 16Inferno 13 16Cache 4

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	38 - 22	+16	80.9	1.39
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	38 - 27	+11	88.8	1.29
Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan	33 - 27	+6	83.8	1.22
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsGuardiaN	33 - 26	+7	63.1	1.11
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister	31 - 28	+3	64.3	0.99

Renegades	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Justin 'jks' Savagejks	31 - 34	-3	78.4	1.00
Aaron 'AZR' WardAZR	28 - 33	-5	60.5	0.86
Noah 'Nifty' FrancisNifty	22 - 34	-12	50.8	0.80
Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostadjkaem	27 - 36	-9	63.7	0.79
Karlo 'USTILO' PivacUSTILO	22 - 36	-14	55.6	0.74

Renegades #16 Justin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadKarlo 'USTILO' PivacNoah 'Nifty' Francis Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer Age: 26 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 1038 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.65 Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács Age: 26 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 1085 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.62 FaZe #1 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenOlof 'olofmeister' KajbjerLadislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' Nygaard Håvard 'rain' Nygaard Age: 23 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 788 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.69 Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad Age: 23 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 539 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.70 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 21 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 763 KPR: 0.81 DPR: 0.68 Noah 'Nifty' Francis Age: 20 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 487 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.66