NAVI drop to FURIA in Rio

The final semifinalist in Rio would be decided between the home town favorite FURIA and one of the last remaining pre-tournament favourites NAVI. Coming into the match up most would have NAVI as the better team, but with the questionable performance in the Legends stage and with FURIA having the entire crowd behind them there was certainly hope for the Brazilian side.

FURIA started off on the CT-side, traditionally the favored side on Nuke, the first map, and with that the Brazilians would be looking to take a decent lead into the half-swap. In a back and forth half FURIA go themselves into a 6-3 lead, but NAVI would come back to drop just one of the remaining rounds to take 8-7 lead over the Brazilians into the second half.

FURIA needed to stop the NAVI momentum and the perfect opportunity to get some rounds rolling would be the pistol round, but they were completely shut out by the CT-side and decided to fully eco into the next round to get guns out as soon as possible for their attack. a big backstab from Andrei "arT" Piovezan gave the Brazilians hope but the crowd were silenced as Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy got a 4k with the mp9 to rescue the round.

NAVI had built themselves a five-round lead on their map pick and now on the favored CT-side it looked like a tall task for the Brazilian team to bring themselves back into the game. FURIA managed to get their first T round off the back of a André "drop" Abreu double entry but with the CT's having such a clean start to the half they were able to put out another full buy in the 21st round.

NAVI would squash the Brazilian revival, only losing two players in the 21st to once again force a timeout from FURIA, their fourth and final one for the map. Nuke was NAVI's map choice, so it would be important moving forward that the Brazilian crowd and team remained positive about their chances in the rest of the series.

A big clutch from the star duo of Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato and Yuri "yuurih" Santos in a 2v4 situation meant they stayed within touching distance of the CT-side, and NAVI's money reserves were depleting meaning which forced the team into a four-man save after losing the ramp room down to arT's mac-10. Uncharacteristically Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev had missed two important shots in the following round which gave FURIA 11 rounds.

The gap between the two was just two rounds now, but thanks to the four-man save two rounds previously NAVI were able to get another buy in the 26th but if they lost the round they would have nothing going into the next. FURIA wasted no time in executing an A split with kills coming out from KSCERATO and yuurih to give them a great opportunity to tie the map.

arT found two of the NAVI pistols pushing ramp to make sure FURIA avoided getting upset on the anti-eco to tie up the game 13-13. The opening was found by FURIA's AWPer Rafael "saffee" Costa in the 27th round but it came at the cost of decapitating his own captain to leave the round 4v4 and once again drop, who had proved time and time again in Rio that he is ice cold, clutched up for the Brazilians in a 1v1.

FURIA took the lead 14-13 and NAVI had nothing to invest in the next round but somehow managed to pincer the FURIA team in the lobby as the indecisiveness was punished by the CT-side. That gift of a round from just the pistols was enough for NAVI to find their feet again and take their map pick 16-14.

Ancient would be the second map and FURIA got off to a great start as they planted the bomb in the pistol round without taking a point of damage, NAVI were left in a retake situation but had gambled on not buying a kit a mistake that they would end rueing as the ten second defuse lost them the round.

The next two rounds would follow up as heading into the opening gun round and a 1v3 clutch from the highest-rated player at the tournament, yuurih, gave the Brazilians a fourth round and once again the CT's had no kit which forced NAVI to take the fight. NAVI picked up their first round in the sixth as they locked out the FURIA attack flawlessly and picked up the following round this time defusing with a kit.

arT and s1mple had been going head to head constantly, and arT was currently winning the duel 9-3 as he notched up another one in the eighth round to send NAVI onto a weak buy for the following round. KSCERATO was left in a 1v3 and nearly clutched it out but failed to make s1mple miss a crucial shot to let the CIS team have another round.

FURIA once again stopped NAVI from getting consecutive rounds as arT found two openers on his trusty Mac-10 to force the CT-side onto a even worse buy, just three upgraded pistols for NAVI in the eleventh round. Another big round from FURIA with arT and yuurih closing out another man down situation.

NAVI finally picked up another round with their fourth, but the max they could get on the CT-side of Ancient would be five, surely that wouldn't be enough for them to stop the Brazilian train. NAVI would make it 10-5, with the FURIA squad in the driving seat to take the series to a deciding map on Mirage.

Opening the second half, NAVI were able to secure the pistol in a 1v1 that saw KSCERATO fighting on one health point but unable to find a bomb defusal. Moving off the back of the clutch, the majority Ukrainian team were able to secure three further rounds putting them at a closer 9-10 scoreline — still in favor of FURIA, however.

Demonstrating why Ancient was their map pick, FURIA then went on to claim the map with five consecutive rounds, a close round loss to NAVI, and a final round to end the map 16-10 in their favor. Mirage was now the decider for who would be facing Heroic tomorrow in the second semifinal.

Opening the map on the CT-side, FURIA took the pistol along with the following three rounds, allowing NAVI to take three of their own after that. Trading rounds back and forth, in twos for FURIA and threes for NAVI, saw the half-time scoreline at 8-7 for FURIA. Switching sides, FURIA kept their momentum going for another pistol and conversion round.

Claiming just three rounds on the CT-side, NAVI were sitting at a 10-10 even scoreline. However, no more rounds could be found by the Eastern European squad and FURIA took the map 16-10 and the series 2-1.

FURIA will now be facing Heroic in their semifinal tomorrow.