Spirit sweep Falcons 2-0 to reach BLAST Open Porto grand final
Spirit sweep Falcons 2-0 to reach BLAST Open Porto grand final
Spirit advanced to their third consecutive grand final after defeating Falcons 2:0 in the BLAST Open Porto semi-finals.
The series looked headed for a blowout after Spirit built an 11:1 lead on Nuke, but Falcons mounted a serious second-half comeback before Spirit stabilized. Ancient then produced a much tighter finish, ending with m0NESY one duel away from forcing overtime.
Falcons opened the series on their pick of Nuke, but Spirit immediately took control on the CT side.
sh1ro helped establish the advantage with a triple kill in the third round, while Spirit later converted a 2v3 to maintain their flawless start.
Falcons did not win a round until the final round of the half, when karrigan secured a 1v2 clutch.
That left Spirit ahead 11:1.
Falcons nearly complete huge comeback
The side switch transformed the map.
Falcons suddenly found their rhythm and won seven consecutive rounds, cutting Spirit 's advantage from 11:1 to 11:8.
What had looked like a complete rout began threatening to become one of the tournament's biggest comebacks.
Spirit finally stopped the run before it could go any further.
Back-to-back rounds closed Nuke 13:8 and gave Spirit the series lead.
Ancient goes down to the final round
Falcons started much better on Ancient .
m0NESY helped keep his team ahead during the opening half, including a utility-heavy 2v2 conversion that pushed Falcons to a 6:3 advantage.
Spirit responded by taking the final three rounds before halftime to level the score.
Donk then opened the second half with a USP triple on the B site to give Spirit their first lead of the map.
Falcons repeatedly fought back.
A low-buy B hit, a quick MAC-10 double from karrigan and a 1v2 clutch from TeSeS kept the match alive all the way to the 24th round.
m0NESY comes within one kill of overtime
The final round almost produced an extraordinary ending.
Falcons ' A-site attack collapsed early, leaving m0NESY alone in a 1v4.
He recovered three kills — one with the AWP, another with the Desert Eagle and a third after planting — reducing the situation to a final 1v1 against magixx .
m0NESY located the last Spirit player in Donut and scoped in, but magixx fired first to end the clutch attempt.
Spirit closed Ancient 13:11 and completed the sweep.
sh1ro tops Spirit scoreboard
sh1ro finished as Spirit 's highest-rated player with 33 kills, 79.0 ADR and a 1.21 rating.
m0NESY actually led the overall server statistically despite the defeat, recording 39 kills, 88.8 ADR and a 1.28 rating.
The victory also extended Spirit 's winning streak on Ancient to 14 maps.
Spirit moved into the BLAST Open Porto grand final, while Falcons exited the event in the semi-finals.
