Going in the last day of Group B at the ESL Pro League Season 15, FaZe Clan still has a chance to qualify for the playoffs. Considering their start to the event, this can be considered a small miracle.
They started their campaign with losses to Outsiders and ENCE before recovering by beating Sprout and Vitality yesterday.
FaZe Clan still needs a small miracle if they want to qualify today, as winning their series against Furia won't be enough to lock in a playoffs spot.
The unexpected kings of Group B
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Brazilian CS is back. Or at least they are back on top of a group at EPL.
But Furia's strong showing in Dusseldorf is promising for the region's future, as they have struggled with competing in the highest echelons in the past few years.
Furia's return to the top is thanks to two gambles.
They promoted Andre "drop" Abreu from the academy team, and while the player hasn't impressed statistically yet, he seems to be a good fit for the team.
And they signed 26-year-old Rafael "saffee" Costa, who, despite his age, has only been playing professionally for under two years.
With saffee, they now have the reliable AWPer that sets in-game leader Andrei "arT" Piovezan free to return to his ridiculously aggressive antics.
Winning is not enough
Image: BLAST
How did FaZe end up here?
Following their victory at IEM Katowice, surviving the EPL group stage was supposed to be a piece of cake.
But now, they'll need a second monitor to watch the Outsiders-Vitality game, hoping Outsiders lose.
FaZe wouldn't be the first team to be knocked out prematurely in EPL. Just look at G2's track record over the past few editions.
But it would be a significant blow for the team.
It has once again raised the discussion about the round-robin format EPL uses, where teams are forced to play against every other team in their group despite their chances of still qualifying.
While not a system that leads to the best teams finishing on top every time, it leads to surprises, upsets, and disappointments.
Something you desperately need in an event that takes a month to complete the group stage.
