G2 rally by FaZe, reach final at Road to Rio - Europe

G2 Esports continued their charmed run through the lower bracket with another rally on Saturday, beating FaZe Clan to advance to the Grand Final of the ESL One: Road to Rio - Europe playoffs. G2 won the last two maps to clinch a 2-1 victory over FaZe. That set up a rematch in the Grand Final of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament with Astralis, who swept G2 in the upper-bracket semifinals on Wednesday.

Since the loss to Astralis, G2 had beaten Team Heretics and Team Vitality each by a 2-1 margin in the lower bracket, with all four of their map victories coming by a 16-14 margin. Major comebacks were required in both deciding maps: G2 trailed the third map (Mirage) 13-5 against Heretics, and trailed the third map (Dust II) 10-2 against Vitality. The dramatics continued Saturday against FaZe, who had gone 8-0 in the event before being swept in Friday's upper-bracket final by Astralis. FaZe got the early jump on G2 with a 16-11 victory on Dust II.

But G2 responded quickly, overcoming a 9-8 deficit to take Mirage 16-10 and level the match. In the third map, on Nuke, G2 won seven of the first eight rounds after the midway point, ultimately pulling away for a 16-11 win to seal the victory. Sunday's final is best-of-five, but Astralis will open with a one-map advantage by virtue of winning the upper bracket. The champion will receive 500 Pro Tour points and 1,600 Regional Major Rankings points, plus $33,000 of the $115,000 prize pool. The runner-up will get 350 Pro Tour points, 1,500 RMR points and $21,500.

In the first meeting between the teams on Wednesday, Astralis took Vertigo 16-13 and Overpass 16-7. In Saturday's other action, GODSENT rallied by North for a 2-1 victory in the seventh-place match. North claimed Dust II 16-8, but GODSENT took Vertigo 16-8 and Nuke 16-14.

In addition to the Grand Final, Sunday will also pit Ninjas in Pyjamas against Heretics in the fifth-place match. The ESL One: Rio Major, a $2 million CS:GO event, was originally scheduled to be held May 11-24 in Rio de Janeiro, but it was pushed back to Nov. 9-22 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The regional qualifying events for North America, South America, Oceania and Asia have concluded. Play in the Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States regions wraps up Sunday.

The teams are competing for a total of $255,000 in the online tournaments, as well as for Regional Major Ranking points to be applied toward berths at the ESL One: Rio Major. ESL One: Road to Rio - Europe prize pool, with prize money and Regional Major Ranking points:

1. $33,000, 1,600 points 2. $21,500, 1,500 points

3. $14,000, 1,400 points -- FaZe Clan 4. $10,000, 1,300 points -- Team Vitality

5. $7,500, 1,200 points 6. $6,500, 1,100 points

7. $6,000, 1,000 points -- GODSENT 8. $5,000, 900 points -- North

9. $3,250, 800 points -- ENCE 10. $2,500, 700 points -- Copenhagen Flames

11. $2,250, 600 points -- Movistar Riders 12. $1,500, 500 points -- Fnatic

13-14. $1,000, 350 points -- Complexity Gaming, mousesports 15-16. no prize money, 150 points -- c0ntact Gaming, Dignitas

--Field Level Media

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)