Steve V. July 9, 2018
Hellraisers and Team Spirit have both qualified to the FACEIT Major London after playing their way to the CIS Minor finals.
HellRaisers managed to beat Team Spirit 2-1 to take the top prize in the tournament. Of the eight participating teams, both HellRaisers and Team Spirit were looked at as top contenders as the two squads have seen some success in recent months.
While HellRaisers had a strong showing throughout the event, Team Spirit stumbled a bit during the semifinals, dropping down into the losers bracket after a 2-0 loss to pro100. However, once Team Spirit was granted a rematch with Pro100 in the losers finals, Vadim “DavCost” Vasilyev and Viktor “somedieyoung” Orudjev combined to play a more aggressive attacking style find victory and secure qualification to the major.
Once the final between HellRaisers and Spirit was underway, fans were excited to see if HellRaisers could maintain their unbeaten streak in the tournament. Özgür 'woxic' Eker and Issa 'ISSAA' Murad were both playing some of their best Counter-Strike. By the end of first map Overpass, both players were sitting on positive KDRs as they powered HellRaisers to a 16-14 win.
The second map, Mirage, proved to be a tighter affair. Both teams played competently, but it was Team Spirit’s Pavel 'COLDYY1' Veklenko who made the difference and led his side to dominating 16-6 over HellRaisers.
The deciding game was played on Dust2. HellRaisers showed great understanding of the recently updated map throughout the tournament. Team Spirit did manage a strong first half in which they took a 12-3 lead.
HellRaisers’ woxic picked up his play after switching to the attacking side, giving his team the opportunity to play more assertively around him. HellRaisers ultimately would manage a 16-14 comeback to earn the winner’s share of the $50,000 prize pool.
The FACEIT Asia Minor will be held next on July 16th, with the European Minor getting underway on July 19.