pro100 beat Copenhagen Flames to win Qi Banja Luka 2019

pro100 have emerged as the champions of Qi Banja Luka 2019 after defeating Copenhagen Flames 2-1 in the grand finals.

The event was cut down from eight teams to four and saw its prize pool reduced from $115,000 to $35,000 earlier in the month, a result of a number of teams withdrawing. Sharks also opted to skip the tournament, likely as a result of losing Ignacio "⁠meyern⁠" Meyer to MIBR shortly before it began.

Copenhagen Flames were enlisted as Sharks' replacement, but the Danish squad found themselves falling in a narrow three-map series in their opening bout against pro100, who went on to advance to the grand final with another 2-1 victory over Juggernauts. Copenhagen Flames bounced back from the defeat as they secured wins over ARCY and Juggernauts in the lower bracket final and consolidation final, respectively, to set up a rematch against the Russian roster in the Grand Final.

Copenhagen Flames took an early lead in the series as they secured a 16-10 win on pro100's map pick of Train, but were unable to put up a similar performance on Overpass as pro100 evened the score with a 16-8 victory of their own. The deciding map of the series came down to Vertigo, where pro100 reigned supreme with an 11-4 T-side half before closing the map 16-8.

pro100's weekend run was powered by a stand-out performance from Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis, who was pivotal in helping his team secure victory as he averaged a 1.32 rating over the course of the event. The next closest player was his teammate, Aleksei "⁠NickelBack⁠" Trofimov, who averaged a 1.18 rating in the nine maps that were played.

The final standings for Qi Banja Luka 2019 are:

1. pro100 - $30,000
2. Copenhagen Flames - $5,000
3. Juggernauts
4. ARCY