FURIA is The Last Standing Brazilian Representative at RIO
Even though Imperial and 00Nation couldn’t make it deep into the tournament that is being held in Brazil, FURIA is determined to make it far into the playoffs, especially after showing great dominance against BIG. It was a great series from FURIA from start to finish, the home crowd loudly voicing their support and putting their weight behind the Brazilian team to both give them momentum, and to douse any fledgling flame of hope that might have lit for BIG upon their few round wins.
Yuurih got things started for the Brazilian squad with a quad kill defense on Nuke, and immediately followed that opening with an anti-eco ace to give FURIA the lead. BIG were unable to crack through FURIA’s defenses nor halt Andrei “arT” Piovezan’s aggression at the end of the half, allowing the Brazilian team to pull ahead by three rounds at the break. Multi-kill rounds from arT and Yuurih ensured their side towards match point before they closed things out, 16-9, to move the series on to their own pick of Vertigo.
The second map proved even more one-sided than the first as FURIA hit the ground running and refused to concede any ground on the T side, bullying BIG at A ramp and almost always coming out on top of the early fights. Even the times that tabseN’s men won the early duels, they faltered in the late round, with FURIA proving the better team time and time again reaching a 12-3 scoreline. BIG couldn’t do much after that, letting Yuurih and co. finish up the match 16-6.
Sdy is Afraid of Going Up Against FURIA
After the tournament saw two of the biggest favorites in FaZe and Vitality go by the wayside, all eyes were on Natus Vincere as the next biggest name still yet to make it to the playoffs. But unlike their counterparts, the Ukrainian side survived the tough road in what has been an upset-filled IEM Rio Major, beating Bad News Eagles and BIG in consecutive elimination series to clinch a spot in the Jeunesse arena.
Following his team’s laborious road to the bracket stage, Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev spoke about their latest win against BIG, in which NaVi came back from a 3-9 deficit on Mirage and dominated the offensive half on Dust2 after a sub-par CT side performance. The Ukrainian also spoke about their next target, FURIA, whom NaVi will face in the quarter-finals, and admitted that playing against the passionate Brazilian crowd will be a challenge.
“The scariest one is probably FURIA, and we’re gonna play them. It’s even hard to play in front of this crowd, so I cannot imagine 15 thousand people screaming for FURIA every second,” sdy said. “I think we need to have a good start, because when FURIA starts snowballing, rolling, it’s hard to stop them.”
Fortunately for sdy and the rest of NaVi, they did a great job against BIG, the team that also faced FURIA earlier on in the tournament. And it was Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy’s time to step up for his team in this best-of-three, where he averaged a team-high 1.22 rating alongside a respectable 72 ADR. Sure, the crowd will have a huge impact on the outcome of this match, but NaVi definitely have the tools needed to take down their Brazilian counterparts.
FURIA vs NaVi Match Information
- Date: Friday, November 11
- Time: 3:30 pm ET
- FURIA vs NaVi Live Stream: Twitch.tv
FURIA vs NaVi Prediction
With their consistency in placing among the top eight in tournaments remaining, FURIA is closer than ever to trophy contention heading into Rio, mostly because of the fragging output of KSCERATO and Yuurih in many of their matches.
On the other hand, expectations are always high when it comes to Natus Vincere, and although their ESL Pro League campaign wasn’t anything to write home about, they still have all the right components for a team capable of lifting the trophy in Rio.
Ultimately, while I think that FURIA has been putting up great matches, it’s safe to say that they’ve been overperforming in most of the situations, mostly due to the power of the crowd. I don’t think that NaVi will succumb to the pressure and they’ll show a much better face heading into the playoffs, allowing them to win over the home team.
The IEM Rio Major Playoffs stage is right around the corner, so make sure to stay tuned as we’ll be sharing our esports picks with you! Don’t forget to bet on esports at BetUS Sportsbook & Casino. We’ve plenty of CSGO odds for you to consider.
