Malta was the stage as FaZe Clan were crowned ESL Pro League Season 17 champions, as well as winners of the Intel Grand Slam, with Twistzz becoming the first and only player to complete the feat twice.

FaZe’s Sweet Relief

After eight trophyless months, getting this over the line is massive for FaZe. There was a feeling that karrigan’s honeymoon period with FaZe was over, but he’s shown again why he’s the GOAT IGL, closing out the Grand Slam which seemed to be slipping away amidst G2’s period of dominance.

It wasn’t an easy path to the final for the team. Facing FURIA and an inspired forZe in earlier rounds, FaZe had a showdown with past nemesis NAVI in the Semi-Final. But FaZe had a date with destiny, swatting NAVI aside to face a Cloud9 team that looked stronger than ever. The main threat was sh1ro, who would’ve competed for tournament MVP had they won final.

FaZe had the perfect start in the best-of-five Final. Overpass and Inferno were easy pickings, winning both comfortably. After everything, the Grand Slam wasn’t supposed to be this simple. Enter Mirage. Cloud9 woke up, and suddenly looked the better team. Ancient as the fourth map was where it could’ve got dicey. FaZe were defeated by NAVI on Ancient the day prior, at one point being 13-2 down. They’d need to improve fast to avoid a fifth map decider. Step up Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken. The Canadian rifler took charge on Ancient, with an ace to take the match to tournament point. The Grand Slam was complete, with FaZe’s names etched into the history books.

THE GRAND SLAM IS OURS 🏆🏆🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/hcMpUHaZYp

— FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) March 26, 2023

The Underperformers

There were some shocking underperformers at ESL Pro League Season 17. The standout was G2, who only made it as far as the Round of 12. Pre-tournament, most had them as favorites following their IEM Katowice 2023 victory. Their defeat to ENCE aged well as they progressed to the semi-finals, but G2 won’t be satisfied with the Paris Major around the corner.

Team Liquid were among the biggest underperformers of the tournament. After scraping through the groups, Liquid fell at the very first playoff hurdle, losing 2-0 to paiN Gaming. It was nothing short of a disaster.

Also spare a thought for Outsiders, who like G2 were eliminated in the Round of 12. Jame’s team were perhaps unlucky to face a resurgent NAVI so early on, but the recent CS:GO Major winners couldn’t get themselves over the line. When we next see this team at IEM Rio 2023, they’ll be back competing under the Virtus.pro handle once more.

The Overperformers

Several teams have upped their stock here. ENCE looked a force throughout, with every single player leveling up their game to contribute. They even knocked out a full-strength Vitality in the Quarter-Finals. It’ll be exciting to see what this ENCE roster can build with more time together.

Next, is forZe. The Russian organization had the potential to beat anyone, led by Jerry who elevated everyone around him. Their Group D run was remarkable, going 3-0 with NAVI, Spirit, and ENCE in their path. Their only defeat in the whole tournament came from eventual winners FaZe, although they even managed to take a map from them, too.

Finally, there’s Cloud9. It’s strange to define a team with talents like sh1ro and Ax1Le as overperformers, but there aren’t many who pegged them as finalists pre-tournament. Their defeat in the Final changes nothing – this run offers a lot of hope for Cloud9 going forward, and they’ll hope to build on that in the next big competitive CS:GO tournament, IEM Rio 2023, taking place this April.

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