After karrigan lost a Major final to donk, he found his own version to eliminate Spirit.
Falcons have taken one more step in completing a nightmare run to win the IEM Cologne Major. After defeating the ever-dominant Vitality, they beat Spirit and Daniil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets on their way.
Now, they set up a clash against FURIA tomorrow, with karrigan to face off against his old rival.
It’s always a fun game against [FalleN]. May the best man win!
Falcons saved a map point on Anubis
Falcons started great on Anubis, and Maksim ‘kyousuke’ Lukin was firing on all cylinders. He kept finding so many opening kills with headshots, many against his counterpart, donk.
The superstar on Spirit’s side was not his usual dominant self, but there was another to make up for it. Dmitiriy ‘sh1ro’ Sokolov was at his absolute best today.
With sh1ro’s incredibly smart plays, closing out so many rounds, Spirit had a chance to steal Falcons’ map pick. However, a B-attack left Spirit without reply and sent it to OT.
Falcons had an impeccable T-side, 3-0ing it with the help of a final 2v2 from Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov. Though it seemed over, Spirit replied with two consecutive back.
However, it was kyousuke, once a playoff choker, now a cheat code inside the game under Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen. He got a 3k in the final round to win the map 16-14.
Spirit take convincing Mirage, but still no donk
Spirit managed to win Mirage with the consistent firepower of sh1ro and a stellar Andrey ‘tN1R’ Tatarinovich. But still, donk was yet to reach his heights.
This was best represented by the second pistol round, Falcons’ fourth consecutive. Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovac was in a 1vs1 against donk and completely lost track of him, but the latter just missed his shot, and NiKo hit a blinder.
However, the critical round was on the T-side, when NiKo found himself in a 1vs1 against a full eco from Spirit. He completely overcooked the round, and the stalwart Boris ‘magixx’ Vorobiev outplayed him to steal all the momentum.
From there Spirit didn’t lose a round and won their pick 13-8, and donk got into good shape before Dust2.
Karrigan shows grit on decider Dust2
Dust2 is the best map in the pool for Team Spirit, but Falcons just beat Vitality on it yesterday.
It started in Spirit’s favor, with sh1ro getting Spirit’s first pistol round with a clean 3k with headshots. However, when Falcons got guns out, they looked better with AK-47s in their hands.
Falcons had all individuals firing. Rene ‘TeSeS’ Madsen found an opener on donk in round 7 with the deagle, the latter still not finding his form.
Spirit won critical rounds that gave them the economic advantage and the lead. In the final round of the half, Falcons managed to take the B-site in a 4vs3 post-plant, looking to tie the half 6-6.
However, that disappeared quickly, as tN1R once again showed his best, killing all players on the site while his teammate took care of tunnels. Spirit had a 7-5 lead to reach the Major final.
The Danes are the saviors
Both TeSeS and karrigan won rounds in the late stages that took the game for Falcons.
In round 19, TeSeS won a 1vs2 clutch against donk and sh1ro, sandwiched on A-site. He won the 1vs1 against donk, then one tapped sh1ro as he tried to push TeSeS. That got them to 10-9.
Spirit still came back, and in round 20, they had the B-site for free. However, then karrigan showed why he has been in so many Major finals. He pushed the B-doors smoke unexpectedly and killed two Spirit players unaware, getting Falcons an 11-9 lead.
Spirit still made it to overtime, but by then, Falcons had won the mental battle. They swept the CT-side 3-0, and won the necessary T-round immediately through a mid-to-B that had Spirit shook.
Player of the match: kyousuke
Dmitriy ‘sh1ro’ Sokolov put up an admirable performance, arguably the best player on the server despite being on the losing team. He closed out so many rounds that Spirit should not have won.
Across all maps, Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovac was the most consistent for Falcons.
Simply put, without Maksim ‘kyousuke’ Lukin’s impact, Falcons would not have won the two maps they needed. He was the constant can opener, and still could find closing multikills to steal rounds. Even more, against the measuring stick he will always be compared to: donk.
kyousuke had 12 opening kills, only one behind donk, and the most multikills of any rifler on the server with 16.
