FaZe Clan has defeated Cloud9 in the Grand Final of ESL Pro League 17 and won the event. Because of this fantastic win, the team also earned the title of Intel Grand Slam. Broky, Twistzz and ropz powered FaZe to their first event trophy in a long while (since the player break)! All three of them posted individual monster-efforts and numbers.
FaZe had a flawless run until their last game against Cloud9, and they also had an outstanding performance in the Grand Final. Finn “karrigan” Andersen’s team and Cloud9 have been a thorn in each other’s side for a long time. 5 years ago, at the Boston Major, Cloud9 had managed to defeat FaZe Clan. Cloud9 had also managed to beat FaZe’s lineup several times in 2022, for example at the Grand Slam in Dallas, Texas. They also couldn’t beat them in the previous Pro League, going down in the quarter final, making it a big-event-rivalry. Now they faced each other again in Malta and fought for the title on 5 maps (although only four were played because the winner was already decided after 4 maps).
Overview of the game FaZe vs. Cloud9
FaZe started the match in a dominant way and managed to win the first map Overpass with a relatively close score of 16:13. The second map was Inferno and FaZe dominated from the beginning. After a flying start FaZe was up 9-0 on CT, before the switch they got two more rounds and by securing the pistol and following it up, they were already in safe waters. Even though Ax1le tried his best with a few stellar rounds FaZe finished the map with a score of 16-9. The third map was Inferno and Cloud9 was back in better form. The two teams went back and forth, but in the end the CIS team was stronger and won the map by a clear margin of 16-11.
ONE OF A KIND.@Twistzz IS NOW THE ONLY PLAYER IN HISTORY TO EVER WIN TWO #IntelGrandSlam TITLES! 2️⃣🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/utRWba96Cq
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) March 26, 2023
Next up was Ancient, Cloud9 managed to come back from a 2-6 deficit and it looked like they might turn the tide, but FaZe once again outclassed Cloud9 to win the map 16-11 and with it the tournament. With this, FaZe once again took the top spot in competitive CS:GO and made it clear to everyone why they are considered one of the best teams in the world.
FaZe wins additional $1 million prize
By winning their fourth big-event title FaZe Clan has earned an additional $1 million, thanks to the Intel Grand Slam. The Intel Grand Slam title is a rare thing and only a few teams manage to win it. The big-events making you eligible for the Intel Grand Slam are the IEM’s, BLAST Premier, EPL Finals and BLAST Premier.
THE GRAND SLAM IS OURS 🏆🏆🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/hcMpUHaZYp
— FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) March 26, 2023
FaZe is now amongst the legendary teams like Astralis (2018) Natus Vincere (2021) and Team Liquid who finished their run in only 63 days (2019) Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken is the first CS:GO pro to take home two Intel Grand Slams! He won his first one 4 years ago at Team Liquid.
ropz is elected MVP
Robin “ropz” Kool was named MVP following his amazing performance throughout the event. Overall, ropz finished the event with an impact rating of 1.24, 0.77 KPR, 0.56 DPR and 83.4 ADR. He consistently put in solid performances and his stats barely fluctuated, even when he faced more difficult opponents. It is ropz’s third MVP award in his career. He received the previous medals for top performances in both ESL Pro League seasons 10 and 15. Shortly after FaZe Clan got the trophy for EPL 17, each player still received the Intel Grand Slam money in the form of a gold bar.