FUT reverse-sweep magic to make EWC quarters

magic won several clutches throughout the series to make it a battle, but couldn't overcome a better overall showing from FUT on Anubis and Mirage.

FUT are through to the quarter-finals of the Esports World Cup after beating magic 2-1 in the Round of 16 (9-13 Ancient, 13-7 Anubis, 13-8 Mirage).

Aulon "⁠Krabeni⁠" Fazlija 's side made a meal of the series after faltering in a multitude of late-round scenarios, losing nine of the thirteen clutch rounds despite a 38-25 record in opening kills. Losing those rounds proved costly on Ancient, where an early 1v4 by Nikita "⁠tenzy⁠" Kochenyuk helped magic run away with the map, and could have lost them the series if not for a few heroic moments by Nikita "⁠cmtry⁠" Samolotov on Anubis.

Krabeni 's men now have a day to fix their mistakes and prepare for their quarter-final match against the winner of MOUZ and GamerLegion .

magic came swinging out of the gates on Ancient with a pistol win to go up 3-0, but soon had their momentum stall out as FUT won the first two gun rounds to gain economic control. Before they could make use of that, though, tenzy won an armorless 1v4 clutch on an eco that completely turned the tide, allowing magic to run away with an 8-4 lead at the break.

FUT showed signs of life between a pistol win and a quad-kill by Dmytro "⁠dem0n⁠" Myroshnychenko after the swap, and soon had the game tied up at 8-8. But rounds continued to come down to the wire, and it was magic who outlasted in those scenarios and in clutches to turn the game back in their favor and seal a 13-9 win.

FUT went down early again on Anubis, but this time managed to stabilize despite losing a few of those same late-round scenarios, including a 4v2 to Svyatoslav "⁠MaSvAl⁠" Masko on 7HP and a 2v1 against tenzy . A few multi-kills from cmtry proved crucial in recovering from those blows, and he won a 1v2 in the second half to counter magic 's force-buy win and ensure a Mirage decider.

magic looked out of sorts on the last map of the series, unable to string together round wins on the offense with all three of their rounds coming by way of hard-fought clutches. FUT , conversely, were dominant in all the other rounds and took a commanding 9-3 lead at the break, only to lose to a force-buy after winning the pistol.

magic finally found their footing and began to claw back, winning five in a row, but the deficit was too large to overcome as FUT eventually cracked through and closed out, 13-8, to earn a quarter-finals berth.