BR6 Finals semi-finals roundup: Team Liquid and w7m esports win games to qualify for December’s Grand Final

This past weekend, the top four sides in the Brasileirao played a BO3 match each to qualify for the BR6 Finals grand-final.

FURIA Esports 1-2 w7m esports

Maps: Kafe (8-7), Skyscraper (4-7), Chalet (2-7)

Despite an initial setback, w7m esports will be in the BR6 Finals grand-final after defeating FURIA Esports 2-1. 

Kafe was a back-and-forth map where none of the teams were able to get a solid advantage against their opposition. Finally, against all odds, the panthers emerged victorious in maximum overtime -- FURIA’s first map victory against the bulls since Jul. 2021.

However, FURIA’s momentum faded right after. Skyscraper saw w7m win the first six defenses, with FURIA’s former coach Julio “JULIO” Giacomelli clutching round six to close out a perfect first half. A comeback was attempted by FURIA, but w7m finally converted their fifth match point to win the second map 7-4.

Finally, the teams went to Chalet to close out the series, a map that w7m had won in six of their last seven plays – the only exception being a maximum overtime loss against Wolves Esports at the Berlin Major.

Four successful defenses later, that figure became seven wins in eight attempts. On attack, w7m won all three rounds, as Julio clutched another round -- this time against the player with the most Stage 3 clutches himself, Thiago “handy” Ferreira.

Team Liquid 2-0 Team oNe

Maps: Villa (7-5), Chalet (7-1), Theme Park

Team Liquid claimed the second spot in December’s grand-final after a largely one-sided series against Team oNe.

Villa was the only close map in the series, despite Liquid converting five of their six initial rounds. Key to their win were André “NESKWGA” Oliveira and Lorenzo “Lagonis” Volpi’s clutches on round one and three, respectively, which eventually made the final difference.

Heading to the second half of the match with a four-round lead, Team oNe equalised the score as Liquid struggled on attack. However, as w7m stopped FURIA earlier, Liquid stopped oNe’s comeback and wrestled wins in the final two rounds. NESKWGA came alive to help close out this map, getting four entry kills on attack while playing Nokk and Iana. 

Things then just got worse for Team oNe, as they were absolutely dismantled on Chalet despite winning the first round of the map. Luccas “Paluh” Molina and NESKWGA were in lethal form and the map ended in a 7-1 victory for their team.

Gabriel “Maia” Maia kept oNe’s hopes alive throughout the series, as he finished with a SiegeGG Rating of 1.29 and a KOST of 80 percent, but only lived to see the end of five percent of the rounds. 

Meanwhile, Paluh and NESKWGA were Liquid’s best players. Pablo “resetz” Oliveira was also impressive, as he finished two kills shy from NESKWGA despite largely playing Hibana and Mute. Lagonis’ three plants and his clutch on Villa were vital, too, while Gabriel “AsK” Santos was Liquid’s ‘worst’ player by SiegeGG Rating despite a positive entry balance. 

With Team Liquid and w7m esports left to fight for the 2022 title of Brazilian champions, the teams will now meet on Dec. 4 in a BO5 match to duke it out. Despite w7m esports’ record this season, Team Liquid’s experience might be a deciding factor, as they are looking forward to back-to-back Brasileirao championships.