FaZe Clan Win ESL Pro League Season 15

FaZe Clan proved that their title-winning run at IEM Katowice 2022 was more than a fluke this Sunday, April 10, when they claimed the CS:GO ESL Pro League Season 15 title with a 3-1 victory over ENCE. With that, FaZe locked in their second title of the Intel Grand Slam.

FaZe Clan came out of nowhere to win the IEM Katowice in February, with many wondering whether their run to the trophy was a fluke or not. We have seen many teams in the past win a major trophy only to fall flat at the next tournament, but FaZe Clan showed that they’re not like any other team.

With a phenomenal performance throughout the tournament and particularly in the playoffs, Finn “karrigan” Andersen and his crew went all the way and hoisted the ESL Pro League Season 15 trophy. They rounded up their title-winning run with an emphatic 3-1 victory over ENCE in the finals on Sunday.

The ESL Pro League marks FaZe’s second important CS:GO tournament title in a row. Moreover, it is the second title that counts toward the Intel Grand Slam Season 4.

Even though FaZe claimed the ESL Pro League S15 title in a commanding fashion, the team did not have the best start to the tournament. In fact, FaZe could have easily been eliminated from the group stage.

FaZe entered ESL Pro League as the reigning IEM Katowice 2022 champions and one of the top dogs to go all the way, but they had a very rough start to the event.

FaZe kicked off the ESL Pro League in Group B, where they suffered back-to-back defeats against ENCE (1-2) and Outsiders (0-2). Once they were 0-2 down, FaZe found their stride and started posting results everyone expected of them.

They first took down Sprout (2-0), to which they added two more commanding victories against Team Vitality (2-0) and FURIA (2-1). With a 3-2 record, FaZe were still not safe from elimination as they could have easily been passed by Outsiders had the Russian squad defeated Vitality.

However, things fell into place for FaZe when Vitality stomped Outsiders (2-0) in the first match of the final group stage round, giving FaZe to decide their fate. And they did – with a closely fought yet well-deserved 2-1 victory over FURIA.

Despite their less-than-convincing start to the tournament, FaZe looked much different when the playoffs hit. In the first round of the playoffs, FaZe faced off against Players, who they beat 2-1 with two dominant showings on Inferno (16-4) and Overpass (16-9).

In the second round of the playoffs, FaZe faced off against the reigning Major champions and the tournament favorites, Natus Vincere. And while many expected this to be the end of the road for FaZe, karrigan and his crew proved everyone wrong.

Not only did they beat NaVi, but they did so without dropping a single map. FaZe swept NaVi with 2-0, with 16-11 on Inferno and 16-12 on Dust II, securing their ticket for the semi-finals.

In the semis, FaZe reunited with FURIA Esports, who proved to be no match for FaZe, who won 2-0, and booked their ticket for the ESL Pro League Season 15 finals.

Meeting them in the grand finals were no other than ENCE, who fought their way into the finals as a darkhorse team, beating the likes of Movistar Riders (2-1) and Ninjas in Pyjamas (2-0).

ENCE entered the match leading in the head-to-head, having beaten FaZe (2-1) in the first round of Group B. But this time, the result would be much different.

Even though ENCE showed a lot of good qualities in the match and even took a map (19-17 on Overpass), FaZe proved to be too tough of an opponent. They won the series 3-1 with 16-11 on Vertigo, 16-9 on Mirage, and they closed out the series with a 16-12 on Dust II.

With this victory, FaZe pocketed $190,000 in tournament winnings, a spot at BLAST World Final 2022, and are now two S-Tier events away from winning the Intel Grand Slam title.