FaZe Clan has dodged elimination and now stands two wins away from making it to the playoffs of IEM Krakow Stage 2. Losing their opening game in the event, FaZe continues to fight through the lower bracket, and while it may not be an easy path, FaZe is not known to make tournament runs without drama.
VETO
- BC.Game removed Mirage
- FaZe removed Inferno
- BC.Game picked Dust2
- FaZe picked Nuke
- BC.Game removed Anubis
- FaZe removed Overpass
- Ancient was left over
Map 1: Dust2; Pick: BC.Game; Winner: FaZe
A quick A site split gave BC.Game, the perfect start before a successful retake, gave FaZe their first round in Round 3. FaZe remained largely dominant for the better part of the game, but BC.Game pulling a few rounds in made the first half competitive with a 7-5 scoreline. Losing the pistol round, FaZe hit back with a force buy conversion off the back of some crisp deagle shots. Winning the force buy, FaZe got complete control of the game, giving BC.Game no room to get back in the game, and while they managed to win 3 rounds, FaZe convincingly closed the game with a 13-8 scoreline. A collective effort from FaZe ensured that every player had the chance to shine, making it a solid team performance that brought home the first map.
Map 2: Nuke; Pick: FaZe; Winner: BC.Game
A 3-0 start for FaZe gave them a better start on Nuke than their own map pick, with broky kicking things off with an ace before BC.Game hit the board on the first gun with a successful retake. FaZe only managed two more rounds on their offense from this point onwards before BC.Game closed the half with a narrow lead of 7-5. Following a decent offense, FaZe dropped the ball miserably on their defense with BC.Game running a stellar, fast-paced T side to win 6 rounds and only losing the first gun round. The stellar BC.Game comeback was made possible with s1mple topping the charts with 19 kills to his name. Broky became the only player to maintain a positive KD for FaZe.
Map 3: Ancient; Pick: FaZe; Winner: FaZe
A 2-0 start to map after a comfortable win can be completely derailed by a perfect FaZe Clan defense. Winning 10 rounds in a row after losing the pistol, FaZe Clan showed that they were not messing around after their defense fell flat on Nuke. Switching sides with a 10-2 scoreline, FaZe Clan put up a statement start, and while they lost the pistol, they made up for it in the following rounds by converting the force-buy and continuing the momentum by winning 3 in a row and closing out the map. While s1mple was expected to be the AWPer dominating the map, it was Broky who was the better AWPer, complemented by Twistzz dropping 21 kills and 2.25 IR to make sure FaZe survive another day in Krakow.
s1mple’s BC.Game bows out of IEM Krakow 2026, and while we had lots of expectations from his new team but it goes without saying that they need more time to be able to produce something convincing. Only time will tell if this line-up can work in the long run, but for now, they miss the chance to make it to the arena.