In its history, Brazilian team FURIA had never won a major offline Counter-Strike tournament. Their only notable win was back in 2020 at the regional ESL Pro League Season 12: North America. But the arrival of talented sniper Danil “molodoy” Golubenko helped break this unlucky streak. In this 1xBet review, we cover how events unfolded at FISSURE Playground #2.
Tournament group stage
Organizers invited the top 16 teams from the July VRS Global ranking. Most accepted, but some top ones – Vitality, MOUZ, Spirit, and NAVI – declined, giving others a chance to fight for the championship crown.
The Swiss system group stage gives a margin for error, and tournament favorites The MongolZ took advantage of it right away. In their first match, they unexpectedly lost to the French squad 3DMAX, but then convincingly won the next three games in a row, advancing to the playoffs with a 3-1 record. FURIA and G2 also reached the playoffs with the same 3-1 score, confirming their top shape.
Falcons and Aurora didn’t slip up at all (3-0) and earned extra rest before the final stage. Six teams ended 2-2 and fought for the last three playoff spots in the fifth match. In the end, underdogs Liquid knocked out favorites FaZe Clan 2-0, Astralis beat GamerLegion 2-0, and paiN Gaming came out stronger than Virtus.pro in a 2-1 close battle.
FISSURE Playground #2 playoffs
In the quarterfinals, Falcons barely noticed paiN Gaming, beating them on two maps 13-4 and 13-6. FURIA, however, had to fight hard to eliminate Astralis – on Train, the Brazilians came back from 4-8 to win 13-9, and on Nuke, it even took two overtime rounds to decide the winner 19-15.
The MongolZ vs G2 clash was the most exciting, with both squads delivering top-tier CS. The MongolZ secured their pick Mirage 13-11, while G2 answered back on Dust2 13-7. Everything was decided on the decider Ancient, where teams were even until the middle, but The MongolZ finished the map noticeably stronger (13-9). The biggest surprise of the first playoff round was Liquid, who barely made it to this stage but easily beat Aurora, a top-3 squad in the tournament.
But in the semifinals, The MongolZ showed Liquid the class difference (2-1) and advanced to the final. The second semifinal produced the biggest upset of the event, delivered by Falcons. Until then, the world’s richest team hadn’t lost a single map, winning all four of their tournament matches (2-0). Entering the game as clear favorites, NiKo and company couldn’t beat FURIA – a squad seen as definite underdogs. The clash was close, but in key moments, Falcons slipped and gave away crucial rounds, losing 16-12 on Train and 13-11 on Nuke. In the pre-match, the odds for a 2-0 map win for FURIA were x6.01! Those who believed in a clean win by the Brazilians against Falcons multiplied their bet six times and now know firsthand the answer to the question, can you win in 1xBet?
FISSURE Playground #2 grand final
In the grand final, super-favorites The MongolZ faced the tournament’s biggest surprise – FURIA. The Mongols quickly took the lead on their signature Mirage (8-4), but gave up the second half without a fight (10-12) and only managed to push the map to overtime, where they lost 13-16. On Inferno, FURIA led the first half (8-4), but thanks to Senzu, The MongolZ made a successful comeback and won the map 13-11. Nuke and Overpass followed the same pattern: FURIA won the opponent’s pick in overtime (16-12), and The MongolZ took the fourth map in regular time (13-9).
Before the final, no one expected the game to go to a fifth map: all experts predicted 3-0 or 3-1 in favor of The MongolZ. However, a few hours into the main battle, the teams played on Dust2. On defense, the favorites won the pistol and force rounds, then gave up a few rounds, but ended the first half with a workable 5-7 score. After switching sides, The MongolZ couldn’t win a single round, and FURIA crushed their famous opponents 13-5!
The Brazilian team won a major offline tournament for the first time in its history, and their new sniper Danil “molodoy” Golubenko earned his first career HLTV x 1xBet Most Valuable Player (MVP) title. The happiest about the victory was 34-year-old captain Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, who had been considering retirement but will now clearly continue competing on the professional scene.
