M80's playoff hopes took a serious hit today at BLAST Open Porto after they fell to FURIA in a devastating 2-0 sweep, with Brazilian star KSCERATO putting on an absolute clinic.
The heartbreak began on M80's own Cache selection. After building a commanding 12-8 lead and finding themselves in a 5v3 situation at 12-9, M80 appeared poised to close out the map. But FURIA flipped the script in that pivotal round twenty-two, stealing the momentum and forcing overtime. The Brazilians then went nuclear, rattling off an 8-1 run in OT to claim the map 16-13. KSCERATO was unstoppable, posting a ridiculous 32-14 kill-death ratio with 99.9 average damage per round and a 1.86 rating.
M80 entered Dust2 with confidence after winning their third straight pistol round, but that's where the good news ended. FURIA completely dominated the remainder of the map, finally breaking through on their own pistol win in the second half. They cruised to a 13-5 victory, punching their ticket to the playoff stage.
KSCERATO finished the series with a staggering 50 total eliminations—eleven more than any other player in the server. His performance was the difference-maker that M80 simply couldn't overcome.
All isn't lost for the North American squad, though. M80 still have a path to playoffs, but it requires winning back-to-back best-of-three series. Their elimination run begins Sunday at 5:00 AM against Aurora.
