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EPL NA Playoffs: 100T Reach Grand Finals in Surprise Upset

After a fourth place during the regular season, it didn’t look as though 100 Thieves would be capable of... Fabio | 27. September 2020

After a fourth place during the regular season, it didn’t look as though 100 Thieves would be capable of advancing to the Grand Finals. In Liquid and Evil Genuses, they had two powerful opponents standing in their way. In spite of all expectations, they pulled past these teams and are now in the Grand Finals alongside FURIA.

FURIA 2-0 EG

Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz and the boys went into this match with high expectations. After all, they had made first place in the group and FURIA had recently lost to Chaos in stunning fashion. Maybe this reassured them a little too much of their victory.

The Brazilians were in control of the match from the get-go. They ran away with 12 rounds and quickly sent Evil Geniuses into a two-digit deficit, who were simply unable to recover from this. The EG boys gave the map away on a 5-16 scoreline. With 20 Kills and just 5 deaths, Yuri “yuurih” Santos was the top performer for his side, securing a 1.80 rating. At the same time, Tarik “tarik” Celik only managed a meager single-digit kill count.

On Nuke, things went marginally better for the EG side. But after a win in the first pistol round, they started to hand points to FURIA en masse. The Brazilians’ CT side held sway and got them a decisive 11-4 lead at halftime. EG were unable to impress in their defense and gave the map away on a 7-16 scoreline. So FURIA got into the Grand Finals with record speed, where they now hold a one map advantage already.

100T 2-1 LIQUID

100 Thieves had narrowly made it to the playoffs. With considerable distance to the top teams, their win over Triumph was the only reason why they got past Chaos to make fourth place. Accordingly, they weren’t really in a great position to tackle Team Liquid. After all, Jake “Stewie2k” Yip and the boys had beaten them in the early days of this EPL season already.

Despite the heroics of Sean “Gratisfaction” Kawai, the 100 Thieves had to concede the first map. His 22 kills weren’t enough to push them over the finishing line, instead Liquid got their 16-13 victory on Vertigo. In Mirage, they had picked a better second map and were able to post a 9-6 lead at halftime. Liquid made it difficult for them to succeed on their T side, but eventually, the Thieves came out on top on a 16-13 scoreline. Again, Gratisfaction was the top performer for his team, taking up the bulk of the work.

On Inferno, Michael “Grim” Wince and Russel “Twistzz” VanDulken folded, barely getting into the match at all. On the other side, Aaron “AZR” Ward earned himself a 1.47 rating, while he and his team slowly picked Liquid apart. After the first half, they were in the lead with 9-6 and on their T side, they really got going. They quickly made it a 16-9 for the series victory.

So 100 Thieves were one step closer to the Grand Finals. But Evil Geniuses awaited them next, who were understandably hungry for a victory after their loss to FURIA earlier on.

100T 2-0 EG

The Australians have struggled all throughout the season to pull through in narrow matches. They have suffered so many 13-16 and 14-16 losses, screwing up their eventual placement within the regular season. But during these playoffs, they finally got over this hurdle.

On Dust2, EG got into the match well. During the first half, they ran away with 10 rounds and were in a perfect position to win the first map already. But then 100 Thieves kicked into a higher gear. Winning 10 rounds in a row, they suddenly were one point away from victory, which they narrowly got on a 16-14 scoreline. For EG, this was a shocking result. Moreover, it was a demonstration of the Australians’ ability to finally show resilience and confidence in the game.

They repeated this one the second map. Evil Geniuses got another 10-5 lead at halftime, after which they had to watch as 100T chipped away at their lead and pulled off a near-perfect comeback. They quickly overtook EG for the 16-13 victory.

So 100 Thieves are now in the Grand Finals of ESL Pro League NA. FURIA are already waiting for them with their map advantage. It would be shocking to see the Brazilians give these Finals away. But after the Thieves’ incredible games versus Liquid and EG, we should maybe not count them out and get ready for yet another shocking result. The Best-of-Five will commence at 19:00 CEST and bring an end to this Pro League season.