paiN and FURIA qualify for Paris Major
The headline matches for day 3 of the Americas RMR were paiN playing Fluxo and Liquid taking on FURIA for qualification to the Paris Major. With all four of these teams holding 2-0 records, they were the highest quality competition in the tournament.
paiN started with Fluxo on Mirage, a game which was over just as soon as it began. paiN got out to an early lead on their CT-side and never relented. Round after round, Fluxo ran into a brick wall, with their sole round victory coming from a clutch. paiN ended the half 14-1 and quickly picked up the first two of the second half to end the game with a dominant 16-1 scoreline.
The second map, paiN's pick of Nuke, was a more competitive affair than Mirage, but that's not to say it was close. paiN started with eight of the nine first rounds in what looked to be a replay of Mirage. Fluxo managed to pull it closer near the end of the half, surviving with a meager 6-9 disadvantage.
However, paiN's defense was as stalwart as ever, only letting through the pistol round and one more before closing out the game. paiN won Nuke 16-8, and the series 2-0, to guarantee themselves a slot at the Paris Major.
paiNFluxo| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Felipe 'skullz' Medeiros |
37 - 20 | +17 | 94.8 | 85.4% | 1.56 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
42 - 22 | +20 | 80.6 | 85.4% | 1.54 |
| Romeu 'zevy' Rocco |
39 - 22 | +17 | 95.4 | 82.9% | 1.49 |
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
33 - 22 | +11 | 96.3 | 75.6% | 1.40 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
27 - 20 | +7 | 77.1 | 82.9% | 1.19 |
| Fluxo |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| João 'felps' Vasconcellos |
27 - 40 | -13 | 79.0 | 61.0% | 0.80 |
| Vinicius 'vsm' Moreira |
26 - 35 | -9 | 81.4 | 48.8% | 0.79 |
| Allan 'history' Lawrenz |
27 - 37 | -10 | 75.6 | 58.5% | 0.79 |
| Lucas 'Lucaozy' Neves |
15 - 34 | -19 | 57.6 | 68.3% | 0.64 |
| Adriano 'WOOD7' Cerato |
11 - 33 | -22 | 43.7 | 46.3% | 0.46 |
Liquid playing FURIA was the matchup that everybody expecting coming into the RMR. Fans and pundits alike believed this match would occur in either the 3-0 or 2-0 pool of games. It was the most highly anticipated game of the entire tournament, and it delivered. For the first two maps, at least.
Liquid's map pick of Nuke was a contentious affair. Liquid soared to an early lead with pistol and conversion victories, but FURIA's CT defense held strong and grabbed nine rounds at the half. Liquid's defense needed no warm up, taking the first six rounds, but FURIA's attack eventually rolled in, clinching overtime.
Liquid's overtime, headed by Josh "oSee" Ohm, took all the CT-side rounds in overtime, so once Liquid took a single attacking round, they won 19-16.
FURIA's Inferno pick led to an even closer regulation game. Liquid's CT-side started up 5-2 courtesy of a pistol round victory, but slowed down to just a 7-8 half. Similar stories exchanged on the second half as FURIA's CT-side started just as strong. However, they managed to keep it closer for longer, narrowly edging a victory out at 16-13.
Mirage was the battleground decided for the supposedly two best Americas teams to duel it out. However, the game was unlike the other two maps. FURIA rocketed to an early lead and stayed there, giving shades of the earlier paiN vs Fluxo Mirage matchup. Liquid were lucky to scrape together 2 rounds at the half, and got two more consolation rounds in a doomed CT-side before FURIA qualified to the Major with a 16-4 scoreline on Mirage and 2-1 series win.
LiquidFURIA| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
58 - 51 | +7 | 71.3 | 69.0% | 1.07 |
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
50 - 58 | -8 | 70.0 | 65.5% | 0.98 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
51 - 56 | -5 | 70.4 | 67.9% | 0.96 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
36 - 50 | -14 | 61.1 | 71.4% | 0.86 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
47 - 59 | -12 | 56.5 | 71.4% | 0.85 |
| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
66 - 47 | +19 | 84.8 | 77.4% | 1.25 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
54 - 57 | -3 | 83.9 | 72.6% | 1.11 |
| Rafael 'saffee' Costa |
52 - 45 | +7 | 65.6 | 69.0% | 1.05 |
| André 'drop' Abreu |
52 - 49 | +3 | 63.1 | 71.4% | 1.04 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
49 - 48 | +1 | 65.7 | 66.7% | 1.02 |
With these results, FURIA will play paiN tomorrow for the legends slot at 07:30PM, and Liquid will have one more chance to qualify versus Nouns at the same time.
