Imperial dish out the paiN
In the first game of the final day, it was a Brazilian derby to decide who would face off against a tentative Complexity for the final spot at the Rio Major. Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo and Fernando "fer" Alvarenga had been rolling back the years at this event so far, and it would take a helping hand from some of his teammates to overcome the hungry paiN side.
Vertigo would be the first map, a small surprise as Imperial tends to avoid the map. Maybe using it as a pocket pick and it would be interesting to see how prepared they are on the map. Started off with a pistol win for the legend-strewn roster, a 3v2 retake on the CT side gave them the first round on their long road to Rio.
A clean second-round conversion from FalleN and co set them up for a strong start. However, paiN responded with the first gun round and a quick, heavy mid, B split broke open the CT defence to bring paiN within one round. The first sign of experience from the 31-year-old AWPer came in the seventh round, where after looking like a nailed-on win for paiN, FalleN managed to stay alive in a corner to let the time run out in an otherwise unwinnable round.
paiN evened out the scores after some crisp aim from Felipe "skullz" Medeiros, one of the ECL side's newest additions to the roster. Imperial once again showed their street smarts when in the tenth round and down a man fer and hot shot Marcelo "chelo" Cespedes double-pushed sidehall to catch the T side with their nades out.
As expected the contest was tight with neither team managing to establish early dominance in a tense opening half, a slight lead for Imperial heading into the second half was quickly eroded by a pistol win for paiN. A flawless round from the Imperial side in their first gun round halted the paiN momentum and it was once again fer looking strong on the opening kills.
Many considered fer done after his shocking form on the doomed 00NATION lineup but, especially at this event, side by side with FalleN he has shown that there is still fight left in him. A 2v4 from FalleN and Vinicius "VINI" Figueiredo left the CT economy in tatters and an eco ace from chelo added to Imperial's momentum.
chelo has proven to be a smart addition, a massive firepower upgrade over Lincoln "fnx" Lau now the team's coach, and chelo was once again proving it with 21 kills going into the 25th round. On the paiN it was skullz who continued to find kills for his side and an opening kill early into the 25th gave them another round on the board.
Imperial was on the cusp of stealing away the paiN map pick but at 14-11 a failed push on the A ramp gave paiN a chance to get back into the map. A massive opening pick by FalleN onto a crane peek by Vinicios "PKL" Coelho gave the T side an early advantage in the 27th round, the Imperial side took the round flawlessly to put them onto map point.
Spectators and experts alike considered a Vertigo a must-win for paiN as coming up next would be Overpass, a map Imperial have called home since their inception. A desperate force-buy at 12-15 by paiN left them at a big disadvantage. PKL once again threw away his life and one of the few rifles but Imperial fumbled their clock management and ran out of time.
paiN brought it back to the final round and it came down to a 4v4 retake on the A site, with the teams trading out kills until hardzao was left in desperation mode trying to defuse the bomb in the smoke whilst chelo sprayed him down. The map win for Imperial was huge and whilst it wasnt particularly convincing, stealing Vertigo and having Overpass up next must have filled them with confidence.
paiN got off to a surprisingly good start, all be it on the favoured CT side. With a 5-2 lead it was looking like they would at least be competitive on Imperials map pick and a early start would be necessary if they wanted to force a decider map. paiN let their control slip slightly and with Imperial coming out storming at the start of the second it would be extra tough for paiN.
PKL may have failed to find a significant impact on Vertigo but the 28-year-old showed how useful he can be on Overpass, leading his team with 17 frags. paiN managed to win the first gun round of the half and with that reached double digits in the map with a 10-9 advantage.
Back-to-back lockouts on the B bombsite led to the Imperial side taking a 12-10 lead and forced a weak buy for the paiN team. A chelo ace rescued them from a dicey situation on the A site against the force and with that denial put them one round closer to the 2-0. The match point was found when paiN tried a fancy rotation with 20 seconds left, managing to find a bomb plant but not the round.
paiN would manage to pull out a 2v3 in the final round thanks in large part due to rifler Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt who had been quiet on Vertigo but was showing his strengths to keep his team in the match with 25 kills at start of OT. A big round from fer, who had been extremely quiet on Overpass, gave the Imperial side the advantage moving into the second half.
Imperial winning the first round of the second half of OT gave them two opportunities to close out the match and with long being left open by the paiN team they found a free entry onto the A site. The conversion of the round left Imperial to face Complexity for Rio qualification.
ImperialpaiN| Imperial |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
59 - 48 | +11 | 96.6 | 76.9% | 1.43 |
| Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
51 - 37 | +14 | 79.4 | 80.0% | 1.25 |
| Ricardo 'boltz' Prass |
44 - 36 | +8 | 72.6 | 78.5% | 1.13 |
| Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
38 - 44 | -6 | 65.6 | 70.8% | 0.90 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
31 - 41 | -10 | 55.8 | 66.2% | 0.81 |
| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Felipe 'skullz' Medeiros |
45 - 42 | +3 | 81.5 | 78.5% | 1.19 |
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
41 - 48 | -7 | 76.4 | 66.2% | 1.03 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
42 - 41 | +1 | 67.8 | 72.3% | 0.96 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
42 - 48 | -6 | 68.7 | 75.4% | 0.95 |
| Romeu 'zevy' Rocco |
36 - 44 | -8 | 62.5 | 63.1% | 0.89 |
