Eternal Fire defeated Bad News Eagles in the championship game, 2-1, to claim victory in the first CCT Central Europe Malta Finals (16-12 Overpass, 9-16 Mirage, 19-16 Vertigo). The triumph brings to an end a demanding week for Engin #MAJ3R Kupeli’s team, who concurrently battled to qualify for the closed qualifier of the BLAST.tv Paris Major Europe while competing in the CCT tournament.

Coming into the series, Eternal Fire had struggled against the Kosovar team, taking only one map out of their eight previous matches played over the last 16 months, including three in this particular event. Nonetheless, every map played between the teams during that time came down to the wire, sometimes with score lines of 16-13 or 16-14, and such razor-thin margins gave Eternal Fire some chance of winning the series going into it.

Game opener

Eternal Fire’s path to victory was aided by a modification in the veto between the upper bracket final and grand final. While they were unable to select Mirage, their selection of Overpass worked well for them and helped to build up an exciting Vertigo title match. The game ultimately came down to the wire, with Bad News Eagles were in great position to win it at the end. However, a 1v3 ninja defuse from Yasin #xfl0ud Koc dramatically flipped the game, and the Kosovar team paid dearly for its colossal error in the final seconds of the map as Eternal Fire railed to win in overtime.

After choosing to pick into Overpass, Eternal Fire soon made up for a 0-2 start on the map, which played off right away. The Turkish team’s offensive was launched with a triple kill from #xfl0ud, and from that moment on, they displayed excellent form. In that endeavor, Ismailcan #XANTARES Dortkardes’s individual bravery and excellent rifle skills were crucial. Several kills and a vital 1v3 clutch helped Eternal Fire take a 10-5 advantage before the end of the first half. In the second part of the pistol round, Omer #imoRR Karatas and xfl0ud recovered a 2v4 position to preserve the momentum in their team’s advantage. Even though the Kosovars made an effort to force overtime, Eternal Fire did secure match point by stopping a bombsite attack, and XANTARES came up when it counted, assisting his side in winning 16-12.

In Mirage, XANTARES continued his strong play, but his squad struggled to support him and frag alongside him for the majority of the first half. Early in the map, the Bad New Eagles took a 5-1 lead thanks to Rigon #rigoN Gashi’s defense on the B bomsite. But, Bad New Eagles played calmly on defense and moved ahead, 10-5, going into the side switch, Eternal Fire strung together three rounds in an effort to battle back into the map. Before the second half started, any chances of Eternal Fire ending the series in two maps were immediately dashed. Early on, on the T side, #Sinnopsyy made a huge contribution to his team by scoring many kills and winning a 1v3 clutch to put his team on the verge of victory. Eternal Fire managed to string together three rounds to make the final score appear more favorable, but the gap was too great for them to close, and Eagles won the map 16-9.

Vertigo

Before the Vertigo decider started, Bad New Eagles still had the upper hand thanks to a win in the pistol round that gave them a 4-0 lead on the CT side. After a few rounds of fierce back-and-forth combat, the game suddenly turned into a physical contest as the teams swapped punches. Eternal Fire eventually prevailed. Eagles displayed determination and fought back on the T side, and the teams were separated by tiny margins as they competed for the lead. For a brief while, it appeared as though Eagles had effectively stopped Eternal Fire’s momentum and could finish the map, but a post-plant disaster and a 1v3 ninja defuse from xfl0ud radically changed the course of events. After then, Eternal Fire managed to win a few rounds to maintain themselves in the game, two teams continued to compete until overtime. There, the Eagles could only manage a heroic quad kill from rigoN as Eternal Fire gained momentum and blazed their way to a 19-16 victory to win the match and the championship.