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Despite unconvincing performances on ??? ? ??both maps, and the stiff resistance of FlyQuest, FaZe have scraped into the playoffs.

FaZe have scraped their way into the BLAST Rivals Season 1 playoffs thanks to a narrow victory over FlyQuest, inching to wins on Inferno (13-11) and Nuke (22-18).

Inferno seemed set to be an easy FaZe win after a strong defensive half, as the European combine answered back after a pistol loss with a force-buy and rode that momentum to a 9-3 advantage.

FlyQuest, however, fought back with a strong defense of their own, Declan "?Vexite?" Portelli and Corey "?nettik?" Browne doing the bulk of the work to haul their team back into contention. Jonathan "?EliGE?" Jablonowski came alive late in the half with key entry kills, including one in a vital Tec-9 force-buy, to ensure FaZe did just enough to clinch a 13-11 victory.

broky denies the defuse at the last moment

Nuke started with FaZe once again putting up a convincing first half, this time doing so on the T side thanks to completely outplaying FlyQuest across the map with clever manipulation of rotations.

Again, FlyQuest went about mounting a comeback in the second half, opting for a much more grouped-up and up-tempo approach to start their attack. FaZe managed to put together some isolated round wins to get to match point, after which FlyQuest slowed their approach and began focusing more on the lower site, with Vexite finding a string of impactful openings.

regali 1v3 clutch sends Nuke to OT

It seemed FlyQuest had squandered their comeback in the final round of regulation, faltering with an Upper pop, but a heroic 1v3 clutch from Iulian "?regali?" Harj?u sent the map to OT.

OT was a back-and-forth affair, with EliGE, nettik and Joshua "?INS?" Potter all providing vital moments of impact to win rounds for their team. Ultimately FaZe showed enough improvement on their final CT half to scrape the series win, after being taken all the way to three sets of extra rounds.

FaZe still far from convincing

FaZe may have won this series, but they were far from convincing victors. A strugglesome T side on Inferno was bailed out by EliGE's entries and a low-buy victory, whilst Nuke needed some desperate adaptation on their CT side deep into OT.

There is so much work needed for FaZe. They are often disjointed, are prone to very poor halves, and seem to be desperately lacking confidence. EliGE repeatedly mentioned FaZe suffering "PTSD" from previous round losses, and that this affected their play. They'll need to find a way to break away from that mentality if they are to improve.

FlyQuest fall despite valiant effort

Top 10 sides are just a barrier FlyQuest can't break. FlyQuest really did have chances to take this series, but leaving themselves in deep holes going into the second half of maps certainly didn't help. They were also broken after pistol wins three times in this series, and without these issues, the Aussie side could have at least forced a decider.

BLAST Rivals 2025 Season 1Best of 3

FlyQuest

Matchpage 0 2 1st May 2025

FaZe 11Inferno 13 18Nuke 22

?FlyQuest	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.1
Corey 'nettik' Brownenettik	45 - 43	+2	75.4	1.02
Declan 'Vexite' PortelliVexite	42 - 45	-3	70.4	0.98
Joshua 'INS' PotterINS	32 - 47	-15	75.4	0.91
Jay 'Liazz' TregillgasLiazz	36 - 44	-8	62.4	0.85
Iulian 'regali' Harj?uregali	37 - 45	-8	59.3	0.81

?FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.1
Helvijs 'broky' Saukantsbroky	53 - 35	+18	72.8	1.25
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	49 - 38	+11	85.9	1.25
David 'frozen' ?erňanskyfrozen	41 - 39	+2	75.8	1.13
H?vard 'rain' Nygaardrain	43 - 38	+5	76.0	1.08
Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan	35 - 42	-7	69.4	0.90