FaZe and The MongolZ crash out of FISSURE Playground 3

FaZe lost 1-2 to magic to bring their FISSURE Playground 3 run to a very early end.

magic won twice in overtime - including a double OT on the decider - to take down FaZe, and in fairness it was a very enjoyable game that doesn't have us truly scared for FaZe's future, though that will be little relief for this embarrassment right now.

Twistzz once more was the sole holdout, dropping 72 in the series and still missing out on the win, which must sting given it's not the first time at this event he's had a superstar performance in a loss. This time, at least, jcobbb showed what he's about and wasn't a big issue like he was in the first game.

It was Twistzz' 35 kills that ever really gave FaZe a chance on Cache as frozen, uncharacteristically, failed to have much if any impact, though he was key on FaZe's only map win with 24 of his own. On the other side of things, for magic, it was their trio of mo0N, tenzy and MaSvAl who took it in turns to ruin FaZe's day, with MaSvAl being our personal MVP, though you could pick any of them. All three were neck-and-neck at the top of the scoreboard on both magic map wins, and had equal share of the impactful rounds, too.

This isn't a proper 'alarm bells' moment for FaZe, but it isn't not worrying, either.

The MongolZ - albeit with cobrazera playing instead of Techno - were dumped out by compatriots 5star in an interest-piquing 2-0 win for the underdogs. We didn't expect much of 5star after they were hammered in their opening game, but this gives us some hope that they aren't just here as whipping boys. If Techno is to leave to BC.Game for the Major spot, for example, a couple of these players on 5star have done themselves no harm with this showing and might be getting a call soon.

Among the most impressive was rate, who was absolutely ridiculous on Inferno. Stand-in cobrazera did what he could to stop 5star, but there wasn't a lot of players in the region who were going to stop rate today. He racked up 24 kills in 22 rounds with just the nine deaths, deciding many a round with a multikill.

Nuke was more of a team effort, with yesterday's stand-out (faint praise) NEUZ and hoolig4n joining rate with a sprinking of kills and big rounds, but the big story is how ineffective the newest members of The MongolZ were. tikuak and DarkMeister both clearly struggled in this all-Mongolian clash, and it must make The MongolZ wonder if they've made the right decision - especially with how impressive cobrazera looked.

There was a third big upset as GamerLegion were beaten comprehensively by TYLOO, as Moseyuh went a bit crazy. He's always been a very mechanically gifted player who had the tools but not the consistent output, but if he plays more like this every game, TYLOO will win a lot more games. JamYoung was, as ever, a massive problem for the opposition, and looked once more like the best player China has ever produced (?).

FURIA eviscerated PARIVISION on Ancient and outlasted them on Inferno for a pretty clean 2-0. KSCERATO dropped 41. In 39 rounds. With just 17 deaths. You don't beat him when he's in this kind of form.

BetBoom pulled off another impressive win, even without FL4MUS who seemed to be the talisman for their resurgence last season, as they overpowered Astralis. Astralis are always susceptible to being outshot by these high firepower teams, which would be a completely reasonable explanation had it not been Boombl4 delivering the beatdown.

G2 came from behind to knock out BIG in a very attritional game, as nobody really stood out individually but rounds became long, drawn out chess matches. G2 held their nerve and beat BIG at their own game, eventually, in a series that we won't rush to rewatch.

Alliance's win over FaZe was followed up with a predictable 0-2 loss to Legacy, while MIBR won their upper bracket game against 9z to go through.