FaZe Clan knock Oxygen to lower bracket, advance to face Liquid

_{Image via Ubisoft}

Oxygen vs. FaZe Clan was somewhat puzzlingly played on FaZe Clan’s best maps. Gabriel “LaXInG” Mirelez said that they were prepared to play on those maps, but couldn’t take advantage of some small advantages that ended up costing them rounds. Gabriel “cameram4n” Hespanhol was stunned as well: FaZe expected Oregon. However, the maps for their match ended up being Bank - Clubhouse - Kafe Dostoyevsky. 

FaZe’s Bank defense was extremely tenacious. They gave a lot of map control away for little on basement defenses, but solid flanks and quality Smoke play from Lucas “soulz1” Schinke were the difference in close rounds.  Leonardo “Astro” Buzzachera particularly had an extremely solid defensive half, notching seven kills in six rounds. 

FaZe won Bank 7-3, and while there were some close rounds, it seemed like FaZe was in control the entire time. Clubhouse was the second map, another one of FaZe’s best maps. 

Franklyn “Vertcl” Cordero notched an absolute last-second plant denial that was impressive in round one, but this map was once again all FaZe Clan’s. Oxygen had a solid roam set up on defense, but FaZe seemed to ignore it and just hit the site. 

FaZe Clan was excellent at pressing their advantage. On Clubhouse, they pressed with one man up and pressed hard. In both maps of the series, FaZe started out beating conventional wisdom – winning Bank defense and splitting Clubhouse attack. 

“It’s the little things,” LaXInG said of Oxygen’s performance over the past week. Throughout the tournament, Oxygen has had some gaps that SI-caliber teams exploit: whether it’s not entirely clearing called utility or not following up on hot drones, the small errors that are so crucial in Siege are getting Oxygen behind in man count, round count, and map count. 

The numbers back this up. Four members of Oxygen were positive in entry stats. Three OXG members didn’t give up an entry death at all. Cameram4n says that wasn’t a problem – his team knows how to “manage” really well, and they identified a weakness in Oxygen’s game. Specifically, cameram4n cites Oxygen’s executes as lacking from what he’s seen. “We came to this game with that mentality and that mindset: that we [would] just try to let them execute and make things harder for them during that,” he said

The loss knocks Oxygen to the lower bracket – they’ll play tomorrow against MNM Gaming for their tournament life. FaZe Clan moves on to face historic regional rival team Liquid for the second time in the Six Invitational 2022.