PARIVISION outlast FaZe to make XSE Pro League grand final in debut with HObbit and slaxejezzz

FaZe will lament letting several match points slip as they miss out on making a final in their debut with JBOEN.

PARIVISION are through to the grand final of XSE Pro League Guangzhou after winning a marathon series against FaZe, recovering from a defeat on Cache (9-13) with overtime wins on Dust2 (19-17) and Ancient (19-17).

It is the first grand final appearance for PARIVISION since PGL Cluj-Napoca and marks a turnaround in form for the Russian side, who struggled in the latter part of the season and pulled the trigger on two roster changes after a 0-3 exit from Stage 3 of the IEM Cologne Major.

The veteran presence of Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov and addition of Vyacheslav "⁠slaxejezzz⁠" Vinokurov helped the team emerge victorious in a series that featured plenty of squandered rounds from both sides, the kind that the previous PARIVISION roster would have struggled to come back from and that FaZe will look back on with regret after letting several match points slip.

The reintroduction of Cache has paid dividends for FaZe, who had dominated BetBoom and EYEBALLERS on the map earlier in the event and looked convincing yet again as they picked the map to kick off the series.

A good read on PARIVISION's defense, perhaps based on the Russian team's earlier overtime loss to BIG in Guangzhou, saw FaZe exploit PARIVISION's tendency to leave Middle open at specific timings, and followed that up with a few plays up Highway to split A site.

A stellar 1v4 by Vladislav "⁠xiELO⁠" Lysov offered PARIVISION little solace as FaZe went up 7-5 by the break, and a pistol win soon had them up 11-6 before they quickly closed out the map.

The tables turned on Dust2 as PARIVISION exploited a weak B defense round after round, having little trouble splitting the site as Ryan "⁠Neityu⁠" Aubry and David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský struggled to halt the onslaught. A 1v3 by Ivan "⁠zweih⁠" Gogin added further misery to what became an 8-4 half for PARIVISION, and a pistol win and conversion soon had them knocking on the door of an Ancient decider.

FaZe came roaring back into contention with two key disadvantaged conversions, the first coming in a 3v5 that was, in reality, a 2v5 as Jason "⁠JBOEN⁠" Boe Nielsen crashed out of the server on Catwalk. Neityu and Jakub "⁠jcobbb⁠" Pietruszewski picked up the pieces to convert, and it was the former who continued to find high-impact frags as FaZe began to claw back. They recovered from 6-11 down to hit match point but fumbled at the final hurdle as PARIVISION forced overtime, and again dropped a 15-12 lead in the extra rounds as PARIVISION stole victory to force a decider.

A back-and-forth brawl kicked off Ancient with the teams trading force-buys, and just when it looked like FaZe would stabilize, a poorly timed A rush saw them fumble to USPs and swung momentum in PARIVISION's favor. Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali's men used that, and a pistol win after the swap, to extend their lead to 10-5, but a mirror of Dust2 unfolded as Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken and jcobbb led their side to a recovery to 11-10 and FaZe recovered a 3v5 to hit match point, only to drop round 24 as the map went to overtime.

PARIVISION had to fend off another match point in overtime to force another set of extra rounds, and again managed to scrape victory thanks to the excellence of Jame, who found a few crucial multi-kills and combined with HObbit in late-round scenarios to edge out the win.