Eternal Fire move past ENCE to start marathon day

The Turkish squad secure a place in the CCT upper bracket final to kick off a busy day in which they might have to play three more series.

Eternal Fire have advanced to the CCT Central Europe Malta Finals upper bracket final and send ENCE to the lower bracket after a 2-0 victory (Inferno 16-9, Vertigo 16-14) over the Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer-led team.

It's a successful start to a marathon day in which Eternal Fire will also play for a spot in the Europe RMR against Into the Breach at 15:30 and the CCT upper bracket final at 20:30 .

The closed qualifier match in the 2-1 pool is a crucial one to win if the Turks wish to avoid playing four series on the same day and another late-night finish, as the deciding 2-2 matches will be played at the end of Saturday as well.

The Turks got the job done in two maps against ENCE. They were in the driving seat from the start on Inferno thanks to a forcebuy win in the second round and a Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli 1v2 clutch in the fifth, which gave Eternal Fire a huge early lead on the Terrorist side that they never let go.

A clean pistol put them two rounds away from victory, and although it took them a while to find an answer to ENCE's offense, they closed the map with plenty of time still left on the back of a Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş triple on banana and a B retake.

ENCE's Vertigo pick proved a tougher challenge for MAJ3R and company. The two teams couldn't be separated until the final stretch of the first half, where Eternal Fire won the last three rounds to give themselves a healthy advantage.

That lead was soon gone, though as ENCE equalized things off a second-round forcebuy win and even went on to take the lead after abusing weaknesses in middle. In the end, crucial flanks from B from MAJ3R in late-round scenarios made the difference after the match went to all 30 rounds.