Bottom clash in Barcelona: FaZe and Astralis fight to avoid shared last place in Stake Ranked Episode 4

A disappointing first day at Stake Ranked Episode 4 has put both FaZe and Astralis in a critical situation. Both teams lost their opening matches – Astralis to Alliance and FaZe to Nemiga 0-2 – and now face each other in the tournament's first elimination match at 12:00 in Barcelona.

The loser of the match will finish in shared last place in the tournament. This is not merely a matter of prestige: both teams have travelled to Barcelona with ambitions of securing major participation at PGL Singapore Major, and an early exit significantly reduces their chances. Several poor results throughout October could, by nature of the situation, put both teams in serious danger of missing the major entirely.

FaZe's loss to Nemiga was close, but costly. On Mirage, FaZe reached match point with a 12-8 lead, but failed to close out the map and lost in overtime. On Ancient, the story was similar – FaZe came close to forcing overtime, but Nemiga held firm and won 13-11. Overall, FaZe are now 1-8 on maps across four matches in the tournament.

With both teams under pressure, today's match is directly decisive for who retains a real chance of reaching the major via Stake Ranked Episode 4 – and who must leave Barcelona with a result that makes the road there significantly harder.