On the night of June 11, FaZe Clan, featuring Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, secured their spot in the third stage of the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 for CS2. The team successfully avoided the pitfalls that befell Team Falcons, overcoming the Brazilian squad MIBR and metaphorically sending them home (“to de_airport”).
Just like the Falcons match, this contest against MIBR also went to overtime. However, unlike their previous outing, MIBR couldn`t ride their luck this time – perhaps having exhausted it already. For viewers, the return of Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev`s signature aggression and desire was a particular highlight.
FaZe Clan didn`t have the best start on the first map. They lost the pistol round quickly and fell behind 0:2. Their first buy round, however, saw them get on the board thanks to crucial opening kills and a smart play from Håvard “rain” Nygaard from connector. A scare came in the fourth round, reminiscent of MIBR`s lucky breaks against Falcons. Felipe “insani” Eufrasio managed a tricky 1v2 clutch on A-plant, pushing through a smoke intended to block him, which instead seemed to favor him. This immediately raised concerns that MIBR might again find fortunate timings.
Fortunately, FaZe then took control and built a lead. The tenth round could have tied the score, but a masterful 2v4 clutch from the duo of s1mple and David “frozen” Čerňanský prevented it. Kostyliev`s spectacular triple kill and Čerňanský`s precise one-tap effectively shut down MIBR on Anubis for the rest of the half.
Despite Anubis being known as a strong T-sided map, MIBR`s attack completely faltered, losing almost every clutch situation. While FaZe secured a dominant scoreline on map one, it didn`t guarantee an easy series win for Finn “karrigan” Andersen`s squad. Everyone remembered how Falcons also won the first map comfortably against MIBR before ultimately losing the match. The second map proved to be a severe challenge, but FaZe ultimately succeeded where the highly-touted Falcons roster had failed.
The second map presented the opposite scenario for FaZe, who started poorly, losing the first three rounds. MIBR, led by Lucas “Lucaozy” Neves, had a great opportunity to extend their lead in the fourth, but karrigan and s1mple had other ideas. A well-executed post-plant from FaZe kept MIBR off the board. Although FaZe dropped a few rounds in the first half, allowing MIBR to narrow the score, s1mple and the team generally appeared more composed than their opponents.
The momentum was short-lived. With FaZe leading 7:5, they seemed to have the second half pistol round secured in a dominant 4v2 situation – MIBR appeared all but defeated. However, a Molotov denying the plant, followed by frozen and s1mple getting picked off, shifted the dynamic. Rain secured a trade on Lucaozy, but insani then eliminated rain, leaving him in a 1v1 against karrigan. Andersen won the duel but ran out of time to defuse, giving MIBR the round and a crucial lifeline back into the game. As the saying goes, “Don`t be a loser, buy a defuser.” Losing that critical pistol round completely flipped the script and threatened to be a fatal error for FaZe.
Facing match point, FaZe Clan had no room for error. The 24th round was incredibly tense, with the season on the line. Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski delivered under pressure, winning a crucial 1v1 clutch to force overtime. While FaZe had seemed to be crumbling and making mistakes just rounds before, the forced comeback and the team`s collective experience allowed them to regain their composure in the extra rounds. This is when the s1mple everyone wanted to see truly arrived. Kostyliev displayed his signature aggressive and fearless style, even famously pushing an opponent with a knife.
In overtime, MIBR completely fell apart and couldn`t replicate the surprising performance they had against Falcons. It seemed they might have indeed used up all their luck. S1mple sealed the deal in the final round with a definitive triple kill, leading FaZe Clan into the third stage of the Major and symbolically avenging the loss suffered by players like Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov and Nikola “NiKo” Kovač (who were on the Falcons roster).
FaZe Clan successfully navigated their way to the next stage, though their path wasn`t entirely smooth. After starting strong with two wins, Kostyliev`s team faced upsets against Legacy and 3DMAX. However, after the loss to the French squad (3DMAX), Kostyliev himself had stated, “If [we lose] — [blame] only me.” This victory against MIBR was his way of answering for those words.
Whether the team can continue to surprise and reach the playoffs remains to be seen. The unique atmosphere of the Major, potential favorable matchups in the seeding, and the unpredictable nature of best-of-one matches (where upsets can happen to even the strongest teams) all play a role. At the time of writing, FaZe`s first opponent in Stage 3 of the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 is known to be Aurora Gaming. Regardless of future outcomes, FaZe Clan has certainly shown they can perform at a high level.