Winstrike Team faced off against Hard Legion Esports today in the second semi final of the CIS region at the ESL One: Road to Rio. The winner would set up a clash with Team Spirit for the title and take the maximum RMR available for the region.
Winstrike were the favorites going into the match and we did not see any antics or upsets or a long marathon as we have been used to. Winstrike picked Vertigo, Hard Legion went with Mirage and Dust II was left as the decider.
Winstrike started Vertigo on the ‘T’ side and showed the world why they picked up this map. The first 10 rounds were evenly contested with the score tied at 5-5. But Winstrike then took off winning the next 5 to take a 10-5 lead into the second half. Hard Legion though had a chance as Vertigo is known to a map favorable for the T side. They did take the chance to string some rounds together, but Winstrike reached map point first in the 27th round. Hard legion did manage to force a overtime but Winstrike clean swept on the CT side to kill any hopes of their opponents. They won the solitary round on the T side to win 19-15.
“bondik” and “El1an” were the top performers with 29 and 28 kills respectively.
Mirage was up next and Winstrike continued the good form they had shown in the previous map. They started on the CT and managed to shut down the opponents effectively. Hard Legion try to make the game competitive but it was Winstrike who won the half 9-6. The second half lasted just 8 rounds long as Winstrike didn’t let their opponents take charge and let them win a single round. They won 16-7 to progress to the finals.
Hard Legion will now against Virtus.Pro for deciding the 3rd place.
In the other game for deciding the fifth place Nemiga Gaming defeated Syman Gaming 2-0 to confirm the fifth place for them. They won 16-7 on Nuke and 16-12 on Overpass.
Note:- The Rio major was scheduled to take place in May 2020 but due to the ongoing pandemic the major was shifted to November 2020. The prize pool of first Major will be added to the November Major. ESL on its part have decided to host three qualification rounds in order for teams to remain at their peak. Each qualifying stage will have Regional Major Points(RMR) which will be added to determine the qualification order. Each qualifying stage will have a prize pool of $255,000 divided across the six regions. To read more about this, click here.
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