FURIA and Valiance round out DreamHack Open Rio playoffs

A couple of quick deciding series saw FURIA and Valiance secure the last two spots in DreamHack Open Rio playoffs after they beat INTZ and W7M, respectively.

Group A first saw FURIA take down eUnited in the elimination match to earn themselves a chance at a rematch against INTZ, who had dropped into the deciding series following a loss to AVANGAR on day one of the tournament.

The domestic affair turned out very short. With a 12-round offensive half on their own pick, Nuke, FURIA quickly gained an advantage in the best-of-three with four straight rounds as CT, and the story was similar on Train.

This time starting on the defense, Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos & co. racked up a dominant 13-2 half and only a pistol round going INTZ's way delayed the inevitable. FURIA ended the series losing just seven rounds across both maps to earn their place in the playoffs, to go up against another domestic rival, Sharks, in the semi-finals.

Valiance had their second shot at playoffs following an earlier loss to Sharks in Group B's winners' match, going up against one of the home teams, W7M, in the decider.

With the Serbian co-leading duo Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač and Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković at the helm, Valiance powered through the Brazilians on Inferno on the back of a comfortable 9-6 half as Terrorists and a near-clean defense, which saw them secure the opening map 16-7.

Up against the ropes, W7M looked to get a good start on Nuke with a pistol round win, but they weren't able to capitalize on it, with Valiance mounting a nine-round streak to end up with a 10-5 half before switching over to the Terrorist side. That saw the favored squad quickly reach match point at 15-5 and soon the playoffs bracket was completed with Valiance coming out victorious at 16-8, 2-0.