The CIS matchup of Group D saw Outsiders meet with forZe and it was the latter who prevailed, first losing Dust2 with a 16-6 scoreline, but then coming back and winning Inferno 16-13 and closing the series on Ancient in another close map. forZe will hope to follow up this impressive performance in the following games, where they will be tested against even higher opposition, such as the winners of the game between FURIA and 9z, where the Brazilians are heavy favorites.
Meanwhile, the new-look Outsiders team, who are playing only their second event with the two new additions, have lost their first game since losing Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis after their succesfull campaign in the ESL Pro League Conference S16. They will now face the loser of the previously mentioned South American matchup, where they will look to keep their tournament campaign going.
shalfey continues to put up impressive performances
The series started off on Dust2, the map pick of forZe. They managed to win the pistol, but then struggled to get rounds on the board, only getting a total of five rounds at the interval, mostly due to three 1v2 clutches. Alexey “Qikert” Golubev ended the half on 20 kills, as he got several multi kills to stop forZe in their tracks.
Once Outsiders got to their T side, they continued to look comfortable and after a pistol round and conversion got up to a 14-5 scoreline, won the map and moved on the series to their pick of Inferno.
Outsiders began Inferno with a pistol round win, which they converted to a 5-1 lead. This time however, forZe managed to stabilize and tied up the scores at 6-6, before Dzhami “Jame” Ali‘s 1v3 clutch tipped the scales near the end of the half in his team’s favor.
The second half pistol went in the favor of forZe as they got into a 9-8 lead. But after a few scrappy rounds, Andrey “Jerry” Mekhryakov 1v2 clutch put his team within one round of their opponents, and after identifying a weakness on the B site hold, they managed to grind out a 16-13 win.
A Dual Beretta 4k in the pistol round by Petr “fame” Bolyshev started off Ancient, and a 4-0 lead quickly followed. forZe put together a decent T side after that, getting seven rounds at the half on the back of Aleksandr “zorte” Zagodyrenko‘s performance.
As the sides switched, the close nature of the game continued and neither team was able to run away with the game, as the scoreline was within two rounds at all times. forZe looked the better side throughout the half, and a six round streak at the end of the match gave them a 16-12 win on the map.
