To say that w7m esports' 7-3, 7-0 win over KOI was on the cards today would have been an exaggeration.
The upper bracket semi-final was a rematch of both teams' Group A clash on the second day of the Six Invitational 2023. But where that was a closely-fought 2-0, with 7-5 and 8-6 maps, today's upper bracket semi-final shared little similarity with their previous matchup.
"We studied them a lot, you know," explained a delighted Julio "JULIO" Giacomelli in an interview with SiegeGG after the match. "They tried, like, defensive plays, aggressive plays, and nothing was working. And I think they just said, 'let's play just like ranked'."
The key to shutting KOI down came down to nullifying their top players like William "Spoit" Löfstedt and Pascal "cryn" Alouane. Both players had shockingly poor performances and finished with SiegeGG Ratings of 0.62 and 0.52, respectively, which JULIO says was by their design.
"Don't let them feel comfortable ... if the life of Spoit is comfortable, he's gonna destroy the game," he said. "He is doing a fast play, don't let him do it ... (make it a) 1v3 (against him), just peek him. Don't let him feel comfortable about his aim."
However, JULIO also stressed that making the KOI star players uncomfortable was only a part of a larger w7m plan against them.
Conversely, w7m were "really comfortable" as they came into this matchup despite their 0-2 loss in the group stage to KOI. The Brazilians had just the right amount of self-confidence to write off that loss as an off-day. They also were secure in their belief that KOI would spring fewer surprises than they would, as KOI risked tinkering with a formula that worked for them the first time.
"We knew that we could beat them easy, just change the stuff (that we got wrong)," said a blasé JULIO. However, even he did not expect to steamroll KOI and only allow the Europeans a mere three rounds in total across both maps.
Clubhouse began with w7m on the defense, which meant that a slightly defender-sided first half would not have been out of the norm. But instead of the overall 57 percent defender win-rate seen at the Invitational so far, w7m pulled off an 83 percent defensive half.
"I didn't expect that (7-3) in Clubhouse, but in Villa said to my team like... 'guys, we're attacking, they are just playing like ranked ... aiming like everything'," recalled JULIO. "'So, just play passive and we win.'"
With this victory and after yesterday's results, w7m are now the only Brazilian team left in the running for the title of world champions. They also have one of only two players to have won a Six Invitational before in the form of JULIO.
As such, he is unsurprisingly unfazed by the pressure of carrying the hopes of an entire region on his shoulders. But, his confidence has seemingly filtered down to his young teammates, too, as they are "really happy" that they are close to becoming world champions.
"It's a feeling that now you're really happy linked to your country and it's really nice, really beautiful," said JULIO.
His team will now play against Oxygen Esports in the upper bracket final on Feb. 17 in a match that is sure to get hearts racing for everyone involved.
"It's a really good matchup (for us) because they depend, too, a lot of gun skill," he said, confident that his team's plans that worked today will also work on Friday. "It's more like that who have the better and who can adapt more."
Should w7m win, they will be in the Six Invitational 2023 grand-final, a place JULIO has been twice before.
"I think we are really confident (against any team)," he finished, with his measured sense of self-assurance making it clear that w7m are certainly very capable of lifting the hammer come Sunday night.