Falcons defeat HEET in French derby thriller to stay alive in RMR

Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro and company are out of contention after a close 1-2 loss in overtime to their countrymen.

Falcons live to fight another day after winning the French derby against HEET in the 1-2 pool, condemning their compatriots to elimination in the IEM Road to Rio Europe RMR’s Group B.

"When you play your countrymen you want to win more than against any other team," Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt said in the post-match interview, before admitting that "it sucks that we played in a 1-2 situation."

The series delivered a brawl that ended in overtime on Dust2, 19-17, after the two teams won each other’s picks, with Falcons claiming Vertigo 16-9 and HEET then taking Overpass 16-13.

The series started on HEET’s Vertigo map pick, but it was Falcons who struck first, linking five rounds on the CT side before bodyy and company tallied their first attack. NBK- and his teammates regained control, however, with the five players putting together a team effort to lead 10-5 at the half.

HEET winning the second pistol round was lessened by a bomb plant giving Falcons a good enough buy to even things out in the second round. The momentum shift got them to 13-6 before retaliation from the CTs could come, and Ali "⁠hAdji⁠" Haïnouss led the way for his team to claim a 16-9 victory.

HEET then got off on the right foot on Overpass, winning the CT pistol round and linking five straight rounds before a double with the Desert Eagle by Jordan "⁠Python⁠" Munck-Foehrle got Falcons on the board. That opened the gates for six more rounds out of the following seven, tying things up 6-6, before HEET could regain control to go up 9-6 at the switch.

Four off the bat on the attack put HEET in prime position to force a decider, but Falcons slowly got into the groove on the defense, with Python winning a crucial 1vs2 afterplant situation to keep the comeback alive. HEET continued to grind out rounds, however, bringing the map to a conclusion in the 29th round, 16-13.

HEET took a 4-1 lead on the attacking side of Dust2, but Falcons kept things close early on with a 4vs3 retake on the B site. The two teams brawled their way to the half with Falcons edging ahead on the scoreboard by a single round at the switch, leaving the map wide open for the final half of the series.

A Dual Berettas jumpshot by Audric "⁠JACKZ⁠" Jug in the second pistol round to stop a 3vs3 bomb plant proved crucial for HEET to tie things up on the CT side. They then took hold of the half, giving up just one round before reaching 14, after which Falcons called a timeout and immediately hit double digits. The team led by NBK- then went on a six round streak to hit match point, winning a crucial 3vs5 when down 12-14, but a final heroic triple kill by bodyy forced overtime.

The two teams got to the final round of overtime with Falcons — whose Bryan "⁠Maka⁠" Canda regained form late in the map and was calling the shots — on match point, although it was none other than the veteran, NBK-, who sealed the deal for his team with three AK headshots in a 2vs3 situation on A long.

hAdji topped the board with a 1.18 rating and was the only player to surpass 70 kills in the series (72), while averaging the highest damage per round, 85.1 across the three maps. Falcons are now in the 2-2 and will play one of the final decider matches on Sunday.