In the opening round of IEM Dallas, FURIA beat Imperial 16-9 in the first encounter between the two biggest teams in Brazil since Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and company signed with Imperial in January.
There were a lot of expectations for the derby in the Brazilian community, especially because Imperial performed better at PGL Antwerp Major than expected. The team almost made it into the playoffs, a feat FURIA managed, and fans were happy to see veteran players like FalleN, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga, and Lincoln “fnx” Lau push themselves.
More than 200,000 fans tuned in today to Gaules’ stream, the official Brazilian broadcast, only to see Imperial get slapped at the hands of Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato’s squad in the first half of Mirage.
FURIA started on the CT side of Mirage and completely dismantled all of Imperial’s pushes. When their defense fell apart, Andrei “arT” Piovezan and KSCERATO came up clutch to save rounds and rub salt into Imperial’s wounds. FURIA moved to the T side with a 12-3 advantage and didn’t take too long to close out the game 16-9, winning the first Brazilian clash between themselves and Imperial.
No single player stood out in FURIA’s win, as Yuri “yuurih” Santos finished with 19 frags, while André “drop” Abreu, Rafael “saffee” Costa, and KSCERATO all finished with 18 kills each.
This defeat to FURIA places Imperial in the lower bracket of IEM Dallas’ group B, where they’ll have to win three best-of-three series in a row to move to the playoffs. FURIA, on the other hand, advance to the upper bracket and are two wins away from securing a spot in the playoffs.
