The IEM Katowice 2022 grand finals ended with a phenomenal championship run for FaZe Clan, defeating G2 Esports in a true marathon of a series.
FaZe Clan defeated G2 Esports 3-0 to cap off a fantastic $1 million LAN tournament. After defeating Heroic, Gambit, and Team Liquid, FaZe overcame the final challenge to secure $400,000 and tons of circuit points for BLAST Premier and the ESL Pro Tour.
While every player contributed in their own way, Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken showed particular prowess with 97 kills and 90.6 damages per round. The Canadian rifler contributed several high-impact multi-kills throughout the IEM Katowice grand finals.
IEM Katowice grand finals start with miracle comeback from FaZe
G2 Esports kicked off the pistol round with a nearly 180° flick with the duallies from Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov. From unexpected flicks to rifle wallbangs, the young AWPer contributed greatly to G2’s initial 3-0 lead.
The pace slowed down in the following rifle rounds, which initially traded between the European squads but economic strain quickly forced FaZe onto pistols. Banana became the epicenter of the action, with wild anti-eco swings from G2’s Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and Deagle spam from Twistzz. Incredible team play from G2 Esports raised the lead to 7-1.
After another successful rifle round from FaZe in round 11, G2’s domination continued through the first half. FaZe turned its attention to the A site, but Audric “JACKZ” Jug locked it down from pit while m0NESY monitored arches. Two more B executes earned an additional pair of rounds for FaZe, but 4-11 isn’t an inspiring first half in the IEM Katowice grand finals.
FaZe broke G2’s pistol round record when a gutsy defuse. The momentum continued into a 7-11 scoreline, leading to a tactical timeout from G2. The short break led to a sudden reversal. G2’s rifles finally pierced B site and snatched the economic advantage. A few more trades later and G2 sat at map point 15-8. A wild triple kill from Helvijs “broky” Saukants kept the dream alive for FaZe Clan.
The rifle rounds quickly piled up to a 13-15 scoreline. FaZe wanted overtime, and the necessary eight-round streak was just two rounds away. G2’s desperate pistol buy looked strong, but broky fired back with another phenomenal site defense to push round 29. With one rifle buy left in the tank, G2 charged towards the A bomb site. A clever pick on a scoped broky looked good for G2, but an insane four-piece from Robin “ropz” Kool secured extra rounds for map one of the IEM Katowice grand finals.
FaZe continued the mental victory into overtime, quickly pushing G2 into a corner. Two rounds away from the first map of the series, FaZe captain Finn “karrigan” Andersen swung out from bottom mid to clear three G2 players from the map. In the final round, three whiffed AWP shots from m0NESY welcomed FaZe to the A site. A final blitz finished off the miracle comeback in game one of IEM Katowice grand finals.
G2 Esports lets huge comeback win slip away on Mirage
Map two, Mirage, was an opportunity for G2 to retake the initiative, but a bomb plant was all it could muster. FaZe continued to tear through eco and rifle rounds alike, quickly mounting a 6-0 lead. A few multi-kills from Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač gave G2 a glimmer of hope, but Twistzz and karrigan were quick to swat it away. Secret agent NiKo was clearly affected by the Inferno throw, going 0-7 into round eight.
G2 Esports was thrown a bone with successful A site takes. A perilous one-on-one against m0NESY ended in JACKZ’s favor. Unphased by G2’s comeback attempt, FaZe doubled-down on A site holds as a core strategy for the IEM Katowice grand finals.
G2 scored one more successful plant by playing aggressively against the double-AWP retake, but a mid blitz from FaZe sealed the first half 11-4.
Now staring down a massive disadvantage of its own, G2 Esports started the CT side by converting a successful A trade into a B site defense. FaZe Clan kept up the pressure in the following anti-eco, opening up a reversal opportunity in the rifle round. After planting and taking 60 chip damage from wallbangs and a frag grenade, Twistzz pulled up with a one-on-two clutch to establish a foothold for FaZe. Clever positioning under palace took G2 entirely by surprise.
JACKZ initiated a resurgence for G2 up to an 8-14 scoreline. The Frenchman kept A site clean from under palace, which quickly became a weak spot for FaZe Clan. Once players finally started paying attention, m0NESY had room for XANTARES-esque peeks from ticket booth.
A phenomenal eco performance from FaZe stand-in Justin “jks” Savage finally turned the tide and put FaZe on map point, but it wasn’t to last. Three more G2 blitzes put the game at 15-13, threatening a second overtime in just as many maps at IEM Katowice grand finals. FaZe stumbled through two more rounds to launch Mirage into extra rounds.
Map two ends for FaZe in quintuiple overtime in IEM Katowice grand finals
A clean A-site execute established the plant for FaZe, with captain karrigan swinging out from tetris to secure the opening round. A successful pivot to B added another to FaZe’s tally, but awkward timing shifted the advantage to G2. FaZe still held a single-round advantage at the switch.
ropz clenched sniper’s nest with an iron fist, earning a man advantage for FaZe early in the fourth round. jks’ kills added up to 28 by this point, matching map star Twistzz. FaZe rotations forced multiple trades on the A site, filing it down to a two-on-two. A wild AWP shot from karrigan couldn’t stop the plant, leading to a successful plant with just milliseconds on the clock. A whirlwind of frags in mid secured double overtime.
A late rotation to B site secured the first plant of double overtime for G2. huNter- kept his cool near van to seal the one-on-two clutch, giving the early advantage to G2. The momentum immediately switched with a lighting response from FaZe on A site, evening up the situation. A ticking clock put NiKo in a plant-or-die situation, but a bomb tap revealed his position for jks to finish off the round.
In the next round, m0NESY clipped broky’s elbow as the latter approached from T ramp, shutting down FaZe’s retake attempt and evening things up at 20-20. With just 5 health, Twistzz took a clever position on the B site box to catch JACKZ by surprise and inch closer to a 2-0 lead. Combined frags from the Bosnian cousins shut down the attempt, leading to triple overtime.
G2 kicked off the 43rd round with a monster A take, but jks found himself just outside of plant range with four seconds left., That minor mistake handed G2 the first round, which is capitalized on with a B stack to take another. FaZe finally rallied back with an entry from captain karrigan, netting a 1-2 disadvantage at the switch.
A gutsy retake attempt from market didn’t work out for FaZe, putting G2 at map point with two chances to capitalize. A smart molotov flushed jks out from under palace, but trades from stairs and jungle handed the man advantage right back to FaZe.
The threat of quadruple overtime loomed in Katowice, as if the grand finals weren’t tense enough already. G2’s default quickly turned to indecision as the remaining trio of Aleksib, NiKo, and JACKZ wandered back and forth between spawn and mid. A beautiful lurk from karrigan finalized quadruple overtime.
Twistzz calmed down after his early dominance on Mirage, but he opened up the start of quadruple overtime with a brilliant three-man spray. FaZe followed up with a clean plant on A site, but all of G2 collapsed on the site to start the defuse. Now at 26-24, FaZe attempted to close out its CT half with a strong mid take. Aleksib was the first to fall but was traded for ropz. The trades led to a delayed bomb plant on A, handing the final round to G2.
huNter- and m0NESY teamed up for a decisive B site hold, taking down all five players in the span of just a few seconds. G2 kept the momentum with an absolute mid swarm, granting a clean round yet another chance at map point. A cheeky jiggle peek from karrigan nullified m0NESY’s aggressive palace positioning, but B site trades pushed the second map of the IEM Katowice grand finals into an insane quintuple overtime.
After an extended break for players to use the restroom, the fifth overtime opened up with a flurry of frags. The post-plant situation quickly turned into a potential one-against-two clutch for broky. A molotov on the bomb secured the round and an aggressive rush by m0NESY resulted in FaZe gaining the early upper hand. FaZe followed up with dual peeks in mid and ramp.
With two rounds on T side, FaZe repeated the feat with broky blazing down mid to take sniper’s next for himself. FaZe finally secured an amazing half with one more needed to go up 2-0.
karrigan attempted to finalize the map with a sneaky peek through his own smoke, but it fell to jks to finish the job. The one-on-two ended in a tight defuse to finally end the map in FaZe’s favor. The stand-in could make a solid case for being the Most Valuable Player of the IEM Katowice grand finals.
FaZe Clan finishes IEM Katowice 2022 in three-map grand finals
The 10 players returned to the stage exhausted for the third map on Dust 2. NiKo’s poor performance on Mirage immediately resumed with getting instantly P250 tapped in A long. FaZe’s rotation into a B hit secured the bomb plant, but a slow rotation forces the entry from huNter-, which did little to stop the hold. FaZe Clan’s standard anti-eco defaults played out to a T. G2 fired back with strong mid control to take the fourth round, and a risky rifle buy from FaZe appeared to backfire, but a force buy worked out to put FaZe up 5-2.
FaZe started defaulting to delayed A takes with special emphasis on long. Utility started flying towards the pit, cutting off G2’s rotation options and forcing unfavorable retake attempts from CT and ramp. Twistzz attempted to finish round nine with a shock retake attempt that was just one tap away from succeeding. FaZe’s economy was promptly devastated by a B rush gone wrong, giving G2 a 5-6 score and the opportunity to get the game under control.
NiKo began picking up steam in the third map of IEM Katowice grand finals with a quad kill to defend Dust 2 A site. 6-6 turned into 7-6 for FaZe as G2 began pulling out the AUGs. karrigan started laughing at the end of round 13, partially at his opponents but mostly with his teammates in an effort to raise morale. G2 responded by baiting FaZe into mid only to pinch them from CT and B site. Two frags from huNter- evened things up yet again. The first half would end with the smallest possible advantage for FaZe at 8-7.
G2 leveraged a successful pistol round into three more solid rounds, but FaZe fired back with rifles to retake a slight lead. A successful anti-eco widened the gap to 12-10, but G2’s solid economy would promise a fight in the ensuing rounds. A triple from jks put G2 just one buy away from getting 3-0ed in the IEM Katowice grand finals.
G2 rallied behind m0NESY’s AWP as the game orbited around A site control. The Russian youngster and karrigan locked down A-long with tight angles and clever use of utility, slowing down FaZe’s advance and keeping the anti-eco engagements as long as possible.
Tied at 13-13, FaZe gambled on a final rifle buy to swing the advantage. Aggressive double doors peeks from karrigan were backed up by a quad kill from broky. A double kill from karrigan wasn’t enough to stop G2 from tying things up 14-14, but FaZe fired back with excellent AWP play from broky to earn 15 total rounds.
After a tactical timeout from G2, the pan-European team settled for a force buy with two Deagles on JACKZ and m0NESY. A collateral shot from broky put two G2 players low for Twistzz and jks to finish them off.
After six overtimes across three maps with a stand-in, FaZe Clan finally took the championship for itself along with the $400,000 grand prize. IEM Katowice marked the first time a North American and Australian player had ever won an Intel Extreme Masters championship, and it was done in a bombastic fashion.
