FaZe and Astralis facing elimination after day one of Stake Ranked Episode 4

The loss meant little for Astralis ' Singapore Major hopes with several events still to play and a decent spot in the ranking, but it still comes as a setback for the team amidst a deflated run of form.

Stake Ranked Episode 4 Best of 3 Astralis Matchpage 1 2 1st October 2026 Alliance 14 Inferno 16 13 Cache 5 10 Nuke 13 FaZe 's loss to Nemiga is more significant as the Russian team is one of their direct rivals for a Major invite.

A win would have increased FaZe 's odds of making the Major to 77% according to HLTV's new simulator page , but the defeat has instead left them with just a 48% chance.

The fashion in which the loss came about adds insult to injury as FaZe squandered a 9-2 lead on Mirage, winning just three of the next 17 rounds after a complete collapse on the T side.

Their struggles continued on Ancient as Nemiga were a step ahead on the offense, putting up seven rounds despite a 0-3 start before eventually converting a 10-5 lead after the swap to win 13-11.

While the loss against Nemiga was competitive until the end, it certainly wasn't the result Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken's troops were hoping for as they now 1-8 on maps across four matches.

Also read: Luminosity win Stake Ranked Episode 4 opener against B8 with a competitive 2-0 Mirage was FaZe's first big missed opportunity in the series as they failed to convert a 9-3 start on their CT-side.

Despite putting up strong numbers on their CT-side and then claiming a 12-8 lead on their T-side, FaZe were unable to close out the map in regulation, giving up the next four rounds to see Mirage head into overtime.

In overtime this four-round losing streak grew to eight as Nemiga pounded FaZe to take the map 16-14 while Kirill "Xant3r" Kononov led the charge with 26 kills and a 1.51 rating.

Moving onto Ancient, FaZe started their CT-side off with a 3-0 lead before giving away the half to Nemiga as the Russian confounded FaZe's defenses to win seven out of the next eight rounds.

The result marks a disappointing start to FaZe 's open-LAN campaign, as Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken 's troops now turn their sights to their next two events at Roman Imperium Cup IX and DraculaN Season 7.

The loss is also costly in terms of the race for Singapore, as FaZe finish the event with -27 points and are now projected to finish outside the cutoff by HLTV's invite simulation .

FaZe are now projected to finish outside the cutoff For Astralis , the victory strengthens their already high chance of making Singapore, with Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen 's men now set to face off against the loser of Luminosity vs.

Also read: FaZe drop Stake Ranked Episode 4 opener to Nemiga Astralis' pick of Ancient saw FaZe take a 9-3 lead in the first half and reach 11 rounds in the opening moments of their T side.

Astralis, however, won 10 rounds straight to steal what seemed like a guaranteed win for their opponents. Jason "JBOEN" Nielsen, who began the match with a 1v3, went from a 2.24-rated defense to a 0.47-rated attack.

Nuke saw FaZe win four rounds straight before Astralis claimed eight. A couple more spurts from FaZe in the second half gave them the luxury of a map three, as they narrowly tied the series 13-11.

A 20-kill map from Astralis IGL Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen was therefore rendered inconsequential. The third map of Cache, which FaZe were early adopters of when the map first returned to the pool, rolled to an 8-4 halftime favoring the Danish organization.

A 1v2 from JBOEN gave FaZe their ninth and ultimately final round of the series, as Astralis went on to win it 13-9. https://x.com/FaZeEsports/status/2106039176911102404?s=20 FaZe have Roman Imperium Cup IX next week.

Luminosity came back from a map down to defeat BIG 2-1, with Lucas "⁠lux⁠" Meneghini 's charges saving two match points on Mirage to outlast the German side in overtime.

They currently have a 65.2% chance of qualifying for the Major, per HLTV's invite simulation .

Read more Astralis condemn FaZe to last-place exit at Stake The other upper semi-final bout was a one-way street as Nemiga made light work of Alliance , who couldn't get to double digits on either map.

The win sees Nemiga climb to 18th in the global VRS, their highest ranking to date. They are now projected to have a 47.9% chance to qualify for the Major.