FURIA edge past 100 Thieves to book DreamHack Masters Spring final spot

FURIA came from behind to beat 100 Thieves 2-1 and lock down a place in the DreamHack Masters Spring final in North America.

It wasn't pretty and it certainly wasn't easy, but FURIA held firm to reach their second consecutive tournament final. The Brazilians stuttered, then moved into high gear to pull off a reverse sweep against a 100 Thieves side led by the always-impressive Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage, who deserved a better result with the way that he fought tonight.

It looked like FURIA's winning streak in series would come to an end after they were humbled on their map pick of Inferno, where they simply posed no threat to their opponents. But they came to life on Vertigo, where they looked sharper almost from the offset, before completing the job in a messy Train game that was a battle of nerve and emotion with jks and Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos at the forefront.

The Brazilians got off to a slow start on Inferno, winning just one of the opening 11 rounds after struggling to break through 100 Thieves' defense. Nothing seemed to going FURIA's way, but then the team picked up three more rounds before the break to keep their comeback hopes alive.

More misery was to come, however, as FURIA lost the second-half pistol after their defense was torn apart by an ace from Sean "⁠Gratisfaction⁠" Kaiwai. That was the start of a dominant T half from the Australians, who wrapped things up in the 19th round after jks had put the team on map point with a 1v3 clutch.

100 Thieves looked determined to build on that Inferno mauling as they jumped out to a 3-1 lead on the T side of Vertigo, a map where they had run out 16-5 winners the last time these two teams had faced each other. However, the rest of the half was dominated by FURIA, who shut out the Australians with a strong defensive performance led by captain Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan, who had 17 frags to his name.

Down 4-11, 100 Thieves kept themselves in it as jks and Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad clutched a 2v4 situation in the pistol round, but there was no follow-up as FURIA responded immediately on a force-buy. The Brazilians pressed on and quickly hit 14 rounds, but 100 Thieves showed they still had plenty left in the tank as they began to eat away at the deficit, with Jay "⁠Liazz⁠" Tregillgas dealing a massive blow to his opponents as he pulled off a seemingly-impossible 1v2 clutch. FURIA were starting to feel the pressure as only three rounds separated the two teams, but then arT took matters into his own hands with a trio of frags inside A to halt the Australians' momentum and set his team up for victory, which came in the following round.

It all came down to Train, which began with FURIA romping to a 3-0 lead on the Terrorist side. When 100 Thieves finally bought up, the landscape of the game changed dramatically as the Australians won six rounds without response, but FURIA took control of proceedings in the latter stages of the half to take a narrow 8-7 lead.

Now on the offense, 100 Thieves strung a few rounds together before Henrique "⁠HEN1⁠" Teles and yuurih put FURIA back in the lead with some impressive plays. The game then entered a scrappy phase as rounds went both ways and nerves began to set for both sides, with 100 Thieves restoring parity at 14-14 after winning an eco round. Brazilian fans feared that this was the end for FURIA, but then the team quickly shut down the outer bombsite before wrapping things up in the final round of regulation.