AVANGAR outlast ViCi to secure playoff spot in Shanghai

AVANGAR came back from a map down to beat ViCi 2-1 and claim a spot in the CS:GO Asia Championships playoffs.

The StarLadder Major runners-up get out of the groups after a messy and keenly-contested series against ViCi, who could not follow the example set by TYLOO here in Shanghai. The Chinese side outfought their opponents on Inferno - a map that was a must-win for them - but they spent the rest of the series playing catching up as AVANGAR put up a clinical performance on Mirage and Train to advance to the knockout stages, where they will finally be able to field their full line-up as Sanjar "⁠SANJI⁠" Kuliev received his passport back on Thursday morning.

Playing their second match with Rustem "⁠mou⁠" Telepov as a stand-in, AVANGAR came out of the gate with fire in their belly and raced to a 4-0 lead on the CT side of Inferno, ViCi's map choice. After stabilizing their economy, the Chinese team responded in kind, but the rest of the half would be all about the CIS side's water-tight defense as Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali's troops picked up a 10-5 lead.

The second half brought a reinvigorated ViCi, who began their fightback by winning the pistol round. AVANGAR struggled to find their footing on the T side and saw the home side draw level at 11-11. The game then entered a period where it hung on a knife's edge as neither side could string more than a couple of rounds together, with ViCi recovering from a map point down to force overtime, in which they would come out on top with some stellar plays from WeiJie "⁠zhokiNg⁠" Zhong and Andrew "⁠kaze⁠" Khong.

AVANGAR were unfazed by the close loss and once again came out the better side on Mirage, storming to a 7-2 lead on the CT side. ViCi looked lost and out of place on the map but then enjoyed a spell of dominance to bring the scoreline to 12-12. The pressure was now firmly on AVANGAR, who upped the pace and reduced ViCi's economy to tatters to force a decider map.

Train followed the same pattern as the previous two maps as AVANGAR took control early on. A 1v3 clutch by zhokiNg in the fifth round brought ViCi some respite, but the Kazakhstani side kept their defense tight and compact for the remainder of the half and went into the break up by five rounds.

ViCi kept themselves in the game after winning the opening three rounds of the second half, but AVANGAR dictated the pace once they had guns in hand and kept their opponents from stringing rounds together to wrap things up in the 26th round.