Image: Ubisoft
FURY today secured qualification to the Jönköping Major with a brutally-fought maximum overtime win over Tyde and after Elevate helped them by beating Gaimin Gladiators in the preceding match.
Fate had been outside of FURY's hands coming into the final APAC South play day, as they trailed second-place Gaimin Gladiators by one point and did not hold the head-to-head against the Indonesians. As a result, if Gaimin Gladiators beat Elevate in any fashion, they would have qualified for the Major and FURY would have been out of the running.
Elevate, however, had an agenda of their own and secured a vital 7-5 win to virtually secure their own place at the Six Invitational 2023. Their win also put fate back in FURY's own hands -- now, any form of a win against Tyde was going to be sufficient.
Even though Tyde had no points so far, they proved to be one of the toughest opponents for FURY all stage and were looking good to take the win after forcing overtime. But FURY rallied to win 8-7 and will now make their debut on the international stage in Stockholm next month.
FURY player i9 at the Six Invitational 2022 with Elevate, who helped him out today. (Photo: Ubisoft/Kirill Bashkirov)
The Thai team had finished with zero points in Stage 1, but were given a lifeline after they were able to sign former Elevate players Sumate "i9" Srimabut and Sirasit "BGMan" Ariyasirisopon. While Stage 2 seemed to be a transition period for them, they burst into form in Stage 3.
FURY announced themselves as viable Major candidates in their second match of the stage, beating Knights in an impressive 7-4. They followed it up with another incredible 7-5 win over Elevate and had only lost their opening game so far -- a 6-8 to Dire Wolves, who also qualified for the Major last week.
Despite the strong form, a 5-7 loss to Gaimin Gladiators put FURY on the back foot and they remained there even when Knights stole one point off the Indonesians. But the Indonesians failed to assert themselves over Elevate and brought FURY back into contention for the Major.
There, they and Dire Wolves will join CAG and SANDBOX Gaming from APAC North, Team Liquid, FaZe Clan, Black Dragons, and w7m esports from LATAM, Soniqs, Spacestation Gaming, Mirage, and TSM FTX from North America, and Team BDS and Wolves Esports from Europe.
The final two teams at the Major will be decided in the EUL on Monday, Oct. 30.