Ghost dominate FURIA, win ZOTAC Cup Masters Americas Regional
Ghost and FURIA were the only teams left in Santa Ana after Sharks and eUnited were knocked out in the semifinals. FURIA had turned heads with wins over the North American teams compLexity and eUnited, while Ghost domianted Sharks in their semifinals appearance.
FURIA began the first half of Cache with a strong terrorist side, taking the first three rounds off of Ghost. While Ghost were able to take back rounds in their favor, and even tie the game 6-6, FURIA closed out the half with a 9-6 lead with no players standing out above the rest.
Ghost rebounded in the second half, even after a fairly disasterous pistol round. With a 1v2 clutch from Yassine "Subroza" Taoufik, Ghost tied the score once again and even took the lead briefly at 11-10. The two teams traded rounds until the score was tied 14-14. After a tactical timeout from Ghost, the North Americans stole the 29th round away with four survivors. With a crippled economy and only pistols, FURIA were left with little to no hope for retaking the map. With Matthew "Wardell" Bowman headlining the frags, Ghost took the first map 16-14. With FURIA's map pick taken by Ghost, the teams moved on to Overpass.
Despite the competitive close finish on Cache, Ghost's pick of Overpass did not follow suit. The North Americans dominated the first half with Wardell crushing FURIA with the AWP and not dying until the 10th round. With Subroza and Kenneth "koosta" Suen dominating the map, Ghost led themselves to a 14-0 scoreline. In the last round of the first half, FURIA were finally able to take one round away from Ghost, ending the first half 14-1.
Ghost's overwhelming dominance continued into the second half with a victory pistol round, but was halted by three round wins from FURIA, including an accidental suicide from Yuri "yuurih" Santos. In the 20th round on an eco, thanks to a 1v2 from Joshua "steel" Nissan, Ghost took their 16th round, ending the map 16-4 and wrapping up the series 2-0.
FURIAGhost| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
32 - 38 | -6 | 82.2 | 70.0% | 1.01 |
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
34 - 33 | +1 | 70.1 | 62.0% | 0.95 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
30 - 39 | -9 | 69.4 | 58.0% | 0.87 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
30 - 42 | -12 | 64.0 | 62.0% | 0.85 |
| Guilherme 'spacca' Spacca |
19 - 40 | -21 | 44.5 | 50.0% | 0.53 |
| Ghost |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Matthew 'WARDELL' Yu |
47 - 22 | +25 | 91.8 | 76.0% | 1.49 |
| Yassine 'Subroza' Taoufik |
42 - 32 | +10 | 89.3 | 82.0% | 1.33 |
 Kenneth 'koosta' Suen |
40 - 33 | +7 | 81.6 | 74.0% | 1.21 |
| Matt 'Pollo' Wilson |
28 - 30 | -2 | 75.8 | 82.0% | 1.09 |
| Joshua 'steel' Nissan |
34 - 28 | +6 | 67.3 | 70.0% | 1.03 |
Along with the $10,000 cash prize, Ghost have qualified for the ZOTAC Cup Masters grand finals in Hong Kong, where they will join Liquid as the represenatives of North America at the event. FURIA, while not the champion of the event, go home with an excellent second place finish. With their move to Miami coming soon, FURIA will soon meet the North Americans again.
