OG stay alive at the IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage after defeating IHC 2-0. Nemanja "nexa" Isakovi?'s crew bagged a strong 16-11 victory on Inferno before mounting a successful comeback on Ancient to pick up the 16-14 win. The Europeans now find themselves in the 2-2 pool with one final shot at progressing through to the Legends Stage.

Abdul "degster" Gasanov was an unstoppable force on OG's side as the 21-year-old sniper finished with a series-high 55 kills and 1.44 rating. Bat-Enkh "kabal" Batbayar shined for IHC with 43 kills and a 1.10 rating, but his efforts weren't enough to drive his team to victory in the end.

IHC bow out of the Major with a 1-3 record, their lone win coming from a three-map thriller against hometown side 00NATION. They were two rounds away from forcing a decider with a 14-9 lead on Ancient but were unable to close out the map which ultimately led to their exit from the tournament.

Degster

IHC won the first pistol of the match but weren't able to capitalize on their advantage as OG converted their forcebuy in the second and streaked to a comfortable 9-3 lead. The Mongolians fought back and scored the last three rounds of the half behind a triple-kill from Sodbayar "Techno" Munkhbold and quads from both Garidmagnai "bLitz" Byambasuren and kabal to cut their deficit to three at the break.

nexa's men came out of halftime swinging and won four straight before a last-second defuse in the 20th gave IHC their first round as the defenders. It would spark a comeback attempt from bLitz's squad who five of the next six, but OG's advantage was just too far out of reach in the end. The Europeans hit map point at 15-11 and closed out Inferno in the following round to claim a 1-0 series lead.

Both teams exchanged scoring runs to kick off Ancient, with OG taking a swift 4-0 lead behind early heroics from Adam "NEOFRAG" Zouhar and degster before IHC answered back and took over the score at 5-4. Success on the B site shifted control of the game over to the Europeans, but IHC's individual fraggers shined bright as they entered the switch holding a narrow 8-7 lead. bLitz, Techno, and kabal mirrored their performance on Inferno as the trio once again dropped multi-kills in the dying embers of the first half.

IHC opened the second period with gusto and scored six out of the first eight, putting the map victory within arm's reach at 14-9. A mistimed site push in the 24th gave a round back to OG, which breathed new life in the game for nexa and company. Multi-kill rounds from nexa, degster, and Shahar "flameZ Shushan were the driving forces for OG's comeback as they would put the final nail in IHC's coffin with a 16-14 victory on Ancient.

woxic benches himself from EF: "I want to continue my career in an international team"

03/11/2022 - 16:58

With the Turkish superteam looking to rebuild, Özgür "Woxic" Eker turns his attention to international lineups.

Eternal Fire have announced that woxic has benched himself after fourteen months with the team. This news comes less than a week after it was announced that Ahmet "paz" Karahoca and Canpolat "hardstyle" will no longer be part of the active roster.

Last month Eternal Fire benched their IGL, Engin "MAJ3R" Küpeli, in favour of the younger and previously inactive member of the team Yasin "xfl0ud" Koç. with Ömer "imoRR" Karata? taking over the calling.

The Turkish superteam, as the squad was dubbed, has now parted ways with four members of the roster that failed to qualify for the IEM Rio Major.

woxic