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We continue our series of betting tips on BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 Stage 2, which starts today. Once again we have 16 teams playing for 8 spots in the next stage.
Among the contenders for BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 Stage 3 are FaZe and Heroic. Both teams are very definitely set to make it to the next round and definitely have all the resources to do so.
With the help of our betting prediction we will try to find out which of the pair Heroic - FaZe will be stronger and will go to the basket 1-0.
How the bookies view it: FaZe favourite
Before Long Sogpeg betting prediction let's understand who is the favourite of the pair. It can be seen from the title, but also according to the bookies FaZe are such favourites.
Bookmakers give on FaZe average odds of 1.7. However, it should be noted that FaZe's gap is not big, and therefore this match is definitely worth waiting for.
FaZe form. What result can be expected from FaZe
We open betting tip on FaZe - Heroic with the review of FaZe team. As already mentioned above, they play here in the status of favourite and deservedly so. Although FaZe are not happy lately, from the word at all.
The season 2024 was full of big tournaments. Here is just a short retelling of FaZe's adventures.
At the CS Asia Championship 2024 FaZe confidently made it to the play-offs through Group B. Having taken unquestionable TOP-1 the team went directly to the semi-finals of the tournament. Then FaZe went head-to-head: first they defeated ENCE with the score 2-1 and in the grand final they won MOUZ with the score 2-0.
Next, FaZe had a series of "failures". They finished TOP-8 at EPL Season 19, TOP-6 at IEM Dallas 2024 and BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2024, TOP-8 at Esports World Cup 2024 and TOP-12 at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024.
At IEM Cologne 2024, FaZe Long Sogpeg started off with a win over Team Liquid, but went on to Ledge or Vitality in the play-offs. After falling into the bottom set of IEM Cologne 2024, FaZe outscored Falcons 2-0, and then won their best match of the tournament in a bye, comingback against Liquid from a 3-12 deficit. However, the momentum was not enough: FaZe lost to sAw and left the tournament on top-6.
Later FaZe played at BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown 2024, where they took TOP-1-2.
At ESL Pro League S20 FaZe failed in the first round of Group A, losing to Sangal Esports, and then cameback through the middle set, beating FlyQuest, NiP. However, the comeback lasted for a long time, because after the meeting with CoL FaZe Clan left the championship on 12-18 lines.
After the failure at ESL Pro League S20, FaZe took the top 4 at BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2024, and then - Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024 with the final top 8.
BLAST Premier: World Final 2024 met in Group A, where they played to a 1-1 score. They first lost to MOUZ, but then snatched a win from NaVi in a match for life at the tournament. However, in the play-offs Ledge and Team Spirit finished in the top 6.
At PW Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR A, FaZe Clan beat C9 and Falcons, and then Fnatic, which put them in the Major. At the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024, FaZe Clan beat Wildcard and Heroic, but lost to Heroic. Then Ledge and G2, but made it to the play-offs by shutting out FURIA in the deciding match. Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 playoffs started with a rather unexpected victory over Vitality in a difficult match. However, it got better as FaZe knocked out one of the main tournament favourites - G2 Esports - in a very tense 2-0 series. The grand final was a little short: 1-2 against Spirit.
In the 2025 season they debuted with an appearance at BLAST Bounty Season 1. There they took TOP-16.
- FaZe Clan: karrigan, rain, Frozen, EliGE, s1mple.
Directly at IEM Katowice 2025 FaZe Clan Long started with the matches of the top set of Group A, where they defeated BIG, but lost to Vitality. After getting to the second round of the lower grid they defeated G2 Esports, but the play-offs were prevented by Eternal Fire, who defeated FaZe in the last round of the lower grid.
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 Long Sogpeg started the tournament with a 2-0 win over sAw. Next, defeating Eternal Fire and MOUZ and qualifying for the play-offs with a 3-0 win. The main stage of Long Sogpeggo started for FaZe with a confident victory over sAw with the score 2-0. And then there was an unforeseen loss against Falcons, which led FaZe to the top 4.
FaZe visited BLAST Open Lisbon 2025, where they were ranked TOP-12. PGL Bucharest 2025 Long started with a defeat against Astralis. Then defeated paiN, levelling the situation. In the 1-1 basket match they beat Rare Atom. In the 2-1 basket Ledge or CoL and only made it to the play-offs after beating Apogee in the 2-2 basket. In the first round of play-offs they beat 3DMax 2-0. In the next round Ledge and Falcons, which led FaZe to the match for the top 3. They won it safely against CoL.
IEM Melbourne 2025 was also visited. There FaZe failed to get out of the group stage, Ledgeiv in group A GamerLegion. According to the results of IEM Melbourne 2025 FaZe are on the 8th line.
At BLAST Rivals 2025 Season 1 FaZe Long Sogpeg started with a match against Falcons, where they expectedly lost with the score 0-2. In the match for life at the tournament they defeated FlyQuest, thus advancing to the play-offs.
Heroic form. What result can be expected from Heroic
We continue the analysis of the match Heroic - FaZe with the analysis of Heroic form. In this match they play as the second number, which is logical.
In the season 2023 Heroic looked very good. They were constantly playing in TIR-S tournaments and were a significant force.
Heroic had a streak of great tournaments. It was top 2 at IEM Rio 2023, top 4 at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 and IEM Dallas 2023. Heroic went on to win the BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2023 and also finished in the top 3 of the BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023
- Heroic roster: SunPayus, LNZ, yxngstxr, xfl0ud, tN1R.
Before their performance at Gamers8 Heroic attended another prestigious tournament - IEM Cologne. Being one of the main contenders to win the German tournament, the Danes made it to the play-offs of the competition, but there they couldn't move further than the first round. Heroic lost to Astralis in the first round of the IEM Cologne play-offs with a score of 0-2.
At Gamers8 they debuted with a match against Falcons. In general, the game ended predictably, but the French gave a fight, especially on the first map (Mirage 22-18 in favour of Heroic). The second one went to Heroic with the score 16-10.
In the previous match Heroic met GamerLegion. Despite GL's seemingly idle position in that match, they were able to grind the nerves of the Danes and take the map, but still lost in the end.
Heroic finished off Gamers8 with a match against ENCE. The Danish club again failed to beat the Finns and left the major championship at the top-4 stage.
In the first match at ESL Pro League Season 18, the team played against Rooster. The Australians offered no resistance and took 6 rounds in two games.
Next was BIG - another passable opponent for Heroic, but it was not to be. The Danes lost 0-2, losing on Ancient with a score of 23-25 and on Inferno with a score of 13-16.
Heroic got into the last chance net after a 0-2 loss at MOUZ. So from the "achievements" so far, a win over the raw Roosters and that's it. It looks very deplorable. And it ended no better: Heroic Ledge and Monte crashed out of ESL Pro League Season 18.
Next up was Roobet Cup 2023, where Heroic finished in the top 12. After unsatisfactory performance at EPL and Roobet Cup Heroic played not better at Thunderpick World Championship 2023 and BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2023. There, it was top-8 and top-6 respectively.
Heroic face many challenges in the 2024 season. They still attend top tournaments, but the performance is much worse: Top-16 at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024, Top-8 at IEM Chengdu 2024, Top-28 at ESL Pro League Season 9, Top-6 at IEM Dallas 2024 and Top-8 at YaLLa Compass 2024.
Later, the series of appearances at various championships continued, with Heroic playing at both BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024 (Top 12) and IEM Cologne 2024 (Top 20) and BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown 2024 (Top 16). In October 2024 Heroic were close to finally taking the championship title, reaching the final of Elisa Masters Espoo 2024, but Ledgeili ENCE in the grand final.
Before appearing at European RMR B, Heroic played at Thunderpick World Championship 2024, where they finished top 2, losing to MongolZ in the grand final.
At European RMR B, Heroic Long Sogpeg started with a win against PARIVISION. Next was a loss to BIG, followed by a win against NiP. At PW Shanghai Major 2024 they qualified thanks to a win over Passion UA.
Going straight into the Elimination Stage, Heroic beat BIG and FaZe on their way to the basket 2-0. In the match to advance to the play-offs Heroic Ledge or MongolZ. In the play-offs match Ledge and Spirit. However, they managed to pass to the main stage after defeating the reigning world champions NaVi. However, in the first match of the play-offs Heroic were defeated by G2, who knocked Heroic out of the championship race.
In the 2025 season, Heroic attended BLAST Bounty Spring 2025, where they finished in the top 8. This was followed by an appearance at IEM Katowice 2025 with an even more disappointing result, and more specifically a top-20 finish.
In the course of ESL Pro League Season 21 Heroic were 1-1. Later, after a loss to 3DMax, they found themselves in a 1-2 tie, but after that Ledge went 1-2 and finished the tournament at the Top-22 stage. Prior to playing at BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, won the CCT Season 2 Global Finals and MESA Nomadic Masters Spring 2025. In addition, they attended IEM Dallas 2025, an S-Class tournament, where they finished in the top 8, which is a good result.
At the first stage of BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 Long Sogpeg with two wins: defeated Chingis Warriors and NRG.
Recent head to head: Heroic edging it.
The teams have played each other three times in the last year. All matches were won by Heroic.
Players to watch: xfl0ud and s1mple
In the match Heroic - FaZe especially tn1r and s1mple will be watched closely. Heroic's "newcomer" tn1r has shown a stat over 1.2 for 4 months and this is a good result. He also looked good on Stage 1, where Heroic went 3-0. As for FaZe, everything is unambiguous here: the centre of attention is s1mple, who moved to FaZe on lease. We will see Alexander at CS2 Major tournament for the first time for the last year and a half, or even more than a year.
Which maps does FaZe pick and ban most often?
Best maps (Win Rate ≥ 60%)
- Ancient - 69.0% of wins FaZe steadily wins on this map. A landmark 28:25 win against NiP underlines their confidence on Ancient.
- Inferno - 66.7% wins One of the most reliable maps of the team. A convincing 13:4 win over Vitality is an example of their strong play.
- Nuke - 62.5% wins Frequent picks, strong map with good results, including a 13:3 win over MOUZ.
- Mirage - 61.1% wins The team is comfortable on Mirage. The 13:2 win over NAVI was a telling match.
- Vertigo - 60.0% wins Played less often, but has decent results with a limited number of matches.
Average level (Win Rate 50-59%)
- Anubis - 56.0% wins Unstable results. However, a 13-0 win over ENCE shows high potential on the card.
- Overpass - 50.0% wins Equal results - 8 wins and 8 losses. A 13:3 victory over Heroic shows that the map can work.
Worst maps (Win Rate < 50%)
- Dust2 - 47.1% of wins The weakest map is FaZe. The team often Ledgea here, e.g. 5:13 defeat by NAVI.
Conclusions
FaZe Clan has a strong pool of strong maps: Ancient, Inferno, Nuke and Mirage. Anubis and Overpass show potential, but need tweaking and stability. Dust2 is the weak link. The team should either pump up this map or avoid it in official matches.In general FaZe looks a competitive team due to confident play on key maps.
Which maps does Heroic pick and ban most often?
The strongest maps
- Mirage: Highest win percentage (64.6%) with 48 matches played.
- Vertigo: High win percentage (57.1%) with 28 matches played.
- Ancient: Steady winning percentage (54.7%) with 53 matches played.
Average results
- Nuke: Average winning percentage (51.8%) with 56 matches played.
- Anubis: Average winning percentage (51.2%) with 41 matches played.
- Dust2: Average win percentage (50.0%) with 26 matches played.
Weaknesses
- Overpass: Low win percentage (42.9%) with 14 matches played.
- Inferno: Low win percentage (0.0%) with 2 matches played.
Heroic performs best on Mirage, Vertigo and Ancient maps with a win percentage above 54%.
On maps Nuke, Anubis and Dust2 the team shows average results with a win percentage around 50%.
Overpass and Inferno are the team's weakest maps with win percentages of 42.9% and 0%.
Anything else catches the eye
The main question remains s1mple. We will keep a close eye on the once GOAT and see if he can repeat the high personal result shown for FaZe at IEM Dallas 2025 and, most importantly, if he can help FaZe to show a BETTER result than at the previous events of the year.
Predicted result of the match between FaZe - Heroic at BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
In this match my bet is on Heroic. In my opinion, after going 3-0 in the first stage and a great warm-up, they will be able to slam FaZe in Bo1, who look very bad in the season 2025.
Betting prediction: Heroic win.
