
Group C was a toughie on paper, but in the end there were hardly any upsets, except for perhaps Druidz' performance at this event. Both Anexis eSports and Phantasmagoria went into the games with a good mindset and were at no point close to losing any games that could have cost them important points. Because of this, it was the duel between both of them in Round 5 that would decide the community's perception of their form and a potentially easier Group Stage #2 seeding with bigger odds of making the Bracket final stages. Both teams knew what was at stake and had something vested into this game.
Phantasmagoria wanted to show they could recreate their MSI Grunex performance by topping the group over a Top Seed and Anexis eSports were eager to use this as a test of their continued strength. Reputation more than the three points was at stake here and it became an interesting game.
Interesting but not spectacular. The mood was not proper for a big game like this and you just did not feel like it had any significant meaning, even though it had. With mp_crossfire as the dueling stage, you'd expect a quick game. Christian "
kaTana" Hofmann definitely upheld that expectation by pushing up to the middle of street in the first round to get quick kills and block Anexis eSports from making the early push to B with their SMG players.
Both teams settled into their respective routines relatively quickly after and you felt the pressure slipping from both sides. Rounds were traded and especially the SMGs were dividing the map, with Anexis eSports attacking to get A house and its immediate surroundings cleared first, before making the move over to B and plant. It worked to some degree, as they created a small lead and stuck with it throughout the first half, but never increased on it. Attila "
Boco" Arvai was doing his usual strutting about and in the 5th round he even got four decisive kills all over the map to get his team up an extra round.
Even when the teams swapped sides, the deficit for Phantasmagoria remained and before long, the double digits appeared for the Hungarians with Roland "
z1koX" Kosztyu in particular upping his involvement with good defence work and being at the right places at the right time.
On the other side of the venue, Daniel "
L-KiNG" Luther was having one of his rare bad games, not finding his groove at all and being especially quiet on the communication. It was a true absent game from him and his team mates were also being very silent. The one guy who is incapable of not talking is Daniel "
VAE" Ball and he tried and tried to get his team motivated to pull back the 2 rounds.
Even when Attila "Boco" Arvai picked up the scope on defence and had an unfortunate team kill in the opening seconds, the numeric advantage for Phantasmagoria was not being utilized and the round still went the way of Anexis eSports. No loud cheers or angry voices when Anexis hit 13 to Phantasmagoria's 9 and a disappointing conclusion.
A game where Anexis eSports had the mental edge over Phantasmagoria and did not even had to resort to any wild tactics or moves that would definitely get them the win. A deserved first place Group Stage finish for Anexis eSports in the end and after taking a 2 hour break, they should be ready to go for Group Stage #2 wins.
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09
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13
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Map: mp_crossfire
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Phantasmagoria
Daniel "L-KiNG" Luther
Robin "robonz" Bakken
Daniel "VAE" Ball
Norman "zABZRWx" Dornier
Christian "kaTana" Hofmann
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Anexis eSports
Tamás "kZstaR" Ádámszky Dávid "Stormy" Fézler Csongor "FUTUREEE" Beder Roland "z1koX" Kosztyu Attila "Boco" Árvai |
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