Team Liquid spoils karrigan's FaZe Clan debut in IEM Katowice

Team Liquid defeat FaZe Clan with a clean 2-0 in their opening match at IEM Katowice 2021.

In the final series of matches on the opening day of IEM Katowice, Team Liquid dispatched FaZe Clan in a convincing showing by the American side. The match saw both lineup's debut new in-game leaders.

Catch up on Team Liquid and FaZe Clan

• FalleN to captain Team Liquid for IEM Katowice 2021
• karrigan returns to FaZe Clan

karrigan decent in FaZe Clan re-debut, but loses in IEM Katowice 2021

The action kicked off on Team Liquid's map pick of Mirage. Finn "karrigan" Andersen only had three days of practice with FaZe Clan ahead of his debut match, and this lack of practice cost them on the first map. While FaZe Clan showed some promise, it was clear their protocols were not yet set. Team Liquid, now with Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo calling the shots, exploited every single mistake, resulting in an 8-7 scoreline in favor of the Americans after the first half. 

While the score was close, Team Liquid was playing on the favored CT-side in the second half, where they turned their small lead into a convincing 16-11 final score. 

On the second map of the series, Nuke, FaZe lack of practice showed again. It was a surprising pick for the European squad, as Nuke is a map that is considered to be very tactical and requiring of strong coordination and communication. They had a decent T half, building on a pistol round win to gather 5 rounds. Towards the final part of the half, Team Liquid restored order, resulting in a 10-5 lead at halftime. 

Moving to the second half of the map, FaZe Clan started to show its inexperience as a unit. Recently, FalleN has taken over in-game leadership. But during the play-ins, his unfamiliarity with the map Nuke became apparent and required Jake "Stewie2K" Yip to take over and decide on which strategies to run. Though that's not an ideal situation, Stewie2K was up to the task.

FaZe Clan's star players were put in unfavorable situations and Team Liquid managed to steal FaZe's map pick with a decisive 16-6 score to close out the series 2-0.

Team Liquid moves on to play in the semifinal of Group B's upper bracket while FaZe Clan will have to try to make it out off the elimination bracket.In the next round, Team Liquid will face off against Vitality, who now have their in-game leader, Dan "apEX" Madesclaire, back in action. FaZe Clan will have to overcome European squad OG if they want to stay alive in IEM Katowice 2021.