StarSeries i-League Season 7 Europe QualifierSpirit qualify StarSeries i-League Season 7 over Vitality
Spirit are through to the StarSeries i-League Season 7 after defeating Vitality 2-1 (16-9 on Dust2, 6-16 on Inferno and 16-9 on Mirage).
The last series of the 20-team European qualifier kicked off on Spirit's map pick, Dust2, where the Russians secured their CT pistol on the back of a quad-kill that included 1v2 clutch from Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev. In the fifth round, the Frenchmen bagged their first with just pistols, but they simply could not stop their opponents from picking up a 7-1 lead.
Vitality then got back on the board as Cédric "RpK" Guipouy denied Vadim "DavCost" Vasilyev from clutching a 1v2 situation, and followed that up with two more rounds to reduce the gap to 4-7. Spirit would not let go off the gas, however, and did not lose any more rounds until half-time.
Despite losing another pistol and subsequent anti-eco, Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt's men did not back down and strung three rounds together fairly easily, 7-13. Still, Spirit responded successfully in a full eco, and, from that moment, there was little that Vitality could do to stop them, with the map ending 16-9.
Vitality started well on their map pick, Inferno, losing just the first gun round before going up 4-1 as CTs. Spirit still replied with a four-round winning streak to turn the score around in their favour, but Dan "apEX" Madesclaire and co. were in charge and made it 10-5 by half-time, with the 25-year-old leading the way for his team with 21 frags. The French squad carried that momentum into the second half and quickly wrapped up the map at 16-6.
Starting out as CTs on the decider, Mirage, Spirit got off to a great start, winning five rounds in a row to take control of proceedings, with sdy adding another 1v2 clutch to his name in the process.
Then, Vitality secured their first round, but they were immediately reset by Spirit, who kept punishing the Frenchmen to go up 12-1. NBK-'s troops then won the final two rounds of the half with back-to-back triple-kills from the team's captain.
A near-perfect CT pistol set Vitality for a good run, losing a single round before reducing the deficit to five rounds. With Dmitry "S0tF1k" Forostyanko stepping up to the plate with a quad-kill—the 24-year-old could not hit double digits on the previous two maps—, Spirit reached their 14th round, which inspired the Russians to eventually seal the deal at 16-9.
 Spirit |
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 59 - 50 | +9 | 99.0 | 1.31 | |
| 64 - 57 | +7 | 97.1 | 1.25 | |
| 43 - 43 | 0 | 61.4 | 1.02 | |
| 47 - 49 | -2 | 68.7 | 0.97 | |
| 30 - 47 | -17 | 48.0 | 0.76 |
 Vitality |
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 57 - 45 | +12 | 82.9 | 1.30 | |
| 63 - 50 | +13 | 94.1 | 1.21 | |
| 46 - 47 | -1 | 69.0 | 0.97 | |
| 39 - 50 | -11 | 64.8 | 0.95 | |
| 41 - 51 | -10 | 59.0 | 0.81 |
The StarSeries i-League Season 7 will run from March 30 to April 7 in Shanghai, China, where 16 teams will duke it out for their share of a $500,000 prize pool.
The tournament's team list currently looks as follows:
Asia qualifier
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard
Hansel 'BnTeT' Ferdinand
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov
Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastný
Chris 'chrisJ' de Jong
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Owen 'smooya' Butterfield
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