BETBOOM came back from 4-10 on Nuke to beat Legacy and, according to HLTV’s invite simulator, secured a place at the Singapore Major. They now face Falcons, while Aurora get a rematch with FURIA in Saturday’s semi-finals in Malta.
The semi-finals of the Thunderpick World Championship are set. Aurora and BETBOOM took the last two places on Friday and join group winners Falcons and FURIA in the top four. The winner of the $1,000,000 tournament takes home $500,000, half of which goes to the players.
Saturday’s semi-finals
All times are CEST.
Auroravs
FURIA16:00
Falconsvs
BETBOOM19:00The third-place match is on Sunday at 13:30, followed by the Bo5 grand final at 17:00.
BETBOOM’s comeback and Major ticket
BETBOOM needed all three maps to get past Legacy, and the first one looked lost. Legacy led 8-4 at the half on Nuke and extended it to 10-4 with the pistol round, before BETBOOM won 12 of the next 15 rounds and closed it out 16-13 in overtime. Legacy squandered four map points on Dust2 before taking it 13-11 in the last round of regulation. On Mirage, Magnojez finished with 25 kills, 104.5 ADR and a 1.58 rating as BETBOOM won 13-11.
BETBOOM2-1
LegacyStatsNuke 16-13, Dust2 11-13, Mirage 13-11
| BETBOOM | K-D | +/- | ADR | KAST |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Magnojez | 62-50 | +12 | 82.8 | 67.5% |
| d1Ledez | 55-50 | +5 | 78.4 | 75.3% |
| zorte | 54-49 | +5 | 63.6 | 66.2% |
| Boombl4 | 49-51 | -2 | 73.4 | 70.1% |
| S1ren | 44-47 | -3 | 67.9 | 67.5% |
| Legacy | K-D | +/- | ADR | KAST |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 try | 62-54 | +8 | 85.9 | 71.4% |
 latto | 55-48 | +7 | 76.7 | 74.0% |
| dumau | 45-52 | -7 | 70.4 | 59.7% |
| n1ssim | 43-50 | -7 | 66.7 | 62.3% |
| arT | 38-61 | -23 | 55.0 | 62.3% |
Aurora2-0
9zStatsCache 13-11, Inferno 13-4
| Aurora | K-D | +/- | ADR | KAST |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 kyxsan | 33-20 | +13 | 75.5 | 92.7% |
 Jimpphat | 31-18 | +13 | 80.3 | 82.9% |
 Wicadia | 36-28 | +8 | 96.3 | 82.9% |
| woxic | 25-20 | +5 | 65.9 | 75.6% |
| XANTARES | 25-25 | 0 | 75.0 | 68.3% |
| 9z | K-D | +/- | ADR | KAST |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 dgt | 26-29 | -3 | 61.6 | 78.0% |
| meyern | 25-28 | -3 | 69.5 | 82.9% |
 HUASOPEEK | 28-32 | -4 | 73.2 | 68.3% |
| luchov | 18-29 | -11 | 55.5 | 80.5% |
| max | 13-32 | -19 | 39.3 | 61.0% |
Magnojez was also named the last MVP of the group stage by the organisers.
The result matters far beyond Malta. The win gave BETBOOM 62 VRS points and clinched their place at the Singapore Major, according to HLTV’s invite simulator.
Before the match, Boombl4 told Thunderpick’s broadcast that the Major race had been on the team’s mind all season.
I think right now in this VRS system, yeah, it’s all about the VRS.
Boombl4 said BETBOOM had played earlier tournaments this season with the points in mind, but were trying to “just play the game” in Malta. He also preferred Legacy over FURIA as an opponent, so BETBOOM would not face the same team twice.
Legacy’s confidence before the exit
For Legacy, the defeat ends a tournament they came into short on preparation. n1ssim told the broadcast before the match that the team had gone four days without practice, that arT had only had around ten hours in the previous two weeks after his time away, and that they had four maps of practice for the day.
Asked by the interviewer whether BETBOOM were a comfortable matchup, he agreed:
I think BetBoom is a good team, but they’re not like a tier one team. And right now we’re like tier one team-ish, so I think BetBoom is going to be okay.
n1ssim also said Legacy still need to become a team that reaches playoffs consistently, and that he did not know what was holding them back. They finish the event in 5th-6th place with $30,000.
Aurora’s revenge and a busy schedule
Aurora had lost 2-0 to 9z in their opening match, including a 13-1 defeat on Nuke. This time they avoided Nuke, picked Cache instead and won it 13-11, before a dominant CT half from Wicadia on Inferno decided the series.
It is Aurora’s third straight top-four finish, after second place at StarSeries and third at ESL Pro League. Their coach ash explained the opening defeat on the broadcast before the rematch with a problem many top teams recognise this autumn: too many tournaments and too little practice.
We’re a very new team, and we’ve been going very deep in a lot of tournaments and playing all the tournaments, and we’re not really getting to practice, we’re just watching games back. So when we played like Inferno the other day, it was the first time we played Inferno in weeks, weeks and weeks, and we’re just forgetting lots of basic things.
ash agreed that Aurora were in a way “suffering from success”. FURIA know that feeling, with FalleN having called their season “overbooked” earlier in the tournament. Aurora beat FURIA 2-1 in the group stage of ESL Pro League Season 24 just ten days ago.
For 9z, the exit extends a run of five tournaments in a row without a playoff finish.
Falcons against a team that has beaten them on the Major stage
Falcons go into their semi-final as favourites on paper, but BETBOOM beat them at the IEM Cologne Major. Falcons won Group A with a 2-1 win over 9z on Thursday, while FURIA took Group B by beating Legacy 2-1.
