Alliance shock FaZe 2-0 on return to action, move one win from FISSURE playoffs

Alliance returned from a seven-week competitive layoff with one of the biggest results of FISSURE Playground 3’s opening day, sweeping FaZe 2-0 in Suzhou and immediately putting themselves within one series of the playoffs.

The Swedish side took their own Ancient pick 13-9 before surviving a FaZe recovery on Nuke to close the series 13-11. The result dropped the world No. 11 side into Group B’s lower bracket, while Alliance — ranked No. 50 by HLTV entering the tournament — advanced to an upper-bracket meeting with Legacy.

It was an especially striking result given the teams’ preparation paths. FaZe had spent the previous two months competing regularly at international events, reaching the semi-finals of BLAST Bounty Season 2 Finals before finishing 9th-16th at the Esports World Cup. Alliance had not played an official match since their 0-2 defeat to Wildcard in BLAST Bounty Season 2 on July 21.

Rather than showing rust, Alliance produced a series in which they were sharper both at the beginning and the end of rounds.

Alliance won the rounds that usually decide close series

The 2-0 was backed up by several numbers that explain why FaZe struggled to convert competitive scorelines into a map win.

Alliance finished the series with a 1.10 team Rating 3.0 compared with FaZe’s 0.92. More importantly, the Swedes recorded 27 first kills to FaZe’s 19 and won all four clutches played across the two maps.

That combination matters. FaZe were repeatedly forced to recover from early disadvantages, and when rounds did reach low-player situations, Alliance still found the final conversion.

Jonatan “bobeksde” Persson was central to that advantage. He recorded 11 opening kills, the most in the server, while producing 40 kills, 101.2 ADR and a 1.31 rating across the series. Simon “twist” Eliasson finished with the best overall rating at 1.34 after going 39-23.

Player	Team	K-D	ADR	KAST	Rating 3.0
twist	Alliance	39-23	85.6	71.7%	1.34
bobeksde	Alliance	40-30	101.2	76.1%	1.31
eraa	Alliance	33-24	70.4	73.9%	1.03
avid	Alliance	29-23	67.5	80.4%	1.03
upE	Alliance	24-29	61.8	69.6%	0.80
Twistzz	FaZe	38-30	75.2	67.4%	1.22
JBOEN	FaZe	28-33	62.6	63.0%	0.91
frozen	FaZe	24-36	67.8	58.7%	0.90
Neityu	FaZe	21-34	60.4	56.5%	0.82
jcobbb	FaZe	18-34	51.8	58.7%	0.76

 

Ancient exposed FaZe’s dependence on Twistzz

The opener initially gave FaZe room to settle into the series. Ancient reached halftime at 6-6, but Alliance took seven of the next ten rounds to secure their pick 13-9.

Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken did almost everything FaZe could have asked from an individual player. The Canadian posted 26 kills, 100.2 ADR and a 1.62 rating on Ancient.

The problem was what happened underneath him.

No other FaZe player reached a 1.00 rating on the map. frozen finished at 0.88, jcobbb at 0.75, Neityu at 0.76 and JBOEN at 0.68. By contrast, Alliance had three players above a 1.20 rating, with avid leading the way at 1.32 while dying only eight times.

The distribution of impact was therefore completely different. FaZe had the map’s highest-rated player but not enough secondary production to turn his performance into control of the game.

That remained a theme across the full series. Twistzz finished on a respectable 1.22 rating, but every other FaZe player ended below 1.00.

Nuke reversed the script from their previous meeting

The veto also makes Alliance’s win more significant.

FaZe selected Nuke, the same map they had comfortably beaten Alliance on when the teams met at Stake Ranked Episode 2 on May 27. In that series, FaZe won Nuke 13-6 on the way to a 2-0 victory.

Three months later, Alliance turned FaZe’s pick against them.

The Swedes surged to a 7-1 advantage before FaZe finally stabilized. The favorites gradually reduced the deficit and pushed the map all the way to the final round of regulation, but Alliance held their nerve at 12-11. bobeksde ended the series with a four-kill round to deny overtime and complete the upset.

The May comparison is not perfect because FaZe have since changed personnel. broky played the previous series against Alliance, whereas JBOEN occupied the fifth position in Suzhou alongside Twistzz, frozen, Neityu and jcobbb. Alliance have also changed one player since that meeting, replacing MaiL09 with bobeksde.

That makes the transformation on Nuke even more relevant to the current versions of the teams than the raw head-to-head score.

bobeksde gives Alliance another source of pressure

Alliance’s strongest performance was not built around one player.

twist topped the series rating, but bobeksde had arguably the broader statistical impact: 40 kills, more than 100 damage per round, 11 opening kills and a 76.1% KAST. His final-round four-kill sequence was simply the most visible part of a performance that had been affecting FaZe throughout both maps.

There was also support behind them.

avid finished Ancient 21-8 with a 1.32 rating and 86.4% KAST, while eraa produced a 1.14 rating on Nuke. Alliance therefore did not need twist or bobeksde to completely carry both maps individually.

For a team that had not played an official since July, that distribution of impact was perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the result.

Alliance’s previous outing had been the opposite experience: Wildcard eliminated them from BLAST Bounty Season 2 with 13-3 and 13-7 wins. Before that, Alliance had reached the semi-finals of XSE Pro League Guangzhou, including a 2-0 victory over 9z earlier in the event.

The FaZe victory does not erase the inconsistency in that record, but it gives Alliance something they had been missing — a current result against a significantly higher-ranked opponent.

The upset matters beyond FISSURE’s group bracket

FISSURE Playground 3 uses two eight-team double-elimination groups, with three teams advancing from each. Group winners receive direct places in the semi-finals, while the other four playoff teams enter through the quarter-finals. All group matches are best-of-three.

That puts Alliance in a particularly valuable position.

Their next opponent is Legacy, who opened the tournament with a 2-1 victory over magic. The winner of Alliance-Legacy is guaranteed a playoff berth and moves on to fight for Group B’s direct semi-final slot.

For FaZe, the margin is already gone.

They will face magic in the lower bracket on September 9, with the loser eliminated from FISSURE Playground 3.

There is also a longer-term consequence for Alliance. HLTV reported after the FaZe victory that the Swedish roster had climbed to No. 18 in the live Valve Regional Standings, strengthening their position in the race for the PGL Singapore Major. The Major invite cutoff is not until November 2, so the ranking race is far from settled, but a win over a team of FaZe’s level carries substantially more value than another victory against lower-ranked opposition.

FaZe were not the only favorite punished on day one

Alliance’s victory ultimately became part of a volatile first day in Suzhou.

MIBR defeated The MongolZ 2-1 in Group A, while Astralis closed the night by beating G2 2-1. FURIA also needed all three maps to overcome GamerLegion. Elsewhere, 9z, BETBOOM and PARIVISION recorded more straightforward opening wins.

For Alliance, however, the next series will determine whether the FaZe result becomes the foundation of a genuine playoff run or remains an isolated upset.

Legacy present a very different test. The Brazilians entered FISSURE Playground 3 ranked No. 8 in the world and have already demonstrated their ability to compete deep into international events. Alliance will no longer have the benefit of being an unknown quantity coming off almost two months without officials.

What they do have is a direct route to the playoffs — and, after outplaying FaZe in opening duels, clutches and overall individual output, a result substantial enough to make that route look realistic rather than theoretical.