Passion UA dominate MIBR, BIG come back against VP to go 2-1

The Ukrainian underdogs are now just a single best-of-three away from the Elimination Stage.

Passion UA are now on the cusp of reaching the Elimination Stage in Shanghai after scoring a statement victory over MIBR, bagging a ten-round streak against the Brazilian side after a close start to their Mirage best-of-one.

With this win, Passion UA have secured themselves a 2-1 record in the Opening Stage, giving them two opportunities to win out a best-of-three to move on to the Elimination Stage.

After finding themselves at a 3-5 deficit on the T-side of Mirage, Passion UA pieced together an impressive run fueled by flashes of brilliance from Rodion “⁠fear⁠” Smyk and Nikita “⁠jackasmo⁠” Skyba, quelling the equally impressive showings that Felipe “⁠insani⁠” Yuji and Rafael “⁠saffee⁠” Costa were displaying for MIBR.

In the end, the Brazilians were unable to put the brakes on Passion UA’s run even after swapping sides, giving fear’s troops room to run away with the map 13-5.

MIBR 5：13 Passion UA

1st December 2024

MIBR	K – D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.1
Felipe ‘insani’ Yuji	17 – 16	+1	118.6	1.43
Rafael ‘saffee’ Costa	16 – 13	+3	77.1	1.18
Raphael ‘exit’ Lacerda	10 – 12	-2	64.7	0.83
André ‘drop’ Abreu	6 – 12	-6	48.3	0.66
Lucas ‘Lucaozy’ Neves	8 – 12	-4	41.6	0.55

Passion UA	K – D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.1
Rodion ‘fear’ Smyk	22 – 8	+14	107.7	1.87
Nikita ‘jackasmo’ Skyba	13 – 11	+2	70.2	1.29
Eduard ‘zeRRoFIX’ Petrovskyi	12 – 13	-1	77.2	1.15
Vsevolod ‘s-chilla’ Shchurov	9 – 13	-4	61.3	1.07
Dmytro ‘jambo’ Semera	9 – 12	-3	68.7	1.00

Elsewhere in the 1-1 pool, BIG overcame Virtus.pro with an impressive streak of their own, piecing together nine rounds in a row on the CT-side of Vertigo to turn a 4-11 deficit into a 13-11 map win.

While Jon “⁠JDC⁠” de Castro and Karim “⁠Krimbo⁠” Moussa were important components to the German side’s comeback, Rigon “⁠rigoN⁠” Gashi’s turnaround from 2-16 to 11-18 was also crucial, as the Swiss rifler scored three consecutive multi-kills to help get his team over the line.

 BIG 13：11 Virtus.pro

BIG	K – D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.1
Johannes ‘tabseN’ Wodarz	20 – 16	+4	102.6	1.36
Florian ‘syrsoN’ Rische	19 – 15	+4	82.2	1.28
Jon ‘JDC’ de Castro	16 – 18	-2	76.3	0.96
Karim ‘Krimbo’ Moussa	13 – 13	0	44.5	0.79
Rigon ‘rigoN’ Gashi	11 – 18	-7	58.7	0.79

Virtus.pro	K – D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.1
Dzhami ‘Jame’ Ali	19 – 12	+7	79.6	1.29
Petr ‘fame’ Bolyshev	17 – 16	+1	81.1	1.14
Denis ‘electroNic’ Sharipov	18 – 17	+1	79.8	1.09
David ‘n0rb3r7’ Danielyan	17 – 17	0	74.5	1.07
Evgenii ‘FL1T’ Lebedev	9 – 17	-8	48.6	0.75

The remaining two matches set to be played in the 1-1 pool are: