forZe stun Virtus.pro in first round of FunSpark ULTI Europe Final

Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali and co. will have to continue their tournament run through the lower bracket.

FORZE are through to the Funspark ULTI Europe Final upper bracket semi-final after defeating the top-ranked team in the tournament, Virtus.pro, in a two-map series on Mirage (16-11) and Overpass (25-23), where Virtus.pro forced extra rounds from the brink of defeat just to end up falling after three sets of overtime.

FORZE will now go on to face the winner of HAVU vs. Complexity in the tournament's upper bracket semi-finals, while Virtus.pro will go up against the loser of the same match in the first round of the lower bracket, where they will be fighting for survival after their initial defeat in the double-elimination system.

FORZE were quick to take the lead on their map pick, Mirage, going up 3-0 on the attacking side before Virtus.pro secured the first gun round. FORZE struck right back, but weren’t able to follow it up as VP brought it back to a 4-4. An incredibly strong Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev powered FORZE to a 7-4 lead, but they gave up the last three rounds and went to the half trailing by one.

Virtus.pro extended their lead in the second pistol round, threatening with a possible early snowball on the attack, but FORZE shut that down by winning the forcebuy to keep things close. Having regained the lead, Andrey "⁠Jerry⁠" Mekhryakov and company went on to find comfort in the CT side as FL1T hit 31 frags in the 27 rounds it took FORZE to close the series out, 16-11.

FL1T continued wreaking havoc in the early stages of Overpass, taking down three Virtus.pro players in the pistol round with his USP and four more on the anti-eco. Two entries by Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis, who had struggled on Mirage, got VP on the board, but doubles by Jerry and FL1T in the following round propelled a red-hot FORZE who went on to take an 11-4 lead at the switch.

Virtus.pro made a strong case for a possible comeback by winning the first four rounds of the half, but FORZE hit back in the fifth to make it 12-8. Almaz "⁠almazer⁠" Asadullin and company followed it up all the way to match point before Sanjar "⁠SANJI⁠" Kuliev was able to win a 1vs1 on B to keep the game alive, after which Virtus.pro clawed their way back to a tie in the last round of regulation.

The two teams then battled it out across three overtimes as Virtus.pro fought for survival in the series, but it was finally FORZE who managed to close the map out, 25-23, to proceed through the upper bracket.