Spirit win FiReLEAGUE Global Finals

Spirit have won the FiReLEAGUE Global Finals after besting paiN. Despite suffering a 16-12 loss on Dust2, the Russians brought it back with wins on Nuke (16-8) and Vertigo (16-10).

The win for Spirit comes after the team was not initially meant to even be at the event. It was TeamOne who qualified through the North American qualifier, but when they were unable to attend, the eventual winners were invited.

Up until the final, Spirit had looked unstoppable as they easily dealt with WINDINGO and 9z in two 2-0 victories. Igor “⁠w0nderful⁠” Zhdanov had led the way for the squad, putting up a 1.36 rating in the first game and following it up with a 1.76 in the second.

The runners-up were also on good form coming into the final, with Rodrigo “⁠biguzera⁠” Bittencourt having a monster performance to put Imperial out of contention in the semi-finals. With a shaky performance against MASONIC in the first round long behind them, paiN looked to provide a good fight in the final.

The final kicked off on paiN‘s map pick of Dust2 with their opponents getting off to a great start with a dominant pistol round leading to four rounds in quick succession. However with Felipe “⁠skullz⁠” Medeiros leading the way, paiN fought their way back into the game. The first half ended 8-7 in favor of Spirit but once the sides switched paiN looked on a different level and, despite conceding three rounds whilst on match point, the Brazilians still looked dominant in their 16-12 victory.

From there the dominance that paiN had displayed stopped. Their opponents turned the tables on them in the second map, as w0nderful continued his good run of form but it was Robert “⁠Patsi⁠” Isyanov who unlocked a different level, his 28 kills led the squad to the 16-8 win on Nuke.

Regardless of the one-sided nature of the second map, Vertigo looked like it would be a competitive finale to the best-of-three final as paiN won the pistol round. However, the game quickly turned away from being competitive as Spirit won eleven rounds in a row and then ended the half 12-3. In the second half skullz was at the helm of a comeback that saw paiN gain seven T-rounds, but it was not enough. The final map ended 16-10 and the Leonid “⁠chopper⁠” Vishnyakov-led squad hoisted the trophy.

The FiReLEAGUE Global Finals standings are:

1. Spirit – $100,000
2. paiN – $30,000
3-4. 9z – $7,000
3-4. Imperial – $7,000
5-8. MIBR– $1,500
5-8. WINDINGO – $1,500
5-8. Isurus – $1,500
5-8. MASONIC – $1,500

The tournament win is an important one for Spirit as they will now turn their attention to the IEM Rio Major. The Brazilian event’s Legends Stage, for which the Russian side has qualified, will begin on November 5.