Sprout eliminate 00NATION in Valencia

Sprout outclassed their opposition with two convincing map wins, 16-8 on Dust2 and 16-4 on Overpass, with 00NATION struggling to get a foothold throughout. This result sends Sprout through to the playoffs and sends the final Brazilian squad 00NATION home empty-handed.

Throughout the series Sprout looked better organised and more well-drilled, which is unsurprising considering 00NATION have just revamped their lineup. Timo “⁠Spiidi⁠” Richter, Fritz “⁠slaxz-⁠” Dietrich and Laurențiu “⁠lauNX⁠” Țârlea all had their moments for Sprout, whilst 00NATION only really had Eduardo “⁠dumau⁠” Wolkmer firing on all cylinders.

The game kicked off with Sprout’s pick of Dust2 and starting on the T side they quickly built a healthy lead, putting 00NATION in a deep economic hole with their efficient round wins meaning the Brazilian side didn’t really get into the half until the later stages. 00NATION were only able to put four on the board as a result of their slow start, and they went into the second period 4-11 down.

A pistol win and conversion gave 00NATION hope but after a fast B execute flopped on the first gun round Sprout once again took control of the game, comfortably closing the map 16-8.

00NATION started just as slowly on their own map of Overpass, once again losing the pistol and falling to an 0-10 deficit on their T side before getting going, repeated B-site hits bearing little fruit. As with the first map the Brazilians recovered somewhat towards the end of the half, putting three on the board and ending the first period 3-12 down.

A pistol loss seemed to spell doom for 00NATION and even though dumau posted a 4k deagle round to win the following force-buy, Sprout answered back immediately with a force of their own, duly closing the map out 16-4.