FURIA survive Ghost scare to qualify for ESL One Cologne
FURIA have defeated Ghost in the grand finals of the ESL One Cologne Closed Qualifier, earning themselves a spot at the legendary $300,000 event that will run from July 2 - July 7.
The third and final day of the qualifier saw just two series played, with FURIA initially facing off against Lazarus in the consolidation final. The Brazilian trio of Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato, Yuri "yuurih" Santos, and Vinicius "VINI" Figueiredo all entered the series in solid form, helping their side to a 12-3 T-side lead on their own pick of Nuke. A string of six rounds for Lazarus at the start of the second half prolonged the map momentarily, but FURIA battled back with four rounds of their own to take the win 16-9.
It was a much tighter race on Lazarus' pick of Mirage, with the two teams remaining neck-and-neck at the end of the first half. Once FURIA swapped over to the offensive side however, it was a whole different ballgame, with the Brazilians winning seven rounds straight to sit upon match point before eventually closing out map 16-9, and taking the series 2-0.
LazarusFURIA| Lazarus |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Yassine 'Subroza' Taoufik |
40 - 38 | +2 | 77.9 | 66.0% | 1.04 |
 Michael 'dapr' Gulino |
31 - 37 | -6 | 79.0 | 64.0% | 1.02 |
| Jordan 'Zellsis' Montemurro |
28 - 41 | -13 | 67.5 | 60.0% | 0.87 |
| Gage 'Infinite' Green |
29 - 37 | -8 | 69.0 | 62.0% | 0.83 |
| Braxton 'swag' Pierce |
23 - 37 | -14 | 64.6 | 64.0% | 0.75 |
| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
46 - 21 | +25 | 90.3 | 84.0% | 1.53 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
45 - 32 | +13 | 90.7 | 76.0% | 1.30 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
38 - 34 | +4 | 90.9 | 82.0% | 1.28 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
30 - 32 | -2 | 70.4 | 68.0% | 1.06 |
| Rinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior |
31 - 32 | -1 | 64.9 | 76.0% | 1.01 |
Ghost entered the grand final with a 1-0 map advantage as they had topped the upper bracket, and were granted a second boon as they also had the first map pick of the series. Having the first map pick proved to be of little help for Josh "steel" Nissan's side as FURIA denied Ghost from winning any consecutive rounds in the first half, putting up a dominant 11-4 lead following their defensive half. Much like Lazarus, Ghost managed to forstall their execution by adding five rounds to their tally, but it wasn't long before FURIA moved the series on to their own pick of Nuke as they took Inferno 16-9.
Ghost kicked things off on Nuke by taking a 2-0 lead at the start of the map, putting themselves in a solid position for a decent CT-side half. With their T-side looking lackluster in earlier matchups during the qualifier, Ghost would need as many rounds as they could muster to remain competitive against the Brazilians.
Unfortunately for steel and co., FURIA were unrelenting once rifles were in their hands, stealing away the lead as they worked they way up to a 7-2 scoreline. Ghost finally broke the streak with two rounds of their own, but only managed to pick up one additional round in the half as FURIA pulled further ahead at 10-5.
That gap was quickly closed as Ghost secured a quartet of rounds at the start of the second half, with FURIA contesting for control at 10-9. The two teams traded blows back-and-forth, but it was FURIA who emerged on top as KSCERATO helped to power his side to a 16-11 victory, with the player ending the map with 32 frags while averaging 121 damage per round.
FURIA's good form continued into Overpass, with KSCERATO and yuurih combining to help their side take a 5-0 lead to start the map. A pair of double kills from Kenneth "koosta" Suen and Jason "neptune" Tran finally cracked open a bombsite for Ghost, allowing them to get on the board and close the gap to 5-3. Another two rounds went to FURIA before Ghost were able to contest for one of their own, but a quad-kill from yuurih and a team wipe for Ghost left their economy in turmoil.
A double kill from steel seemingly set Ghost up for back-to-back rounds, but three kills from Andrei "arT" Piovezan allowed for FURIA to recover the 3vs5 and continue in their winning ways. arT continued to add to his kill total as he picked up a pair of triple kills in the next two rounds, but it was steel who took the final round of the half for his team as four kills and a 1vs2 clutch allowed for Ghost to recover a 3vs5 of their own to trail 5-10 as the sides swapped over.
Six kills for koosta, split evenly between the first two rounds of the second half, saw Ghost close the gap to 10-7, but another 3vs5 recovery by FURIA pushed the Brazilians up to a 12-7 lead. A string of seven rounds from Ghost, powered by a number of multi-kill rounds from koosta, allowed for the North American team to finally steal away the lead from FURIA at 13-12. The two teams once again traded rounds, with yuurih picking up a crucial quad kill on a lurk play to tie up the match at 14-14.
KSCERATO attempted to assure victory for his side as a double-kill entry seemed set to grant his team map point, but a combined effort from Matthew "WARDELL" Yu and Ryan "freakazoid" Abadir saw Ghost turn the tides and battle back for a 15-14 lead. The 30th round of the map also went down to the wire, with steel quickly grabbing himself a 1vs2 to force the series to a fourth and final map.
The situation looked to improve for Ghost as they took a trio of rounds at the start of Cache, with FURIA only managing one of their own in reply before Ghost took a 5-1 lead in the half. A triple kill from VINI got FURIA back on the board, crippling Ghost's economy and granting the Brazilians control of the game. Continuous B main aggression by arT saw FURIA find opening picks round after round, with the team going on a nine-round streak to take the lead 10-5 at the end of the half.
A pistol victory following the side swap pushed Ghost up to seven rounds, but FURIA were quick to reply with two of their own to keep the lead out of Ghost's reach. WARDELL helped to keep Ghost in the running with another round victory, but a clean sweep by FURIA in the ensuing round granted the Brazilians firm control as they pushed their way forward to a 16-8 win on the final map.
GhostFURIA| Ghost |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kenneth 'koosta' Suen |
71 - 75 | -4 | 82.3 | 66.0% | 1.04 |
| Matthew 'WARDELL' Yu |
68 - 73 | -5 | 66.0 | 66.0% | 0.96 |
| Joshua 'steel' Nissan |
53 - 82 | -29 | 62.6 | 61.3% | 0.81 |
| Jason 'neptune' Tran |
57 - 79 | -22 | 61.3 | 54.7% | 0.78 |
| Ryan 'freakazoid' Abadir |
61 - 83 | -22 | 60.8 | 64.2% | 0.78 |
| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
93 - 63 | +30 | 91.5 | 82.1% | 1.38 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
81 - 58 | +23 | 82.8 | 81.1% | 1.33 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
81 - 65 | +16 | 76.4 | 74.5% | 1.20 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
74 - 64 | +10 | 82.3 | 68.9% | 1.15 |
| Rinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior |
62 - 61 | +1 | 64.5 | 75.5% | 1.03 |
FURIA have earned a spot at ESL One Cologne 2019, with just two spots left to be determined. Vitality secured the first of two spots from the European ESL One Cologne Closed Qualifier yesterday, with Heroic and AVANGAR set to clash for the final spot. The Asia qualifier was won by MVP PK, leaving just one invite spot remaining.
The teamlist for ESL One Cologne 2019 currently consists of:
 Astralis |
 BIG |
 ENCE |
 FaZe |
 fnatic |
FURIA |
| MIBR |
mousesports |
 MVP PK |
 Natus Vincere |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas |
NRG |
 Renegades |
 Vitality |
 Invite |
Qualifier |
FURIA will next make an appearance as they face off against Bad News Bears at 9 PM EDT on May 16th for MDL, with the team making their way to DreamHack Masters Dallas shortly after.
