Eternal Fire, KOI enter 2-1 pool in Bucharest

World No.7 Falcons are staring elimination in the face after losing their second match in Romania.

The first pair of matches of Day 2 in the Europe RMR A has come to an end, with Eternal Fire and KOI joining the 2-1 pool in the tournament.

The Turkish side made light work of Falcons in a one-sided Nuke game, repeating their victory from the IEM Katowice group stage. Falcons came out lively on the T side and romped to a 3-0 lead, but it was all Eternal Fire from there as they went on an 8-1 run, led by an in-form Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş, who finished the half with a 1.71 rating.

Falcons kept their comeback hopes alive after the side switch as they won the pistol round convincingly, but their respite would be short-lived. Eternal Fire responded immediately on a force buy and put together a string of rounds to secure the map and send Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer’s troops to the elimination rounds of the Swiss stage.

Over on the secondary stream, viewers were treated to a highly entertaining (and sometimes messy) game between KOI and 9 Pandas. The Iberian team came out with guns blazing as they stormed to a 6-0 lead, but then 9 Pandas tightened up their defense and levelled the score, with Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin and Timur "⁠clax⁠" Sabirov winning crucial 1v1 clutches.

The second half quickly descended into an open and, at times, chaotic affair as teams took turns stringing rounds together, with KOI pulling through in the end thanks to a quad kill from Renato "⁠stadodo⁠" Gonçalves on the B site.