OG take revenge on MIBR to move on to Flashpoint 2 consolidation final

The international team will face fnatic on Sunday for a spot in the grand final.

OG took down MIBR 2-1 in the lower bracket final of Flashpoint 2 to claim revenge for Tuesday's defeat in the opening round of the playoffs. The first two maps were the same, though the pattern was reversed as OG ran out winners on Nuke before MIBR hit back on Inferno, where Vinicius "⁠vsm⁠" Moreira and Vito "⁠kNgV-⁠" Giuseppe combined for 41 frags.

The Brazilian AWPer racked up 37 frags on the decider map as MIBR battled back from a 7-1 deficit and took the game the full distance, though his efforts were not enough as the team made a flurry of mistakes in the second half that were capitalised on by OG. It is the end of their European journey, and while they largely exceeded expectations during their short time together, they will be kicking themselves for the shocking blunders that cost them the series and the spot in the consolidation final.

The match began at a frantic pace as neither side managed to assume control during the early stages of Nuke, MIBR's choice of map. The Brazilians then managed to get a foothold in the game as they put some rounds together to take a 5-2 lead, but the rest of the half was dominated by OG.

Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's charges continued to add to their lead after switching to the T side and brought the scoreline to 12-9. MIBR then put their foot down to hold back their opponents, but their efforts would be in vain: OG kept the pressure on - even halting the Brazilians' momentum on a shoddy buy - and strung three rounds together en-route to a comfortable victory, with Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt delivering the finishing blow with a quad-kill to end the game on 23 frags.

MIBR had looked shaky on Inferno in the previous encounter between the two teams, but they were a completely different side this time around. Led by a fired-up vsm, the Brazilians came out with all guns blazing as they stormed to a 10-1 lead on the CT side. OG still put together some rounds before the side switch to keep themselves in the game, but their comeback hopes were immediately dashed: nothing went their way in the second half as MIBR enjoyed a spell of dominance and won several clutch situations, putting the game away without even losing a single round.

A Train decider seemed like daunting task for MIBR, who had played this map just once, a 16-5 thrashing by G2 in the BLAST Premier Fall Series a month ago. They were shut out during the early stages of the game as they found themselves trailing by six rounds but managed to find their rhythm as the half wore on. They won a couple of close rounds to wreak havoc on OG's economy and bring the deficit to a solitary round before the break.

MIBR won the following pistol in convincing fashion but then disaster struck as they were shockingly caught off-guard by a full eco. It took them some time to recover from that setback but they refused to throw in the towel and kept clawing their way back into the game with force-buys. In the end, however, a comeback was not on the cards as OG locked down the final round of regulation on a very weak buy, rubbing further salt into the Brazilians' wounds.