9z keep Major dream alive, FURIA secure Legends stage spot

9z won their game and earned a place in the decider bracket to fight for a place at the Major, while FURIA beat MIBR for a Legends stage spot.

The fifth round of the Swiss system is underway, with 9z able to secure their place in the 6th-8th place decider bracket, where they will face the winners of paiN versus Case and Evil Geniuses versus Party Astronauts for the final spot at the Major.

At the same time, we got the Legends stage team from the Americas RMR, as FURIA beat MIBR to end what has been a straightforward qualifying campaign for the Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan led team, not losing a single map in the entire tournament.

Luken's 9z team remain in the running for qualification

The showdown between São Caetano and 9z started on Mirage where it was the latter who got the better start, losing the pistol round but quickly proving why they picked the map as they got up to a 9-6 lead. As they switched sides however, São Caetano looked more comfortable and started closing down the deficit, but 9z did just enough to force out the rounds they needed to win the map 16-13.

Next up was Ancient, which went in accordance to the current meta, as both teams found more success on their CT sides. 9z were able to amass 11 rounds on theirs, with São Caetano being unable to string more than two successful rounds in a row. Once Gustavo "⁠SHOOWTiME⁠" Gonçalves's team got to the defensive half, they won the pistol round which enabled them to start a comeback, slowly getting closer to their opponents. But 9z were able to keep the Brazilians very honest in terms of finances, meaning a couple of won rounds propelled them to a 14-9 lead, with São Caetano having no economy to fall back on. 9z took advantage of that and took the map 16-9, with most of the credit going to Franco "⁠dgt⁠" Garcia for a 34 kill performance.

PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Americas RMRBest of 3 São CaetanoMatchpage 0 2 14th April 2022 9z 13Mirage 16 9Ancient 16

São Caetano	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Caio 'zqkS' FonsecazqkS	33 - 38	-5	69.1	1.01
Daniel 'danoco' Morgadodanoco	32 - 39	-7	81.7	0.96
Cristopher 'ckzao' Chalusckzao	35 - 41	-6	63.4	0.91
Felipe 'delboNi' DelbonidelboNi	33 - 44	-11	71.8	0.81
Gustavo 'SHOOWTiME' GonçalvesSHOOWTiME	28 - 40	-12	60.9	0.80

9z	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Franco 'dgt' Garciadgt	54 - 30	+24	104.1	1.56
Luca 'Luken' NadottiLuken	35 - 25	+10	67.7	1.17
Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalezmax	43 - 35	+8	88.6	1.15
Martin 'rox' Molinarox	37 - 34	+3	78.4	1.13
David 'dav1deuS' Tapia Maldonadodav1deuS	33 - 38	-5	66.4	0.99

The 1st place decider match was played to determine which of the teams will secure a Legends stage place in the upcoming Major, with FURIA dispatching of MIBR in a 2-0 series.

The first map of the series was Nuke, where FURIA was able to get a decent terrorist side going, winning enough rounds to go into half time with just a one round deficit on the back of André "⁠drop⁠" Abreu's 1v2 clutch in the last round.

When the teams switched sides however, MIBR were powerless against FURIA's defensive side, winning only one round in the entire half after being repeatedly shut down by the likes of Rafael "⁠saffee⁠" Costa, who had another impressive map.

The second map of the series was MIBR's pick of Overpass, where they didn't manage to find much more success on the terrorist side, with Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos monster performance locking them out of sites as he averaged 180 damage per round on the defensive side. Just three rounds on the terrorist side weren't enough for MIBR to mount any sort of challenge once the sides switched, as FURIA closed out the map 16-4.

PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Americas RMRBest of 3 MIBRMatchpage 0 2 14th April 2022 FURIA 9Nuke 16 4Overpass 16

MIBR	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jhonatan 'JOTA' WillianJOTA	24 - 35	-11	60.2	0.81
Raphael 'exit' Lacerdaexit	30 - 37	-7	67.7	0.80
Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedeschelo	24 - 35	-11	54.7	0.74
Matheus 'Tuurtle' AnhaiaTuurtle	21 - 38	-17	66.6	0.70
Adriano 'WOOD7' CeratoWOOD7	13 - 34	-21	43.3	0.49

FURIA	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Yuri 'yuurih' Santosyuurih	48 - 21	+27	120.1	1.79
Kaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoKSCERATO	37 - 21	+16	87.5	1.43
André 'drop' Abreudrop	34 - 19	+15	71.4	1.34
Rafael 'saffee' Costasaffee	33 - 22	+11	72.9	1.24
Andrei 'arT' PiovezanarT	26 - 30	-4	70.2	0.97

9z #45 Martin 'rox' MolinaFranco 'dgt' GarciaDavid 'dav1deuS' Tapia MaldonadoLuca 'Luken' NadottiMaximiliano 'max' Gonzalez Gustavo 'SHOOWTiME' Gonçalves Age: 25 Team: São Caetano Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 962 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.69 André 'drop' Abreu Age: 18 Team: FURIA Rating 1.0: 0.97 Maps played: 132 KPR: 0.62 DPR: 0.62 FURIA #8 Kaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoAndrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosAndré 'drop' AbreuRafael 'saffee' Costa MIBR #28 Raphael 'exit' LacerdaAdriano 'WOOD7' CeratoMarcelo 'chelo' CespedesJhonatan 'JOTA' WillianMatheus 'Tuurtle' Anhaia Party Astronauts #38 Ben 'ben1337' SmithJosh 'PwnAlone' PigueWesley 'viz' HarrisJonathan 'djay' DallalJonathan 'Jonji' Carey Yuri 'yuurih' Santos Age: 22 Team: FURIA Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 971 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.64 Andrei 'arT' Piovezan Age: 26 Team: FURIA Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 957 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.70 São Caetano #139 Felipe 'delboNi' DelboniDaniel 'danoco' MorgadoCristopher 'ckzao' ChalusGustavo 'SHOOWTiME' GonçalvesCaio 'zqkS' Fonseca Evil Geniuses #44 William 'RUSH' WierzbaTimothy 'autimatic' TaJake 'Stewie2K' YipVincent 'Brehze' CayonteTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Franco 'dgt' Garcia Age: 20 Team: 9z Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 386 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.61 Rafael 'saffee' Costa Age: 27 Team: FURIA Rating 1.0: 1.22 Maps played: 358 KPR: 0.81 DPR: 0.61 Case #71 Lucas 'steel' LopesRodrigo 'RCF' FigueiredoYan 'yepz' PedrettiArthur 'f4stzin' SchmittLucas 'honda' Cano paiN #37 Vinicios 'PKL' CoelhoGabriel 'NEKIZ' SchenatoWesley 'hardzao' LopesRodrigo 'biguzera' BittencourtGabriel 'nython' Lino