FURIA dominate Spirit to win ESEA S31 Global Challenge

FURIA are the champions of ESEA Season 31 Global Challenge following a 2-0 victory over Spirit in the grand finals (16-10 Nuke, 16-5 Vertigo).

The second day saw FURIA conquer Vitality 2-0 in an opening semifinal matchup, with Spirit mirroring the result against the Germans from Sprout to meet the Brazilians in the grand final.

The series began on FURIA's pick of Nuke, with Spirit drawing first blood on the CT-side as they pushed up to a 3-0 lead off the back of an unsuccessful second-round forcebuy from FURIA. Once they returned to rifles, Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato and company quickly went on to win eight of the ensuing nine rounds, with a 3k from Pavel "⁠COLDYY1⁠" Veklenko granting Spirit their only round for a 8-4 scoreline in FURIA's favour. The two teams traded blows as the half drew to a close, but it was FURIA who remained ahead by 9-6 as they swapped sides.

Three kills by Artem "⁠iDISBALANCE⁠" Egorov in the second pistol allowed for Spirit to reduce the scoreline deficit and tie up the match at 9-9, but FURIA repeated their efforts from the first half as they gave up only one additional round on the road to a 16-10 finish.

Despite coach guerri stepping in for ableJ, FURIA still manage to secure victory this weekend

Vertigo, Spirit's map pick, was next up, but it was FURIA who made it look their own. KSCERATO was deathless for the opening eight rounds of the map, initially mustering a 10-0 K-D while the team's coach and stand-in Nicholas "⁠guerri⁠" Nogueira secured an M4A4 ace to maintain momentum in FURIA's favour and take an uncontested twelve rounds in a row. Spirit edged out their first two rounds towards the end of the half, but another three kills by KSCERATO left his team heavily favored 13-2.

Spirit added three to their tally following the side swap, although two of those were only narrowly edged out in 1vs1 situations. Once a proper buy was in their hands, FURIA prolonged the match no longer as the final three rounds went their way for a 16-5 victory.

ESEA Season 31 Global ChallengeBest of 3 FURIAMatchpage 2 0 14th July 2019 Spirit 16Nuke 10 16Vertigo 5

FURIA	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Kaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoKSCERATO	46 - 24	+22	96.4	1.47
Yuri 'yuurih' Santosyuurih	41 - 25	+16	85.6	1.31
Nicholas 'guerri' Nogueiraguerri	33 - 27	+6	74.4	1.19
Andrei 'arT' PiovezanarT	34 - 32	+2	81.6	1.16
Vinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoVINI	27 - 31	-4	72.7	1.06

Spirit	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper	31 - 36	-5	78.9	0.97
Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhevsdy	32 - 36	-4	69.3	0.95
Artem 'iDISBALANCE' EgoroviDISBALANCE	25 - 33	-8	57.8	0.88
Pavel 'COLDYY1' VeklenkoCOLDYY1	27 - 38	-11	62.9	0.83
Dmitry 'S0tF1k' ForostyankoS0tF1k	24 - 38	-14	58.3	0.77

The final standings for ESEA Season 31 Global Challenge are:

1. FURIA - $25,000
2. Spirit - $15,000
3-4. Vitality - $10,000
3-4. Sprout -$10,000
5-6. Singularity - $3,750
5-6. Chiefs - $3,750
7-8. Party Astronauts - $3,750
7-8. ATK - $3,750

Artem 'iDISBALANCE' Egorov Age: 22 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 204 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.67 ATK #56 Roberto 'blackpoisoN' Dall'OccoDominic 'Domsterr' SampaioRhys 'Fadey' ArmstrongJohnny 'JT' Theodosiou Spirit #36 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovDmitry 'S0tF1k' ForostyankoPavel 'COLDYY1' VeklenkoViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevArtem 'iDISBALANCE' Egorov Nicholas 'guerri' Nogueira Age: 29 Team: FURIAC FURIA #8 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoKaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoRinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior Singularity #41 Ryan 'ryann' WelshRicky 'floppy' KemeryCameron 'cam' KernJosh 'oSee' OhmAlan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman Pavel 'COLDYY1' Veklenko Age: 27 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 922 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.65 Vitality #2 Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireAlex 'ALEX' McMeekinMathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Party Astronauts #62 Brenden 'stellar' McGrathIan 'motm' HardyBen 'ben1337' SmithRobert 'robby' BrownJosh 'PwnAlone' Pigue Chiefs #44 Ryan 'zewsy' PalmerChris 'ofnu' HanleyTyler 'tucks' ReillyMatthew 'Texta' O'RourkePeter 'BL1TZ' Athanasatos Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato Age: 19 Team: FURIA Rating 1.0: 1.19 Maps played: 390 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.56 Sprout #19 Florian 'syrsoN' RischeTimo 'Spiidi' RichterSabit 'mirbit' CoktasarNils 'k1to' GruhneJosef 'faveN' Baumann