FURIA defeat BIG, progress to EPL playoffs

The Brazilians bested BIG in a three-map series to send the Germans down to the last chance stage.

FURIA punched their ticket to the ESL Pro League Season 17 playoffs, which will run from March 21-26, after taking down BIG in the Group B lower bracket final. The Brazilians struck first by securing their opponents' pick of Nuke (16-13), conceded Vertigo (11-16) before closing out the series following a comfortable victory on Inferno (16-10).

The two teams last met at the IEM Katowice Play-In, where BIG handed FURIA the first of two losses which consigned the Brazilian roster to a lamentable 17-20th exit from the Polish event. This time, however, it was Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan and company who took home the victory, stellar AWPing from Rafael "⁠saffee⁠" Costa on Inferno being enough to prevent back-to-back losses at the hands of the Germans and ensure FURIA are one of the 16 teams to reach the playoffs at ESL Pro League Season 17.

BIG now drop down to the last chance stage in Malta. The side around Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz will need to pick up two consecutive best-of-three series if they're to earn their own playoff berth, with their first test being a rematch against Complexity on Sunday at 12:30 .

The best-of-three bout began on Nuke, BIG's pick, where the Germans quickly punished FURIA's decision to wield a double-AWP set-up straight off the bat to nurture a 5-0 lead on the T-side. It took a defuse in smoke from saffee in round six for the Brazilians to get on the scoresheet, but back-to-back 1vs2 clutches from Marcel "⁠hyped⁠" Köhn and Karim "⁠Krimbo⁠" Moussa allowed the Germans to extend their grip on the game even more. Regardless, BIG were unable to press their advantage as the half entered the dying stages, with an effective and mobile CT-side from FURIA allowing the Brazilians to cut the deficit down to just one round at the side swap.

FURIA took the lead for the first time at the outset of the second half. Well-executed bombsite hits enabled the Brazilians to reach double digits uncontested, 10-8. FURIA went from strength to strength and raced to map point, with the Germans being able to muster just two rounds from low-investment buys in that time, 15-10. Fortunate spams through smoke granted BIG a way to close the gap with three rounds on the trot, alas double kills from Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato and André "⁠drop⁠" Abreu closed the lid on any late-map recovery to see FURIA through to a 16-13 victory on Nuke.

FURIA overturned BIG's pistol round win thanks to a successful rush of the B bombsite with Tec-9s and Glock-18s to kick-start Vertigo, using their new-found momentum to cruise to a 5-2 lead on the T-side. A 1vs3 ace clutch from arT got his side onto six rounds, but the Brazilians were unable to convert their in-game leader's heroics as the Germans launched a piercing comeback. Going on to put up a stalwart defensive wall, tabseN's men conceded just one round for the remainder of their CT-side effort, eventually sitting on top by one round at the interval.

A flawless hold of the B bombsite from FURIA christened the second half, with the roster converting their advantage to reach double digits first yet again, 10-8. BIG refused to go down without a fight, though, a server-leading 23 kills from hyped — the team's newest member — powering the German squad to a stellar run of form to go 14-11 up. FURIA attempted to hop back in the driver's seat with aggressive and in-your-face maneuvers, but BIG refused to take their foot off the gas, with tabseN putting a knife in KSCERATO's back in the final to lock in 16-11 scoreline for his team and force an Inferno decider.

BIG got off to a flying start on Inferno, 13 kills between hyped and Nils "⁠k1to⁠" Gruhne spearheading a 5-0 start on the CT-side and setting the stage for a potential reverse sweep. The Brazilians mounted a comeback once their economy allowed for it, however; clinical conversions of their opening man advantages enabled FURIA to wrestle control of the map and trail by just one round at halftime.

It took further individual prowess from saffee for FURIA to maintain their upwards trajectory, with the Brazilian marksman gunning down 12 BIG players over the first five rounds to regain the lead for his team. BIG shook up the pace of their T-side rounds in a bid to get back on the board, but FURIA's defensive line mostly withstood the varied playstyle. In the end, FURIA's overpowering defensive effort proved too difficult for BIG to overcome, closing out the map with a 16-10 scoreline to be the third team from Group B to advance to the playoffs in Malta.