FURIA head to Major playoffs over G2

The European squad has been eliminated after an up-and-down journey in the Legends Stage.

FURIA have qualified for the playoffs of the PGL Major Antwerp after their 2-1 victory over G2, clinching a 3-2 record in the Swiss stage. The Brazilians began their tournament in the Legends Stage following a top placement in the Americas RMR and came into the 2-2 elimination match counting wins against Liquid and BIG.

This marks the end of G2's run at the Major. The European squad advanced from the Challengers Stage with a perfect 3-0 record before struggling in the second Swiss stage with narrow defeats at the hands of Natus Vincere and HEROIC.

FURIA kicked off the elimination match with a confident performance on the T side of Vertigo. The Brazilians opened up their pick with a successful pistol before extending their lead to 6-2 as Rafael "⁠saffee⁠" Costa began to get the ball rolling with a few multi-kills and impact frags.

Halfway through the half, both Audric "⁠JACKZ⁠" Jug and Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač started to find impact, allowing G2 to steal the lead and close the half 8-7 ahead. FURIA's aggressive CT setup after switching sides disoriented the European squad and only conceded four rounds on their way to claim the map 16-12 despite Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov's best efforts to stop them.

With their backs against the wall, G2 needed a good start to their Inferno offensive and briefly, they succeded. Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's men claimed an early 4-1 lead on the back of their first successful pistol round of the series, but they were not able to keep up the pace for long. FURIA turned things around and strung five in a row to take the lead of the map, not giving up despite a chaotic end to the 8-7 set.

The second half would turn out to be equally as close, G2 crucially prevented the Brazilian snowball on round 18 with a saved rifle on m0NESY and a few upgraded pistols. From there, the CTs cemented their comeback with a brief winning streak to secure a 14-11 scoreline. It was not clean, with Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato trying his hardest to prevent the series from going into a third map, but G2 eventually managed to edge Inferno 16-14.

The decider on Ancient finally gave us a sneak peek of what G2 are capable of starting off on the CT side as Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač kickstarted a great half for his squad with three kills in the opening pistol to deliver the round to the European squad. In time m0NESY also came alive on Ancient, topping the scoreboard as G2 accumulated a 10-5 lead going into halftime.

Everything then came falling down for G2 after the break as they conceded the pistol and ten consecutive rounds in a complete T side collapse. André "⁠drop⁠" Abreu played a solid half, showing maturity beyond his experience on the CT side and like so many times before, it was Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos and KSCERATO who lifted FURIA to a fantastic victory, closing the series with a 16-11 scoreline.