SJ secure Arctic Invitational spot over HAVU

SJ booked their tickets to the Arctic Invitational after defeating HAVU in a two map series that had several overtimes on Dust2, 25-22, and less than 20 rounds on Inferno, 16-3.

SJ and HAVU reached the Finnish Championships 2019 final after defeating hREDS and KOVA in the semi-finals, respectively, with HAVU getting revenge on the team that beat them and SJ to lift the trophy at Assembly Summer just weeks ago.

The final started on Dust2, HAVU’s map pick, with Lasse "⁠ZOREE⁠" Uronen taking out three players in the pistol round for his side to take the lead. They then established early dominance on the attacking side, putting in rounds as SJ were unable to retaliate during the few rounds they were able to scramble decent buys together. It wasn’t until the ninth round that SJ were able to get on the board, before getting four more to end it 5-10.

Three kills by Aaro "⁠hoody⁠" Peltokangas in the second pistol round kept HAVU steadily in the lead. After winning the first gun round, Mikko "⁠xartE⁠" Välimaa and his grew confident, taking the reins with successive successful A strikes. ZOREE won a crucial 1vs2 clutch against SJ’s youngsters, Tuomas "⁠SADDYX⁠" Louhimaa and Elias "⁠Jamppi⁠" Olkkonen, to defuse the bomb on the B site and make it 14-10, but an aggressive play to close it out on map point proved fatal for HAVU, who then lost five in a row as SJ took it to overtime.

HAVU didn’t crumble, winning two out of the tree first rounds of overtime on the defending side, but they were unable to capitalize on the lead as the map went further into overtime. It was finally SJ who managed to pull off the win on the wings of the team’s two youngsters, Jamppi and SADDYX, who had 1.52 and 1.23 ratings, respectively.

Inferno started off exactly like Dust2, except it was SJ who after winning the pistol round on the attacking side went on a complete rampage, taking a 7-0 lead before HAVU could retaliate, but it would just be the one round, as SJ kept plowing through the defending side round after round to an 11-1 lead, and although HAVU got two more late rounds in, that would be it, as the half ended 12-3. After switching sides SJ won the second pistol round with SADDYX and Jamppi getting doubles to clear the way to victory, 16-3.

The Finnish Championships 2019 final standings are:

1. SJ - $6,690 + Arctic Invitational
2. HAVU - $2,787
3. KOVA - $1,115
4. hREDS - $557

The final team list for the $115,000 Arctic Invitational is: