Much like in Soccer, the only American team to make the Dallas arena was in the women's circuit. But also much like in futebol, the Brazilians showed up in force.

This season’s ESL Impact League Finals concluded with a grand final game on the main stage in front of the crowd. We think it replaced a show match, but let's be honest, no one remembers the show match.

The Brazilian fans rallied together to support their team, and not to be outdone the American fans brought out their most original chants such as “USA, USA!” and the iconic “USA, USA!”

Never change, Americans.

Astute Impact fans may be wondering: where the hell is Imperial Valkyries? The six-time championship winning core suffered an early loss to NIP, before being eliminated in the semifinals by FURIA Fe. On the other side of the bracket, Supernova Comets defied expectations by defeating NIP 2-0 to make it to the finals.

Both teams started out by trading map picks: Supernova Comets took map one on ancient 13-9, with rifler empathy putting up an astonishing 35 kills and 2.65 rating. FURIA Fe responded by winning Dust2 13-7.

Would map three of inferno live up to our podcast’s name and deliver as a decider? FURIA Fe took the lead in the first half, but Supernova were poised to reset their economy and tie things up at nine all… Then they remembered the classic NA strategy: throw a 5v2 advantage.

With that round win, FURIA Fe took control and closed out the map 13-8, being crowned as champions of ESL Impact Season 7, the first time a team other than the Imperial Valkryies core has done so. Star rifler bizinha took home the MVP award, with a 1.30 rating across the event.

This is a big win for a Brazilian team that finished second in the last two Impact finals. They celebrated on stage, lifting the trophy as their fans cheered, sang, and showed Americans what true patriotism looks like.

Vamos.

Final standings for Impact S7:

1st 🇧🇷 FURIA fe – $50.000
2nd 🇺🇸 Supernova Coments – $25.000
3-4th 🇪🇺 Imperial Valkyries – $13.000
3-4th 🇪🇺 NIP Impact – $13.000
5-6th 🇫🇷 Zerance – $7.000
5-6th 🏳️ FlyQuest RED – $7.000

Interview

What do you do when you’ve won six tournaments in a row? If you’re flameZ, you just keep talking about winning more.

There’s just one event left in the season, and it’s the biggest one of all. The Major.

The only prestigious trophy vacant from the young gun’s cabinet, he knows that it’s the one trophy he needs to win if his name is going to live on eternally in Counter-Strike history.

Our very own James ‘Fuffy’ Sherpa had a chat with flameZ in Dallas:

TLDR: Congratulations on the win, you're probably getting used to it at this point, but how are you feeling?

flameZ: I'm feeling great. To be honest, it's very nice to some extent feel like you played sloppy or you didn't have enough prep coming into the tournament, but still managing to close out the close games and we kept doing that throughout. It's also a big prep for the Major, so winning here means a lot to us.

apEX was speaking about coming in with less prep and seeing how it would all play out, using it to ramp up ahead of the Major. Now that you've won it without the preparation, what are you planning to work on before the Major?

Well, now we'll take everything we did shit in Dallas and make it good for Austin. That's the idea.

We'll have a bootcamp, so that's obviously something that we're going to put a lot of focus in. We need to make sure the preparation for the Major will be golden, because if this is the warm-up and this is how we played, it'll be really good for us.

When it comes to being in front of the NA crowd, how was that as a taster for the Major?

I think the NA crowd is amazing. We were here last year and I really enjoyed the final then. Even though Stewie was playing for G2 and the crowd was rooting for them, it feels like they cheer for Counter-Strike. They still cheer on people when they make a crazy play. I really like those kinds of arenas, it reminds me of Cologne, or even Melbourne that was surprisingly one of the best events I've played.

It's also just really nice to be in a hot country, because Europe is super cold.

You mentioned some of the close games and sloppy moments, but it seems like you always come out on top in those moments. When you're in the server and watching it all play out, how does it feel?

We're working really hard on having people still be vocal even when they die, so there's a lot of confidence in the team and the players no matter who is in the 2vs2 or whatever. But, obviously, when ZywOo is in a 1vs2, I'm very confident.

Everyone is focused on the Major right now, but in the longer term, are there any goals for you past winning a Major?

I'm 21 right now, the final day of the Major I'll be 22, so... hopefully by 22 I have a Major trophy.

If that's the case, I'm not going to stop. We're going to get another Cologne, another Katowice, another Major.

There are few players that have achieved all that at such a young age, maybe b1t, but I think it would be super nice to gain speed on the trophies and I'm very glad that I said back in all my OG interviews that I want to get to top one and keep that spot.

Right now, we've won six tournaments in a row, and that makes us really big champions, so that's already a very decorated career. But, without the Major, people are going to remember you for not having one. I want one.