FaZe clinch first Bounty S2 Finals spot with victory over DENDELE

<p>FaZe Clan became the first team to punch their ticket to the BLAST Bounty Season 2 Malta LAN Finals on July 25, defeating DENDELE — the Sharks rebrand that had upset FURIA earlier in the tournament — in a competitive series.</p><h3>The path</h3><p>FaZe entered Stage 2 as one of the higher-seeded remaining teams and drew a matchup with DENDELE, the newly-rebranded Sharks lineup. DENDELE had built momentum by upsetting FURIA in the opening round, but FaZe's international core — with its unmatched LAN experience — proved too much across a full best-of series.</p><h3>Individual performances</h3><p>FaZe's veteran core, including their star riflers and AWPer, played structured and disciplined CS across the maps. The win came from consistent economy management and CT-side control rather than any single dominant carry.</p><h3>What it means</h3><p>FaZe missed the Cologne Major cycle, meaning they enter Malta looking to grab crucial VRS points ahead of the PGL Major Singapore qualification cutoff on November 2. Being the first team to secure the Finals berth also carries seeding advantage.</p><h3>Bigger picture on Bounty S2</h3><p>FaZe join Liquid, Astralis, MOUZ, paiN, 3DMAX, Spirit, and The MongolZ as the eight qualified teams for Malta. Notably, only Spirit (No. 4) is inside the world top 10 among the qualifying eight — a stat that HLTV's coverage described as unusual for a tournament of this size.</p><h3>What's next</h3><p>FaZe head to Malta with time to prepare — the LAN Finals run from July 30 to August 2. The 8-team single-elimination format means every match is a knockout, and FaZe will look to convert their strong online form into deep tournament progression.</p>

Sources

• https://www.hltv.org/news/archive/2026/july...
• https://www.hltv.org/news/45190/blast-bounty-2026-season-2-finals-team-list-comp...