Even though the series only lasted two maps, Gen.G’s contest against FURIA at DreamHack Open Anaheim was one the team will always remember. In his first LAN tournament with Gen.G, Sam “s0m” Oh rose to the occasion, dropping 50 frags against FURIA and propelling the roster to their first big win outside of qualifier circuits.
The grand final began on Nuke, where just minutes before FURIA had stifled Complexity in the semifinals. Gen.G made the Brazilians look like a totally different team. Things looked even after Gen.G took a defensive pistol round, but FURIA started strong on the gun rounds.
Tied 3-3, Gen.G clamped down on their CT side and ended the half up 10-5. The FURIA roster was in a bad spot after it lost to Gen.G’s heaven wrap. The Brazilians found themselves down 13-3 and would only grab four more rounds before Gen.G wrapped up FURIA’s map pick 16-7.
It could have been much closer, but a massive one versus four win from Koosta crushed all hopes FURIA had of depleting the Gen.G economy. With the individual skill from Gen.G on display and Damien “daps” Steele calling an excellent game, there wasn’t much room FURIA to bring their own skills to bear.
Map two was Inferno, and it looked to be going much the same way as map one did for the Brazilians. Gen.G came out with an early lead on their T side led by eventual MVP s0m, ending their attacking side up five rounds on FURIA for an impressive 10-5 half.
Once FURIA switched over to the T side, it was a different story. With a 5-1 run, FURIA surpassed Gen.G and took control of the economic metagame, forcing Gen.G to defend the sites at a disadvantage. Gen.G didn’t go quietly however, and before fans knew it Gen.G had managed to steal another five rounds to guarantee overtime 15-13.
To the dismay of a crowd that heavily favored Gen.G, FURIA would get the two rounds they needed to bring it into overtime.
Once there and free of the economic problems that had plagued them on their CT side, Gen.G was unstoppable. The team cruised to a 19-15 win over FURIA, taking home both the cash prize and a slot at DreamHack Masters Jönköping.
Gen.G’s next stop is the closed Minor Qualifiers that will pit the roster against the likes of Cloud9, eUnited, and FURIA for a spot at the North American Minor for Counter-Strike’s first Major of 2020, ESL One Rio.
After yesterday’s performance, Gen.G should to make it out with a Minor spot with Cloud9 being their only real opposition given eUnited’s recent slump and the team’s dismantling of FURIA in Anaheim.
