Vici Gaming beat 2Ez Gaming 2-1 (Inferno 16-12, Overpass 12-16, Mirage 16-3) at ESL Pro League CS:GO Season 8 playoffs. The second leg will feature the Chinese team CyberZen facing Lucid Dreams from Thailand for the spot in the Asia finals. The Asian teams are battling it out for a slot in ESL Pro League S8 Global Finals, scheduled in Denmark this December.

Inferno (left over)

The best of three series drew Inferno, Overpass & Mirage. The first map Inferno began with 2Ez on the Terrorist side. The first pistol, 2Ez barely managed to get in their favor with Antidote the only one surviving. Quick to rebound in the first gun round, Vici Gaming couldn’t settle their economy and were forced to reset at 1-3.

Though 2Ez had a rough time facing the pistols, Vici Gaming picked three swift rounds, taking the lead at 4-3. Further extending their lead to another few rounds, Vici stood at 6 rounds, where Rahul “t1to” Sridhar’s clutch got 2Ez important rounds. Twelve rounds into the first map Vici & 2Ez shared six rounds each, which slightly favored the Indian side.

Tejas ‘Rex’ Kotian appeared better than usual, with remarkable trading capabilities on the server, alongside Falken. The first half concluded 8-7 in favor of 2Ez Gaming.

2Ez Gaming took the second pistol too, thanks to Rex’s double headshot on the retake. ViCi got few rounds and the scores leveled again at 10-10. The momentum shifted towards the Chinese as the map progressed 23 rounds. Though trailing three rounds behind, Sabyasachi ‘antidote’ Bose’s heroics with the AWP displayed some classic Counter Strike. Losing consecutively five rounds, ViCi stretched themselves to map point. Rexy, however, had other plans, clinching a triple kill after to save his team from losing the first map. The following round too was turned around by yet another triple by ‘Pok1,’ making the score to 12-15, eventually, falling at 12-16.

Overpass (ViCi Gaming’s pick)

2Ez’ pistol winning streak continued in Overpass, they picked two quick rounds. Rex, though! up against rifles with an MP9 still managed to clutch the round for his team. Back and forth every alternate round, at the end of the tenth round, 2Ez & Vici Gaming shared five rounds each.

Sabyasachi ‘Antidote’ Bose displayed flawless skills through his Sniper rifle at crucial moments. The first of the second map ended with 9-6 favoring VICI Gaming. 2Ez Gaming took the fourth pistol round in their favor. 2Ez Gaming took the lead in the gun rounds as the scores progressed 11-10, adjusting the pace of the game, Vici were caught off-guard on multiple occasions. The pressure was levied of the underdogs. So much so that Vici Gaming were forced to a tactical timeout in the 24th round, scores being 10-13.

Vici Gaming got the taste of their own medicine, as 2Ez dominated the second half by limiting their opponents to 11-15. Failing to secure the map at 12-15, 2Ez Gaming absorbed their tactical timeout to discuss the loopholes. 2Ez beat Vici Gaming 16-12, forcing the final map of the series to play.

Mirage (2Ez Gaming’s pick)

2Ez gaming had a rough start in the final map, opening their scoreboard in the eighth round. VICI Gaming left no margin for error in the first half, dominating the game with a convincing 9-2. After a technical hiatus, the game resumed with 2Ez winning a clean round, only to lose the following round, making the score 3-10.

The first half scored 12-3 in favor of ViCi Gaming. The map ended with three more rounds going to VICI Gaming, final scores 16-3.

2Ez Gaming signed former Optic India’s Sabyasachi ‘Antidote’ Bose, just two days ago. Antidote had released a statement assuring the community of his hard work & performance in near future. After today’s game, Antidote’s hard work was evident, sharing the top charts of Asian Counter Strike.

On covers, Tejas ‘Rex’ Kotian, pictured by ESL India