FURIA send G2 packing to secure lower bracket final spot

FURIA have assured themselves of a top-four finish at StarSeries i-League Season 8 following a close victory over G2 in two maps.

The Brazilian side will move on to the lower bracket final after putting in a solid performance that laid bare their top-five aspirations. There was very little to separate these two teams in a series that came down to fine margins and in which the Brazilians' individual talent ultimately made the difference. With Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato, who has been FURIA's top player at this tournament, far from his usual self, other players rose to the occasion to send the team to the next stage and raise the mouth-watering prospect of a Brazilian showdown against MIBR, who will take on Renegades later on Saturday for the second spot in the lower bracket final.

G2 made a slow start to the game on Vertigo, their own map pick, but gradually took the upper hand after picking up weapons. The majority of the half was a back-and-forth tussle as neither side could stamp their authority on proceedings, though things could have taken a different turn had FURIA not lost an anti-eco round in the final stages of their CT side.

Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač went huge in the second half pistol and stole the round away with three key frags. G2 used that momentum to build a 14-9 lead before beint halted by a 1v2 clutch from Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan - a round that ended up shifting the tide of the game. FURIA pressed on and snatched the victory in the final round of regulation after a key play from Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos, who ended the map with 30 frags.

Mirage followed the same pattern as the previous map as G2 fought back with guns in hand after losing the pistol round. The French team even took the lead but were put on the backfoot for the rest of the half as FURIA romped to a 9-6 scoreline following great individual plays from arT and Henrique "⁠HEN1⁠" Teles.

Now playing on the Terrorist side, FURIA frustrated G2 in an eco round thanks to a HEN1 UMP clutch, and rode that momentum to a 14-8 lead. With no room for error, G2 tightened up their defense and took the game to the 30th round, in which the Brazilians managed to come out on top of an all-out brawl on the A site to walk away with another close victory.