Jee return inspires TYLOO win over SAW in FISSURE Playground semis

The AWPer landed on the morning of the semi-final to lead TYLOO to a victory in the battle of surprises in Belgrade.

TYLOO are the first grand finalists of FISSURE Playground 1 after beating SAW 2-0 in a battle of the two biggest surprises of the tournament.

The Chinese side had made it to the semi-finals against all odds with coach WeiJie "⁠zhokiNg⁠" Zhong standing in for Dongkai "⁠Jee⁠" Ji, and continued to thrive once the AWPer finally sorted out his visa issues and arrived to Belgrade on the morning of the semi-final day.

If he was tired from the way over, it was not visible in his play, as he ended the close-fought series as the second-highest-rated player at 1.30.

The event's highest-rated player, Yi "⁠JamYoung⁠" Yang, was the only player to outshine the journeyman. A 30-bomb on Nuke denied SAW a crucial opener, which saw both sides win clutches galore before it came down to overtime.

Inferno looked like a foregone conclusion with TYLOO having defeated the likes of Astralis and 3DMAX on the map prior to the semi-final on their home map.

SAW showed resilience up against the ropes after giving up a 4-0 lead on the CT side, and even led 10-9 thanks to a momentum-swinging halfbuy win in round 15, but ultimately dropped the ball late with TYLOO going on a four-round run thanks to a stalwart B defense to close out the series.

TYLOO secure first notable grand final since 2018

TYLOO's run to the final in Belgrade represents a massive milestone for the Chinese organization. This will be its first grand final apperance at an MVP-level event since 2018, when it regularly made deep runs at tournaments of similar stature with a team featuring the likes of Ke "⁠captainMo⁠" Liu and Hansel "⁠BnTeT⁠" Ferdinand.

And it is all the more impressive considering the opposition they had faced without their star AWPer in Astralis, Virtus.pro and 3DMAX while playing with zhokiNg, who retired as a player two years ago before turning to analysis and coaching.

Now with Jee back in the mix, TYLOO will look to go a step further with what would likely represent the organization's biggest victory yet, in the best-of-five grand final against the winner of Astralis, whom they'd already defeated once before, and BetBoom on Sunday.

Date	Matches
FISSURE Playground 1
20/07/2025	TYLOO 15:05 Astralis	Match

SAW leave the event with heads held high

Christopher "⁠MUTiRiS⁠" Fernandes shared his disappointment with the close loss at the end of a match, but he can look back at SAW's run in Belgrade with pride.

Just a month after returning to an all-Portuguese lineup with the additions of Adones "⁠krazy⁠" Nobre and António "⁠aragornN⁠" Barbosa, the team took big scalps in FURIA and Complexity and showed competitiveness beyond the team's experience together.

What's more, SAW have jumped to 26th place on the Global VRS off the back of their semi-final run, which comes with a valuable $105,000 in prizemoney and club share.