FURIA have defeated BETBOOM in a nail-biting 3-2 series, denying BETBOOM a massive Mirage comeback before closing it out on the deciding Cache to secure the Thunderpick World Championship title in Malta.
With the win, the Brazilian-majority side has broken a nearly year-long title duck dating back to the BLAST Rivals Season 2 last November, doing so at the same tournament where they were once victorious already just a month before that.
FURIA got off to a flying start in the series on Dust2. It didn't matter much that Aleksandr "zorte" Zagodyrenko was getting the better of Danil "molodoy" Golubenko all throughout the game when the two faced off in AWP duels down Middle because Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato continued his hot streak.
With a 21-8 scoreline, he powered his team to a 13-6 victory as FURIA won forcebuy wars to run away with the economy game early into both halves.
The Kazakh AWPer was back in his element early on Ancient and it looked as if FURIA would run away with that map, too, but it all went wrong when, at 7-1, two teamkills within seconds from one another gave BETBOOM a way back in.
The Russian side took the opportunity and ran away with it, leaving FURIA scrambling as they lost the next eight rounds in a row. The game ultimately went to overtime after a late back-and-forth, and BETBOOM completed the comeback in two sets of extra rounds.
Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov's charges then took a convincing lead in the series on Nuke off the back of a superb display from Kirill "Magnojez" Rodnov, who ensured their 7-2 start on the defense with two massive multi-kills under pressure on the A bombsite.
FURIA looked to reply in kind on Mirage and did just that to start off on the CT side, securing a 10-2 CT side after repeatedly taking the fight to BETBOOM in Middle and pulling off crucial flanks when the rounds got tough.
But despite winning the second pistol round, too, closing the map proved difficult against a BETBOOM side that was making the double AWP in zorte and Magnojez's hands work wonders.
It came down to a nail-biting finish at 11-11, when FURIA broke the nine-round run with a successful 5v5 post-plant on A, before Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo ensured a 13-11 closing with a crucial triple in a 2v4 on the same bombsite.
It was all decided on Cache. FURIA's gameplan was clear: abuse the B bombsite with speed as much as possible. They did just that with success in the pistol and in a couple of crucial gunrounds to get ahead on the T side, with FalleN's 1v2 towards the end of the half then allowing the favorites to win out the half.
Chaos ensued at the beginning of the second half with forcebuy wars going back and forth with the title on the line, and it was Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis who ultimately nipped it in the bud with a perfectly-timed flank on a BETBOOM team executing into the B bombsite with just moments to spare.
The final standings of Thunderpick World Championship are:
1. FURIA $250,000 (+$250,000 club share)
2. BETBOOM - $125,000 (+$125,000)
3. Aurora - $50,000 (+$50,000)
4. Falcons - $25,000 (+$25,000)
5-6. Legacy - $15,000 (+$15,000)
5-6. 9z - $15,000 (+$15,000)
7-8. PARIVISION - $10,000 (+$10,000)
7-8. Ninjas in Pyjamas - $10,000 (+$10,000)
Kirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovPast 3 months
Kirill 'Magnojez' RodnovPast 3 months
Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoPast 3 months
PARIVISION
Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov
Evgenii 'FL1T' Lebedev
Dzhami 'Jame' Ali
Vladislav 'xiELO' Lysov
Ivan 'zweih' Gogin
Dastan 'dastan' Akbayev
Falcons
Finn 'karrigan' Andersen
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
René 'TeSeS' Madsen
Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov
Maksim 'kyousuke' Lukin
Danny 'zonic' Sørensen
Aleksandr 'zorte' ZagodyrenkoPast 3 months
Kaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoPast 3 months
Legacy
Andrei 'arT' Piovezan
Eduardo 'dumau' Wolkmer
Bruno 'latto' Rebelatto
Vinicius 'n1ssim' Pereira
Santino 'try' Rigal
Alan 'adrrr' Riveros
Danil 'molodoy' GolubenkoPast 3 months
FURIA
Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo
Yuri 'yuurih' Santos
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato
Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko
Sid 'sidde' Macedo
9z
Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalez
Franco 'dgt' Garcia
Ignacio 'meyern' Meyer
Luciano 'luchov' Herrera
Matias 'HUASOPEEK' Ibañez Hernandez
Bruno 'BIT' Fukuda Lima
BETBOOM
Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov
Aleksandr 'zorte' Zagodyrenko
Pavel 'S1ren' Ogloblin
Daniil 'd1Ledez' Kustov
Kirill 'Magnojez' Rodnov
Artem 'Fierce' Ivanov
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisPast 3 months
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Martin 'stavn' Lund
Rasmus 'sjuush' Beck
Karim 'Krimbo' Moussa
Adam 'adamb' Ångström
Kacper 'xKacpersky' Gabara
Richard 'Xizt' Landström
Aurora
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş
Özgür 'woxic' Eker
Jimi 'Jimpphat' Salo
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski
Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın
Ashley 'ash' Battye