The Guard have made it to the North America Last Chance Qualifier grand final by sweeping FaZe Clan in the upper bracket.
Since forming their roster at the end of 2021 and hitting the ground running in 2022, The Guard has continued to grow as a team and reach new heights. They showed a glimpse of what they were capable of by qualifying for Masters: Reykjavík and now are making one final charge to Champions by executing a near-perfect run through the upper bracket.
FaZe had also been another team who continued to improve at an exponential rate and looked promising as candidates for being the last team to represent NA in İstanbul. FaZe showed that they too have bad days while playing against The Guard, though.
FaZe struggled to get going on their map pick of Haven as The Guard used FaZe’s slow start against them to take a 8-4 lead into halftime. FaZe only walked away with one additional round in the second half to lose the first map 13-5. While JonahP for The Guard was having a solid map on Chamber, FaZe’s POISED couldn’t win a gunfight and finished Haven with a 0.17 KD with only three kills and 17 deaths.
After Haven, the teams moved on to Icebox which had been chosen by The Guard. With one map win under their belt, all The Guard would have to do is carry their momentum into a map that they had the advantage on.
Again, FaZe continued to struggle to win gunfights and post-plant situations, giving The Guard numbers in multiple situations. The Guard repeated their success from the previous map, starting the second half 8-4 yet again. This time, FaZe were able to string together more rounds and get to seven but were unable to close it out, giving The Guard a 13-7 win.
While The Guard goes onto the LCQ final, FaZe will await the winner of Cloud9 vs. 100 Thieves.
Published: Aug 12, 2022 05:07 pm