FaZe lost their own map pick to Sangal – what does it reveal about the team at Roman Imperium Cup IX?

FaZe entered Roman Imperium Cup IX as the top-seeded team and faced Sangal in the upper bracket quarterfinal as their first match of the tournament. The result was a 2-1 victory, but the path there revealed real weaknesses in the team's map pool and current form.

The most telling moment came on the very first map. FaZe themselves picked Dust2, but despite an early 3-0 start, Sangal turned the match around and led the CT half 7-5. Neither team could close out the map in regulation time, and in overtime Sangal took it 16-13. Losing your own map pick to a team that reached the bracket via group stage play and a play-in match is a clear warning sign for a top-seeded team.

Sangal's map pick, Nuke, on the other hand went clearly to FaZe. With Twistzz in the role of IGL, the team steered themselves to an 8-4 lead in the defensive half and won the map 13-7. Both teams thus ended up losing their own map pick, which underlines that FaZe's preferred maps are not necessarily the ones the team is currently performing best on.

On the decisive Cache map, the pattern partially repeated itself. FaZe went ahead 8-4, but Sangal equalized to 8-8, putting the entire upper bracket placement on the line. It took individual performances to save the situation: Twistzz took four kills on a Tec-9 buy to stabilize the team, and when the score stood at 11-8, jcobbb – the Polish rifler – aced Sangal and won a 1v2 clutch that effectively decided the match.

The victory sends FaZe through to the upper bracket semifinal against PURE, but the question hangs in the air: Can a team that loses its own map pick and relies on late individual saves maintain top-seeded status through the rest of the tournament? Sangal took FaZe the distance and showed that there are real gaps to exploit.