NRG upset FaZe, advance to the semis at the ECS Season Five Finals

NRG Esports have earned a spot in the ECS Season Five Finals playoffs, continuing their dominance at the top of Counter-Strike.

The rising North Americans defeated G2 Esports and FaZe Clan in their brief trek through the ECS group stage. They won two best-of-ones to secure a spot in the playoffs on Sunday, June 10, where they’ll be playing against the yet to be determined second place Group A team.

Related: Astralis tops Group A at the ECS Season 5 Finals

The opening Group B matches were both one-sided contests on Mirage, featuring NRG Esports thrashing the newly formed G2 Esports and FaZe crushing Luminosity Gaming. There wasn’t anything too spectacular going on during those games, except it was evidence that G2 has a lot of work to do on the skill and tactical side of their gameplay. NRG won 16-4 and FaZe won 16-1.

Both teams fought on Cache in the winners’ match, and surprisingly NRG stunned FaZe throughout the game. With Ethan “nathE” Arnold and Tsvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov leading the charge in frags, the NA squad stumped the FaZe aggression with a solid CT side at 11-4. NahtE won a one-on-three clutch in the second pistol round, allowing his team to inch closer to victory. Cache ended with NRG on top at 16-8.

Group B action will continue tomorrow at 7:15am CT with G2 facing LG in the elimination match. NRG will await the winner of that match for the decider match, which will be held later in the day.