TYLOO beat Panda; Spirit outlast paiN

TYLOO join the 1-1 pool after beating Panda on Inferno and on Dust2, while Spirit send paiN to the 0-2 pool after a three map series.

The Chinese derby got underway on Inferno, TYLOO’s map pick, where they were able to take the lead on the CT side after winning the pistol round. Taking the first gun round as well, TYLOO quickly slid into a groove to create an early cushion. In part thanks to HaoWen "⁠somebody⁠" Xu controlling banana with an iron first, Panda found themselves at a loss as they went down 1-7.

After closing the first half out 13-2, TYLOO managed to win the pistol round on the attacking side off the back of a triple by YuanZhang "⁠Attacker⁠" Sheng, which they were able to follow up to get on match point. Kevin "⁠xccurate⁠" Susanto and company then went on to close the first map out, 16-2.

The second map, Dust2, once again started with TYLOO taking the first pistol round, although this time Panda were able to fight back on the forcebuy before taking an early lead. Despite having troubles on the attack early on, TYLOO finally found their groove to bring it back to a 5-5 tie, and it was eventually TYLOO who took the lead into the half, although just barely.

The second half saw TYLOO once again take pistols, after which Hansel "⁠BnTeT⁠" Ferdinand & co. were able to keep furthering their lead on the defending side. From there on out, it was the favorites who would go on to close it out, giving up but one round, 16-8.

paiN played the first pistol round on Inferno well, stopping Spirit from reaching the B bomb site to take the 1-0 lead. Spirit then won the first gun round, but were economically maimed and unable to win the following half buy. The two teams then traded rounds as they fought for an early economic advantage, with Spirit managing to come out ahead after 10 rounds, 6-4. It was finally paiN who were able to take the lead into the half, however, although only by one round.

The Brazilian side then won the second pistol round following a triple by Vinicios "⁠PKL⁠" Coelho, to further increase their lead but Spirit were quick to bring it back to 9-11. When it seemed paiN were going to be able to run away late into the map, the Russian side managed to bring it back with several good defenses, making it to match point first, 15-14. Despite an opening kill by Dmitry "⁠S0tF1k⁠" Forostyanko through the smoke on Banana on the last round, the Brazilians managed to break through and take it to overtime before finally managing to win it and take the map lead.

Spirit kicked Mirage off by winning the defending side pistol round, but paiN were quick to tie it up 2-2 after the first couple of gun rounds. Spirit then retook the lead as Artem "⁠iDISBALANCE⁠" Egorov with a double and Pavlo "⁠COLDYY1⁠" Veklenko with a triple kept paiN down in the money game. The South American squad managed to find weaknesses late in the half, however, winning three of the last four rounds to make it 6-9.

An A execute gave Spirit the second pistol round as they took enough map control to plant in a 5vs5, inching the CIS side closer to the finish line. Down 6-12, a hero defuse by Paulo "⁠land1n⁠" Felipe after a three-kill round got his team back on the board, but it would be too little too late as the Brazilian squad lost out, 9-16.

The decider, Nuke, kicked off with Spirit amply winning the pistol round as well as the follow-up, but once AKs were in play, paiN were able to get on the board. The match then became a brawl as both teams went back and forth trading rounds. After a 4-4 tie on the board, it was paiN who were able to link several rounds first to get a 7-4 lead before closing the half out 10-5

The second pistol went the way of Spirit, however, who on the attack were able to create chaos and bring the match to within one, 9-11. The teams then tied it up and traded rounds, making it a neck and neck race to the finish line. After another two overtimes, it was finally Spirit who were able to seal the deal to move into the 1-1 pool.