FUT extend their great EWC run against FURIA while Spirit end Legacy’s

The semi-finals here at EWC weren’t quite the matchups we originally expected, but that made them no less interesting.

On one side, FURIA against FUT, a team with finals expectations vs an almost unknown quantity, but one that took down MOUZ nonetheless. On the other side, Spirit, who — despite what we all say about their structure — keep winning games regardless, facing off against Legacy, a side that already ended NAVI and Falcons' hopes.

On paper, that reads like a recipe for incredible games, but did it turn out that way in practice?

Well, sort of:

A FUT in FURIA’s mouth

Back when the bracket was drawn, we said: “...the Brazilian side will probably be somewhat disappointed to walk away from here without a finals spot at minimum.”

Well, I think we nailed it; they’re probably very disappointed.

Of course, if it happened, we were expecting a team like G2 to do the job. Instead, FUT — who, in fairness, have been great at this event — got it done. So how did we get it so wrong?

Well, that’s because I, as a CS analyst, underestimated xfl0ud and this FUT machine as a unit.

To be fair to myself, xfl0ud’s career arc did not really show any signs of a tick up during his first stints in T2/1. He has always shown promise and talent; that’s been true since before his days on Eternal Fire, but he somehow always ended up being meh. Well, since he’s joined FUT, he’s been damn good. He and cmtry were the gunmen in this series against FURIA.

A big credit for that has to go to Krabeni, though, as his leadership is evidently elite, and thanks to it, this FUT roster that was once NAVI Junior is now on its way to outrank NAVI.

As for the maps themselves, it was a tug-of-war.

Map one was close, but FUT kept finding openings and clutches, giving them the edge on Ancient. Map 2 gave us the only uncompetitive score; FURIA had a really impressive T-side performance on Nuke, which basically ended the match as soon as it started. Two of FUT’s only CT rounds were retakes, which should say enough about FURIA’s control. As for the last map, well, Dust 2 was a banger. FalleN did not want to lose, and he played like it. Even hitting a completely skill-based, no-luck flick. (In seriousness, though, this might be one of the most insane clips we’ve ever seen)

The veteran willed his team to an OT in the end, because once FUT started their T-side, things got scary for FURIA. xfl0ud reawakened from a bad half, cmtry and dem0n both decided to carry, and the calls were usually correct. They won eight of the first ten rounds in the first half, giving them a match and series point. But as we established, FURIA forced OT.

Unfortunately for the BR fans, that’s as far as FURIA got. FUT kept the T-side going even in OT, winning their three T-rounds. All that was left was to win a CT-round, and thanks to a dem0n two-piece on a retake, they managed to do just that.

All that’s left for them now is to win the final. How hard could it be?

Well, given their opponent, probably very.

That’s Team Spirit

A lot can be said about Spirit, but sometimes CS is as simple as donk+sh1ro = win.

It’s easy to intellectualize this team. We love doing it ourselves too, but as LuzRaposa tried to explain to me in a DM conversation once, some duos can win you any game. Who cares about some dude named “tN1R” dropping 0.74 ratings or any role-cell nonsense, as all that truly matters is donk and sh1ro shooting.

Well, today they both shot.

egacy put up a genuine fight, as you can see if you just look at their ratings. For map one, Spirit’s pocket pick of D2, three of their players had ratings between 1.2 and 1.3. Unfortunately for latto, try, and n1ssim, that ain’t enough to beat donk, sh1ro, and zont1x having a life game. They had a close 6:6 first half, sure, but Spirit won the game with a dominant seven rounds out of eight in the second half.

Map two, Ancient, was just a case of déjà vu, unfortunately.

Legacy pulled out another 6:6 first half as Ts, really making us believe there’s a chance... right before dropping 7 out of 10 rounds on their CT-side. But we can’t really blame them, as sh1ro was man-possessed. If not for him, Legacy would’ve had a lead coming into the second half, giving them more of a chance. Though Legacy did manage to get the first kill in eight of those second half rounds, so maybe chances weren’t the issue.

In any case, Spirit won all the same, and now they’re coming into a final as favorites.

The only question left to answer is: Are Spirit going to be the villain in a second story, only to be vanquished in a third-arc redemption where FUT lift the EWC trophy… or were they the protagonists all along?

See you at 13:30 CEST tomorrow to find out.