Spirit overrun Hard Legion to secure last playoff berth in Malta

Spirit booked the final spot in the single-elimination playoffs of the Champions Cup Finals following a dominant victory in the CIS derby against Hard Legion.

Spirit had a false start to the opening map but spent the rest of the series in cruise control as Hard Legion were outplayed and outfought in this one-sided encounter. The convincing victory comes as a timely boost for the Russian side ahead of the semi-finals, where they will face FURIA - a team they are yet to beat in best-of-three matches.

Prior to the start of the series, Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev had made it clear that revenge was on everyone's lips after the team had lost the opening game 16-14. However, they were on the back foot from the start as Hard Legion dictated the pace during the early stages of Dust2, racing to a 7-0 lead on the Terrorist side.

Spirit then finally got on the board, and that was when the Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov show began. It was like a switch had flipped in the 22-year-old's head as he pulled off several multi-kill rounds, including a fast ace on the B site, to lead the charge for his team, who shockingly ended the half on top.

The excitement that Hard Legion had shown during the early rounds had already died down, but there was more misery to come. Spirit showed no signs of slowing down and carried that momentum into the second half, winning eight rounds without response to complete a dream 16-round streak.

Hard Legion bounced back with another winning start on Inferno, but there would be no respite for the ex-DreamEaters squad, who were held at bay for the remainder of the half by the Spirit defense, with Nikolay "⁠mir⁠" Bityukov and sdy notching 38 frags between them.

The second half began with Svyatoslav "⁠svyat⁠" Dovbakh winning a decisive 1v1 to keep Hard Legion in the game, but then they were handed a heavy blow as Spirit hit back on a force-buy. With their economy shattered and their morale extremely low, the former DreamEaters squad were helpless to prevent yet another painful defeat, which throws them out of the tournament.

The match-ups and schedule for the knockout stages look as follows:

Saturday, December 21
16:30 - G2 vs. ENCE (BO3)
20:00 - FURIA vs. Spirit (BO3)

Sunday, December 22
13:00 - Third-place decider (BO3)
18:00 - Grand final (BO3)