FURIA eliminate AVANGAR; advance to lower bracket final

FURIA won a three-map series against AVANGAR in the lower bracket semi-finals to secure survival in the StarSeries i-League Season 8 group stage.

AVANGAR took the lead on the attacking side of Inferno as Sanjar "⁠SANJI⁠" Kuliev downed three, although FURIA wouldn’t take long to turn it around with guns in play, winning five in a row to go up 5-3. The CIS side were then able to curb that dynamic winning some late-round plays on both bombsites to take a 9-6 lead at the half.

A B strike by FURIA kept the score close, with the Brazilians even going on to take the lead back after before AVANGAR could retaliate with 2vs1 retake and defuse on A. The two teams traded rounds as they approached the end of regulation time with FURIA ahead 13-11. It was Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan who started to wrap things up with a four-kill round at 13-12 as AVANGAR were unable to redirect their shaky half and their inability to win two rounds in a row ended in FURIA taking the lead going into their map pick, Mirage.

AVANGAR once again got ahead winning the first pistol round on the defending side of the second map of the series. A wild round with three kills from a hero AK in arT’s hands put the two teams within one, but AVANGAR brought it right back the following round. The CIS side dominated the side until FURIA kicked it into gear and played several fast A plays to get back into the map, almost going on to win the half, 7-8.

Two opening frags by Aleksei "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev in the second pistol round eased AVANGAR into the second half, allowing them to maintain their precarious lead. The CIS side were quick to run away with it as FURIA struggled to contain the Terrorists, going up 14-7. FURIA made a last push to save the map, making double digits and starting to close the gap as AVANGAR had to call an eco. The Brazilians made it to 13, but it was finally Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali and company who won the map, 16-13, in a 2vs2 afterplant situation on B.

FURIA won a clean pistol round on the attacking side of Overpass. It wasn’t until their second buy round, on the fifth, that AVANGAR were able to tally a point. The two teams then went back and forth vying for momentum, with the Brazilian team coming out on top. Down 2-9, AVANGAR were finally able to stop an A push and regroup, winning three more rounds before the end of the half as FURIA picked up the last one with a triple by Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos and double by Henrique "⁠HEN1⁠" Teles.

FURIA won another clean pistol round to inch closer to the finish line, following it up to go 12-5. A sneaky play by Jame in bathrooms in a 1vs2 afterplant gave him the upper hand to delay the round enough for the bomb to go off. Four frags by Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov the following round sent FURIA to a full eco. The Brazilians finally managed to find their footing again, and although they lost a crucial 3vs2 afterplant situation on A with a 14-8 lead that gave AVANGAR an in to make a comeback attempt, they managed to close it out 16-13 to stay alive in the tournament.