Sources: BLAST, PGL

What. A. Final. Seriously, we love both of these teams, and we knew it would be a banger as soon as the match was set, but we just witnessed five excellent maps of Counter-Strike, and that’s a great way to end a weekend.

Kicking it off on Mirage, we really expected The MongolZ would begin the series with a win. Their Mirage is exceptional, and their T side showed why. 910 was frying to give the Mongolians a strong 8-4 lead.

But this isn’t the FURIA that limped to a win against Imperial Valkyries and bubble. No, this is a FURIA powered by YEKINDAR and molodoy. And that FURIA doesn’t f-ck about. Another 8-4 half ensued, and FURIA just kept going in OT, closing out the map 16-13.

Sent to Inferno, the map began with another T-side 8-4 lead, this time coming from FURIA as molodoy picked up a 2.28 rating in the opening half. However, map two was The MongolZ’ time to pull off the comeback, and a ruthless 2.68 rated T side from Senzu blitzed the FURIA defence and pulled The MongolZ back into the series.

Game on.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, this was a series defined by comebacks. Having dusted themselves off in the break, FURIA were strong out the gates on Nuke.

12-3 up and already thinking about how they would lift the trophy after Overpass, the occasion clearly got them, and they just couldn’t make anything work on their T side as The MongolZ pulled it back to 12-12…

… just to get wiped in OT as FURIA remembered how to win a T round. 16-12. Cheers.

But it didn’t faze the Mongolians, whose stage fright narrative is now well and truly dead. Mzinho, 910, and Techno all gave FURIA a horrible time on the newest map in the pool, and thankfully, sent us to map five off the back of a 13-9 win.

Sadly, though, map five was the most comfortable map of the series. And that’s not to say it was bad, we had a hell of a time watching FURIA beat back their recent stage demons and finally claim their tier one crown.

A YEKINDAR topfrag with 19 kills, the Latvian completed his redemption arc with aplomb. He was so strong that FURIA didn’t even need MVP-winner molodoy, who was relatively quiet with just 13 kills.

A first, true tier one trophy for FURIA - no, Elisa Masters Espoo doesn’t count - it really couldn’t come at a better time for the Brazilian team.

The Major is fast approaching, and FURIA are now right there with G2 as the dark horses for the event.

The organisation may have waited almost eight years for their first trophy since breaking through to tier one, but we have a feeling that the wait for the next one won’t be anywhere near as long.

Oh, and shout out to FalleN’s dog. We hope he gets plenty of treats tonight.