FaZe Clan and Astralis Duke it Out for a Spot in the ECS Season 5 Grand Final – Report and Highlights

The Grand Final matchup for ECS Season 5 has been decided after Astralis defeated FaZe Clan in the second semifinal.

The second semifinal the last day of competition at the ECS Season 5 Finals saw Astralis come in as the heavy favorites against a FaZe Clan that was once again using a stand-in, this time in the form of Norwegian player Jørgen “cromen” Robertsen.

It quickly became apparent that FaZe Clan hadn’t got the memo, though, as the international team started strong on their map pick, Train, with a 5-0 start following a strong pistol round victory.

Astralis managed to bounce back with a few rounds of their own but FaZe continued to hold strong on their CT side and eventually finished the half with a 10-5 score thanks to some heroics from the likes of Ladislav ‘GuardiaN’ Kovács.

The second half was an almost carbon copy of the first, but this time it was Astralis that got off to the strong start by winning four CT sided rounds on the bounce.

FaZe bounced back with four rounds of their own to reach a total of 14 rounds but Astralis once again showed their resolve and locked down the remaining rounds to take the first map 16-14 thanks to some incredible teamwork as well as individual plays from the likes of Nicolai ‘device’ Reedtz and Emil ‘MagisK’ Reif.

The second map was Astralis’ pick of Inferno. FaZe seemed to have a glimmer of hope as they started on the CT side, but Astralis showed none of the T side weakness that they had displayed in their opening match against Cloud9 and quickly raced off to a commanding lead.

FaZe did manage to claw some rounds back, thanks to some excellent individual plays from the likes of Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač, but Astralis eventually secured a 10-5 lead going into their typically stronger CT side of the map.

FaZe kept their hopes alive by winning their T side pistol round but Astralis soon snatched back control in the rifle rounds with a CT side that quickly started to look impenetrable.

In the end, FaZe Clan had no answer for the Astralis defense and the Danish team marched on to a 16-8 map score and a 2-0 series win.

Astralis will now move on to face Team Liquid in the Grand Final while FaZe Clan will be left to think about what could have been if they had closed out the win on Train.