Despite being mostly CT-sided on Overpass and Ancient up until the last map, Mirage, which was divided down the middle in the first half before the Kosovar team raced away on the final offensive side, Bad News Eagles won the CCT Central Europe Malta Finals Group A winners' match against #forZe.
The Match Recap
As they established a 6-2 lead when the series began on Overpass, Dionis #synsopsyy Budeci and company were euphoric. During a stoppage, the Kosovar players were giggling as their opponents were having trouble gaining balance. R3salt Evgeny Frolov was off to a 0-9 start after remarking on how simple his team's match versus HONORIS was.
Yet in the second half, the Bad News Eagles joy quickly vanished since their 11-4 lead on the attack was insufficient. The teenager from forZe also made an important contribution to the defense and improved personally to finish 21-18 with a 1.15 rating in his team's 16-13 triumph.
ForZe made a strong start on the CT side on Ancient, BNE's selection, and quickly built a dominant 8-1 lead. Everything began to go apart at that point, but the team rallied to a manageable 6-9 hole under the guidance of Swedish veteran Jonatan #Devilwalk Lundberg.
Vladislav #Krad Kravchenko, who finished the series with a 0.36 rating, was unable to have any influence on forZe, but a 10-3 run by BNE's defense eliminated any uncertainty and forced a 16-12 tiebreaker.
It was all determined on Mirage, as forZe came back and trailed just by one at the half, despite Bad News Eagles starting off 7-1 on defense. On this map, the CT-sidedness of the other maps vanished.
The Conclusion
After more than three hours, a tepid climax to the series eventually came. ForZe was faced with match point at 11-15 just as they were beginning to gather momentum after a sluggish start, and despite prevailing in a round, they were defeated by a Sener #SENER1 Mahmuti triple in a forcebuy.
In Group B, where ENCE, Movistar Riders, Sprout, and Spirit will begin their tournament campaigns with opening best-of-one matches, Bad News Eagles, who currently hold the top seed in Group A, will wait to advance to the playoffs for the second-best team.
