After the high of blowing out FURIA on the first map, Nemiga’s fairy tale run ended up a nightmare as they fell in a best-of-five slog that went the distance against a brutal YEKINDAR.
FURIA’s world tour of tournaments is finally bearing fruit just ahead of the PGL Singapore Major. Winning their second title just this month, PGL Masters Bucharest, they are on track to play nine tournaments in less than four months.
Nemiga made a fairy tale run all the way to the final of PGL Masters Bucharest, after defeating FUT and Vitality (with a stand-in) consecutively to reach the grand final.
After a stellar opening map, where Nemiga won 13-2, FURIA showed their experience in front of the rookies on Nemiga.
Nemiga blow out FURIA on Ancient
The series seemed like it would go through quickly, as the youngsters of Nemiga made quick work of FURIA on Ancient. In a map that took about 30 minutes, Nemiga beat down FURIA 13-2 on the map.
Aleksandr ‘KaiR0N-‘ Anashkin, ex-Virtus.pro prospect, turned up massively, with 2.01 rating. The speed of this map would set the tone of the series, which had several blowouts.
FURIA expose Nemiga on Dust2 and Cache
Throughout the series, Mareks ‘YEKINDAR’ Gaļinskis was the star, who completely shifted the momentum of the match after the first map. YEKINDAR took the game into his own hands, not letting Nemiga play comfortably, and playing around his own openers.
Just over the first three maps, YEKINDAR had 1.74 rating overall, showing his experience in this lopsided matchup.
FURIA beat Nemiga 13-5 and 13-2 on Dust2 and Cache, setting themselves up for a 3-1 victory.
Nemiga fight tooth and nail on Mirage
Nemiga had an incredible start to Mirage, where Beksultan ‘khaN’ Ospan showed some of his best CS with the AWP. Him and KaiR0N- helped shut down FURIA’s T-side with a 9-3 opening half.
However, one of FURIA’s CT-side comebacks started to rear its head, as they won round after round in the second half. Eventually, the game was tied at 10-10.
Then, Nemiga found the solution to the CT-side. They got a streak of rounds right when they needed it to win the map 13-11, leaving the series in limbo.
YEKINDAR completes masterpiece on Nuke
Reminiscent of their BLAST Rivals 2025 trophy, FURIA leant on YEKINDAR to come through on the grand final stage. Ending the series with a 1.56 rating, he sealed what he called his “life tournament”.
A 13-6 win on Nuke was the confirmation that FURIA had the mettle needed to shut down Nemiga’s firepower. Though Nemiga threatened to take control after losing the lead in the second half, FURIA prevailed with low buys.
While Nemiga’s run is already noteworthy, riding young talent from Spirit Academy to their first grand final, FURIA’s experience pulled through in the critical moments.
