The panther bites back: FURIA vs Movistar Riders

FURIA were in dire straits after the 0-2 loss to MOUZ the series prior, leaving the Brazilians with their backs against the wall with the Last Chance Stage just one loss away. Star rifler Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato and his team elevated in form for this series to best the lesser ranked Movistar Riders to stay alive in groups.

Striking the first blow

Against MOUZ, FURIA’s entries were rather ineffective in their efforts through two maps, losing the opening duel battle for the series by just under double digits. Against the Riders, FURIA was able to rite the ship, nearly doubling the amount of entry frags per map over the 2-1 win against Riders.

Who needs a map pick?

FURIA chose Anubis as their map pick, which would be the only map lost in the series to the Riders. Under normal circumstances, your chosen pick is one you feel most comfortable in given the matchup in front of you. In this instance, FURIA’s choosing of the newly injected map did not pan out in their favor.

Sandwiching the OT loss on Anubis were rather sound wins on traditional maps Inferno and Nuke, off the backs of dominant T-sides. Their recent results suggest FURIA should try and stay grounded in their map picks moving forward.

The arT of war

In-game leader Andrei “arT” Piovezan can be easily described as a “boom or bust” player, one that can be mentioned in a statement at any time as someone who performed exceptionally well or abysmally bad. One of the characteristics he carries that aligns him with this title is his rather risky, high-risk high reward plays that often make or break the round for his team.

In many instances, if arT is on the right side of these plays, FURIA see victory. It is not always applicable, but arT serves as a major determining factor for his team's success, not because of the high ceiling but rather the low floor that can come with his style of play.

Against MOUZ, we got a good taste of that low floor. Versus Riders, however, we saw a much more efficient version of arT. The aggressive and off-timing plays worked in his favor in this series, earning the most entries and closing out with a 1.0 rating.

What’s next?

FURIA face off shortly against BIG in a do-or-die situation where the winner makes playoffs and the loser goes down to the Last Chance Stage. This series versus BIG also serves as a revenge opportunity after FURIA’s 1-2 loss to BIG at the Katowice Play-in last month.