Jan 26, 2020; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Fans react as the Minnesota Rokkr battle the Toronto Ultra during the Call of Duty League Launch Weekend at The Armory. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports
FaZe Clan rattled off three straight map wins against G2 Esports to capture the grand final of the Intel Extreme Masters XVI — Katowice on Sunday.
FaZe fell behind 3-1 and 9-2 on Inferno, but scored eight straight points to tie and took the next four to win 19-15.
On Mirage, the drama also ratcheted up. FaZe built a 7-0 lead, but then G2 won nine of the last 10 in regulation to forge another 15-15 tie. FaZe ultimately outlasted G2 31-27.
FaZe wrapped up the title with another nailbiter. On Dust II, neither team built big advantages. G2 won three consecutive rounds to tie the map at 13-13, before FaZe won three of the next four for a 16-14 victory and the first prize of $400,000.
G2 took home $180,000 as the runner-up.
Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken of Canada, Robin “ropz” Kool of Estonia and Helvijs “broky” Saukants of Latvia finished with 97, 96 and 95 kills, respectively, and had K-D differentials of plus-15, plus-14 and plus-15.
Nemanja “huNter-” Kovac of Bosnia and Herzegovina posted 113 kills and a K-D differential of plus-23 for G2.
The playoffs served as the last of three tournament’s stages. The top eight teams from the play-in stage joined eight previously qualified teams for the group stage, a double-elimination bracket.
IEM Katowice 2022 prize pool:
1. FaZe Clan — $400,000
2. G2 Esports — $180,000
3-4. Heroic, Natus Vincere — $80,000
5-6. Gambit Esports, Virtus.pro — $40,000
7-8. Ninjas in Pyjamas, Astralis — $24,000
9-12. MOUZ, Team Vitality, Fnatic, FURIA Esports — $16,000
13-16. OG, Copenhagen Flames, Team Liquid, ENCE — $10,000
17-20. BIG, GODSENT, Movistar Riders, Entropiq — $4,500
21-24. Wisla Krakow, Sprout, Renegades, MIBR — $2,500
–Field Level Media