The final day of the Group Stage at IEM New York North America would be action-packed, with a full round of match-ups. FURIA would fall to the third place of Group A after a major Whalers upset, giving place for Evil Geniuses to jump in the lead. At Group B, 100 Thieves and Team Liquid would also secure Play-Offs, with Chaos losing their spot at the last minute as they fell against Team One.
One of the most interesting clashes of the day would be FURIA versus the New England Whalers, with the Brazilians one Best-of-Three away from a flawless Group Stage. The Whalers made quite the ingress on their map pick of Mirage with an impressive CT side bringing a 16-9 finish.
FURIA looked better on Nuke, as they displayed some of the creativity and confidence we are used to seeing from the Brazilians. It seemed like the series was bound for a third map, but the Whalers pounced back with a string of seven rounds to put the nail in the coffin.
An unusually underwhelming series from Vinicius ‘VINI’ Figueiredo would crush FURIA’s hopes of a flawless run at the IEM New York Group Stage
Unable to go further in the tournament, Triumph and Rebirth would be jousting over RMR Points, trying to make the best out of their situation. Triumph would crush the first map, taking it 16-7 as 17 year old Erik ‘penny’ Penny dropped 36 kills.
Rebirth would answer back at Nuke, accusing some troubles closing the game out, as they lost three match-points before seamlessly crushing a Triumph comeback on Overtime. It would all be for nothing, as Triumph would leave no stone left unturned, concluding the series on a 16-6.
Evil Geniuses would face ImPerium, who were yet to get a single series at the event, and they would display no mercy, dismantling the team with a 16-1 on the first map and nonchalantly proceed to repeat the score and knock ImPerium out of the event for good, finishing the event without a single series victory.
Representing their banner for one last ride, 100 Thieves would face Mythic. And despite all the problems outside the server, the Australians would still show their skill inside of it, securing the map pick of their opponents on a 16-8.
Now playing on their own turf, the Thieves would continue to show that they were one tier above Mythic, as they would effortlessly secure the series on a 16-9 and prolong their stay at the event.
In what would seem like another one-sided affair, Team Liquid would go up against RBG. The MDL team would put up a fight, but at the end of the day, they would still find defeat at the hands of Liquid.
At Overpass, things would repeat themselves, as RBG would strike 10 rounds before they fell. Team Liquid would rise up to the number one spot in the group, leaving the RBG side to end the event on the same track record as ImPerium.
Team One would need to come out victorious in their match-up against Chaos EC if they wanted to reach the Play-offs Stage. This task would become more difficult, as the side lead by Anthony ‘vanity’ Malaspina converting their map pick of Nuke 16-8.
A back-and-forth Dust 2 would ensue, with Chaos and Team One skirmishing for every advantage they could get, eventually heading up to Overtime where the Brazilians would postpone the series to a third map.
It would be life-or-death for both sides as the series headed to Mirage. Team One started great and finished even better, nearly closing the series right on their first match-point. Victory wouldn’t be far, as they secured the series 16-10, completing the upset against Chaos and stealing their place on the Play-offs stage.
Brazil will be represented by two teams at the Play-offs Stage, FURIA and Team One
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