AVANGAR took Overpass 16-13, lost Cache 16-10,
and won Dust2 16-11, to move on to the Group B winners' match over NiP.
AVANGAR kicked Overpass off with a
successful defense in the pistol round despite three frags from Fredrik
"REZ" Sterner, but after winning the anti-eco they gave up two rounds
to NiP who tied it up, 2-2. The Swedes then won an anti-eco on their own to
take the lead. Dennis "dennis" Edman then won a 1vs2 against Ali
"Jame" Djami and Aidyn "KrizzeN" Turlybekov having put the
bomb down between frags to keep his team rolling. NiP had a very convincing 8-3
lead early in the half, but once AVANGAR sorted out the economic situation they
were able to take the last four rounds as Jame put in a few impactful plays.
Three headshots by Christopher
"GeT_RiGhT" Alesund from Pit the helped his team take the first round
of the second half to stay in the lead, and they won against the pistol and
armor buy thanks to Jonas "Lekr0" Olofsson who had three kills
including a 1vs2. The second half quickly got interesting as both teams went back
and forth. AVANGAR took the lead at 12-11, but the Ninjas were able to win the
following to bring it back even, 12-12, although they then lost the following
to a B play. The Kazakh-Russian side then won against a full eco and followed
it up winning a 3vs2 afterplant to get on match point. NiP were able to get one
more round, but AVANGAR closed the Swedes’ map pick out.
qikert was crucial in the decider for
AVANGAR
NiP started winning the defending pistol
round on Cache, 3-0, ahead of the first buy round by AVANGAR in which the
Kazakh-Russian side got on the board, but were then immediately reset. A huge
four-kill round including a 1vs3 with a last-second spray transfer through the
smoke by REZ to make it just in time for a defuse kept the Ninjas racking
rounds. The Swedes then went on to win the half out 10-5, only giving up the
occasional round.
On the attacking side, NiP once again won
the pistol round, followed it up, and then kept winning, taking the economic
advantage and not giving AVANGAR a chance in the first four rounds of the half.
Finally, Alexey "qikert" Golubev was able to get three frags in a
2vs3 afterplant to go on to defuse the bomb and get his team on the board for
the first time in the second half. AVANGAR then made it to double digits off of
the back of that big win, but NiP closed it out, 16-10, to take it to the
decider.
NiP had a slow start on Dust2 which they
couldn't turn around
AVANGAR started on the defending side on
Dust2, and got off to a great start, winning the pistol round and the first gun
round. Up 4-0, qikert got an ace in another gun round to keep his team on a
streak and throw NiP back into another eco. AVANGAR then went all the way to
8-0 before NiP could get on the board. They went on to win two more in the
half, giving up 5 of the last 7 rounds to NiP.
The second half saw AVANGAR further
increase their lead as Timur "buster" Tulepov and KrizzeN opened up
the round with their glocks for a 5vs3 afterplant. The Kazakh-Russian side then
won the anti-eco and the first gun round. buster then had a big 1vs2 round,
bringing his team on the brink of victory, 14-5. With a full buy, NiP were able
to win their first round of the second half, as AVANGAR had to play the
following round with two CZ75s. The half-buy would be enough, though, as
AVANGAR took match point with each player winning his duels. Finally, despite
giving up a few more rounds, qikert & co. were able to take it, 16-11