FURIA began their season with a 2-1 victory over Eternal Fire at ESL Pro League, taking Nuke 16-11, dropping Vertigo 17-19, and then cruising to a 16-5 win on Inferno.

The Brazilians may very well have been hoping for a more convincing win over a team they outrank by 12 places, as even the first half of Inferno could have been closer than the 10-5 score line they secured. The stellar performance of Kaike “⁠KSCERATO⁠” Cerato will, however, be encouraging considering his shaky form towards the end of last season.

As for Eternal Fire, they will be lamenting their woeful CT sides in their map losses, taking only three rounds on the favored side of Nuke and no rounds on their Inferno defense. It was also the opinion of the analysts that a win here was needed for the Turkish squad to have realistic chances of playoff qualification.

Eternal Fire’s pick of Nuke opened the series, with the Turkish squad starting on the T side. They got off to a strong start by winning the pistol and converting to a 3-0 lead, but FURIA answered back when the guns came back up and climbed to a 6-4 lead, with André “⁠drop⁠” Abreu contributing an impressive 3k upper hold in the process. Eternal Fire adjusted their attack to utilize secret and pressure the lower bombsite more and this adjustment swung the half back in their favor, securing them an 8-7 lead heading into the second period.

FURIA began their T side on the front foot with a fast-paced offense netting them four rounds on the bounce, but fell to rotating pistols after successfully rushing through ramp to lose their first of the half. Rafael “⁠saffee⁠” Costa produced a vital 3k with a hero AWP to redeem his poor start to the game and wrestle a round back for the Brazilians, and although a Engin “⁠MAJ3R⁠” Küpeli 3k won a round immediately after for his side, FURIA took control of the game and marched imperiously to a 16-11 victory.

FURIA started strong on Vertigo, grabbing the pistol off the back of an impressive 3k clutch from Andrei “⁠arT⁠” Piovezan and running out to a 6-1 lead. At this point MAJ3R came alive and took the game by the scruff of the neck to haul his team back into contention, driving his team to seven rounds in a row; the 31-year-old had 19 frags before anyone else on his team managed 10. FURIA did manage to pick up a convincing final round, but still lost the half 7-8.

Eternal Fire dropped the second pistol of the map after securing a 4v2 advantage, and despite planting the bomb to secure a strong force-buy in the following round they also lost that to put themselves firmly on the back foot.

At 10-8 a 1v2 AWP clutch from Ismailcan “⁠XANTARES⁠” Dörtkardeş secured his side their first CT round, but the Turkish squad lost all five players in winning the next to scupper their economy. The end of the map became scrappy with both squads force-buying and trading rounds back and forth, the score line eventually settling at 15-15 after FURIA squandered several series points.

It seemed FURIA had run out of steam come OT as they looked far less potent than they had during regulation, allowing Eternal Fire to grab a 19-17 win to force Inferno.

The start of Inferno was a brawl with force-buys traded back and forth after FURIA won the pistol, although it was Eternal Fire who eventually came out on top, breaking the Brazilian’s economy and taking a 4-3 lead. When the guns came back up FURIA began to take control, largely off the back of KSCERATO’s performance. Despite several rounds coming close as the half wore on, Eternal Fire couldn’t clinch them, allowing their Brazilian counterparts to take a comfortable 10-5 half.

Eternal Fire put up no resistance on their defense, losing the pistol and crumbling to a disappointing 5-16 defeat to lose the series.