FUT have secured a spot in the playoffs at the Esports World Cup following a hard-earned 2-1 victory over MOUZ in the Group C upper bracket.
MOUZ, who had entered the match as big favorites on the back of their title-winning run at BLAST Bounty fresh off of the arival of Oldřich "PR" Nový, have dropped to the lower bracket, where they'll face off against the winner of 100 Thieves vs. PARIVISION in a do-or-die match.
FUT were confident in their map pick, winning the pistol round on the attack and establishing a dominant side that ended up with double digits, 10-2. Only Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás was keeping up with the pace, but not enough to kickstart a floundering MOUZ against a FUT side firing on all cylinders that ended the map seven rounds into the second half, 13-6.
Starting on the CT side of Nuke with a 1-0 lead in the series, FUT once again established their lead early on, going up 6-1 off the back of a Yasin "xfl0ud" Koç 1v2 clutch. MOUZ then hit back, securing two more rounds, before FUT won out the half to take a six-round lead at the switch.
MOUZ finally won a pistol round on the CT side of Nuke, hoping to get enough oxygen to start a comeback, but a Džiugas "dziugss" Steponavičius Desert Eagle quad-kill threatened to throw a spanner in the works before MOUZ hit back in the forcebuy.
Then it was xfl0ud's turn with the Desert Eagle, acing with it to inch FUT closer to victory, but once again he and his teammates could not take advantage of these big individual plays with the hand cannon during the ensuing buy rounds.
The map remained close and down by one, 11-10, Dorian "xertioN" Berman downed three in a retake to tie it back up, before FUT succeeded on a B take to secure match point. A messy final round by the attackers led to overtime, where MOUZ dominated to win it 16-12 and force the Mirage decider.
There, the same situation nearly repeated itself as FUT came out swinging, dominating Middle on the CT side of Mirage, before MOUZ began to mount a comeback when they finally found the recipe for success in the brawl for Middle.
Then, FUT went up 11-4 off the back of a pistol round win and convincing conversions, but found MOUZ's CT side difficult to break through after that. The favorites brought it back to equal footing after converting several close rounds thanks to spot-on mid-round moves, only to drop the ball at the last hurdle.
PARIVISION
Evgenii 'FL1T' Lebedev
Dzhami 'Jame' Ali
Vladislav 'xiELO' Lysov
Ivan 'zweih' Gogin
Vyacheslav 'slaxejezzz' Vinokurov
Dastan 'dastan' Akbayev
Džiugas 'dziugss' SteponavičiusPast 3 months
Yasin 'xfl0ud' KoçPast 3 months
FUT
Yasin 'xfl0ud' Koç
Dmytro 'dem0n' Myroshnychenko
Aulon 'Krabeni' Fazlija
Nikita 'cmtry' Samolotov
Džiugas 'dziugss' Steponavičius
András 'coolio' Fercsák
Oldřich 'PR' NovýPast 3 months
Dorian 'xertioN' BermanPast 3 months
Ádám 'torzsi' TorzsásPast 3 months
100 Thieves
Nicolai 'device' Reedtz
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard
Jack 'Gizmy' von Spreckelsen
William 'sirah' Kjærsgaard
Alex 'poiii' Nyholm Sundgren
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander
MOUZ
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Oldřich 'PR' Nový
Adrian 'xelex' Vincze
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen