FaZe have won SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 Finals after a nail-biting final against Astralis (2-1; Mirage 14-16, Nuke 16-6, Inferno 19-17).

FaZe continued with their fantastic record in pistol rounds with Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard and Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey combining for five kills on the T side of Mirage. The next two were split, which meant Astralis had to eco, but the Danes came on top of that one thanks to defending the B bombsite.

With that, Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander's men managed to climb to their first lead on the map at 5-4 following a defuse in a smoke when the team was at a disadvantage. FaZe then attempted a couple of splits, one to each bombsite, but only the first worked out while Astralis got to 7-5.

Nevertheless, FaZe were the ones to get away with the better half, grabbing the last three rounds for a 8-7 scoreline.



device's 1v3 clutch turned the tide on Mirage

Yet another pistol round win saw FaZe reach 11 rounds before Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz clutched 1v3 with a stolen AWP and smart play around a smoke. The rounds then kept going back and forth until it was 13-13 shortly after another forcebuy win going Astralis' way.

Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač's huge double due to a timely push from underpass saved FaZe from having to eco, but their economy was in shambles anyway once the Danish side equalized the score again at 14-14 with an A execute. Fighting only against pistols during the remaining two rounds, device & company clinched map one at 16-14.

Another clean pistol at the beginning of Nuke gave FaZe a 4-0 lead early on, starting as Counter-Terrorists. gla1ve then saved a 1v3 attempt from kioShiMa on lower for Astralis' first round, which turned into three soon after.

Doubles from the Frenchman and rain stopped the short-lived streak and FaZe went on to rack up several rounds in a row with Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli putting up a quad-kill and NiKo chiming in with three kills later on. That gave the IEM Katowice runners-up a fantastic 11-4 half.

The second pistol round going their way as well with kioShiMa grabbing another big multi-kill left Astralis with all but zero room for error. FaZe took very little time to finish off map two, winning 16-6 to force the decider, Inferno.

karrigan's side delivered a message on Nuke



karrigan's side delivered a message on Nuke

FaZe didn't manage to win their sixth pistol in the series, but they did win the following force on the back of three kills from NiKo. After the European mixture won three out of the next four rounds, Astralis picked up a round with a poor forcebuy which rockestarted them into the half.

Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's squad couldn't find a way past the Danes' defences for the rest of the half with the exception of just one round, as Astralis switched over with a very comfortable 10-5.

FaZe got the much-needed pistol afterwards after three players waited in CT spawn for the information to come in, closing the gap to three rounds. They then had to save three guns due to losing the B bombsite without trades, and those weapons helped them eliminate all money on Astralis' side in the following rounds despite losing it in the end.

That in turn gave FaZe the economical advantage once they clinched the next round and once again found themselves just two rounds away from tying their opponents at 12-10. Multi-kills from device and "⁠⁠" made it 14-10, but FaZe didn't give up and replied with a forcebuy win.

After a poor force and an eco, Astralis showcased their signature methodical play to clinch match point, but they couldn't win either of the last two rounds as the match went into overtime. There, the European side stuck to their double AWP setup but got only one round with it thanks to allu's opening double in mid. However, FaZe grabbed three in a row on the T side to clinch their first big trophy at 19-17.

PotM: Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey was not only FaZe's top fragger in the series, he also had the most kills in the rounds they won on Inferno and Nuke (37-12 score in those rounds). Contributing in 91% of rounds on Nuke and 81% on Inferno, the Frenchman's consistency earned him the Player of the Match award.

SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 Finals Best of 3 FaZe Matchpage 2 1 Astralis 14 Mirage 16 16 Nuke 6 19 Inferno 17

FaZe K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Fabien 'kioShiMa' FieykioShiMa 68 - 53 +15 86.6 1.29 Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain 64 - 58 +6 82.1 1.19 Aleksi 'allu' Jalliallu 59 - 47 +12 69.0 1.09 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo 54 - 58 -4 77.7 0.98 Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan 54 - 65 -11 70.7 0.91 Astralis K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x 66 - 58 +8 82.8 1.13 Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice 65 - 60 +5 80.2 1.10 Markus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeKjaerbye 58 - 59 -1 74.2 1.02 Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve 46 - 58 -12 58.4 0.78 Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh 44 - 64 -20 63.8 0.77

Final standings of SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 Finals: