Apeks qualify for the top 16
Apeks have secured a spot in the top 16 after taking down paiN in a hard-fought match which went the distance. Apeks started strong on Ancient but the Brazilians bounced back on Vertigo before Apeks put up a unpentrable defence on Anubis which secured the match for them. For the Brazilians, they have one last chance tomorrow to make it to the final 16.
The first map was Apeks' pick of Ancient as STYKO kicked things off with a 1v2 to give Apeks the pistol on the T side. STYKO's quad kill gave Apeks the second round and put paiN on the full eco. Apeks won the first gun round that had paiN on a double AWP set-up but the Brazilians lost that as Apeks took an early 5-0 lead. A hardzao triple kill finally gave paiN their first round as they made sure nawwk couldn't clutch out a 1v3 but jkaem performed his own 1v3 clutch on the A site to make sure paiN couldn't put back-to-back rounds together. A couple of important rounds from skullz and biguzera saw paiN string together a few rounds as they ended the half with a 6-9 deficit as nawwk and STYKO converted a 2v4 on the last round of the first half.
Apeks took the pistol on the back of jL's triple to hit double digits first. paiN won the first gun round as z3vy won a 1v1 clutch against STYKO. skullz and hardzao helped paiN secure 10 and broke Apeks' economy which allowed paiN get it to a one-round game. Apeks though, with the guns, bounced back with a couple of clean defensive rounds that put them on map point. Apeks eventually secured the map at 16-11 with the veteran jkaem and STYKO topping the scoreboard with 22 and 23 kills respectively.
paiN's pick of Vertigo saw the Brazilians starting on the T side but it was jkaem with a 1v1 against skullz to give Apeks the lead and it was an quick 3-0 as they converted the two force buys from paiN. The Brazilians though fought back as soon as they could bring the guns out and won four in a row to take the lead of the game at 4-3. The Brazilian firepower was just too hot to handle for Apeks as paiN ended the first half with a 9-6 lead.
The second pistol also went Apeks' way as it was STYKO coming in with a 1v1 clutch against biguzera. paiN answered back with a force-buy to be the first to hit double digits. paiN reached 13 first as they won with nothing but one saved MAA1-S to crush Apeks' economy. Apeks though on the low buy, broke through paiN's defence as they managed to secure 10. nawwk and jkaem kept Apeks in the game as they got the game to 13-15 but the Brazilians secured the map at 16-13 with biguzera on top of the scoreboard with 26 kills.
The decider was played on Anubis with paiN on the defensive half but it was Apeks who stole the pistol.. paiN answered back with a force-buy and won the eco before Apeks trade paiN for another round on the back of a 1v3 clutch from kyxsan. Once z3vy got the AWP out, paiN went on a four round win streak to go up 6-2 before kyxsan came in with another 1v3 clutch to give Apeks their third. nawwk came in with a triple kill of his own to close the game to 5-6 but hardzao's triple kill on round 12 saw paiN secure their seventh. It was kyxsan once again in the middle of it all as his impactful for double-kill saw Apeks end the first half with a 8-7.
A jkaem triple saw Apeks take the second pistol and it was a clean conversion the following round against the eco buy to hit double digits. A hardzao quad kill in the first gun round gave paiN their first T round. One more round was all that paiN could manage as Apeks put in a stellar defence and it was a STYKO quad kill that saw Apeks secure the map 16-9. kyxsan, STYKO and jL all ended with 21 kills but it was kyxsan who had the most impact with two 1v3 clutches.
ApekspaiN| Apeks |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad |
64 - 56 | +8 | 83.8 | 66.7% | 1.23 |
 Martin 'STYKO' Styk |
60 - 48 | +12 | 76.1 | 76.5% | 1.17 |
 Tim 'nawwk' Jonasson |
61 - 51 | +10 | 82.2 | 74.1% | 1.16 |
 Justinas 'jL' Lekavicius |
60 - 59 | +1 | 81.1 | 71.6% | 1.14 |
 Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski |
50 - 54 | -4 | 67.9 | 74.1% | 1.02 |
| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
62 - 52 | +10 | 73.7 | 65.4% | 1.12 |
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
59 - 58 | +1 | 79.4 | 65.4% | 1.02 |
| Felipe 'skullz' Medeiros |
59 - 61 | -2 | 80.8 | 70.4% | 1.02 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
45 - 64 | -19 | 75.4 | 65.4% | 0.90 |
| Romeu 'zevy' Rocco |
41 - 63 | -22 | 56.5 | 56.8% | 0.72 |
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