FURIA lost to Spirit in the final group-stage match at BLAST Open Porto, advancing to the playoffs as the second seed from the group and set to open the knockout stage in the quarterfinals. After the match, KSCERATO spoke to Dust2 Brasil about training, the reasons for the loss, and expectations for the playoffs.
KSCERATO: Scrims don't mean too much. We did fix some things in practice, but the pace of scrims is very chaotic, and opponents play in a completely different way than in official matches. Sometimes it's easier, sometimes it's harder. These few days should help us prepare for the quarterfinals. No matter who our opponent is, we will give it our all.
FURIA lost 0-2 to Spirit in the upper bracket final, failing to advance directly to the semifinals. KSCERATO believes the main reason for the loss was failing to win those crucial force-buy rounds.
KSCERATO: The match was very tough. We gave away several force-buy rounds, letting them gain an economic advantage, and we failed to fight back well with our own force-buys. Some decisions were right, but some were played very badly, and we also lost some clutches we shouldn't have lost. But that's how top-level matches go.
FURIA suffered a crushing 5-13 defeat on Cache in Map 1 — their own pick. KSCERATO explained the reason behind the pick and how the match played out.
KSCERATO: We were very confident on Cache, it's a map we like to play. But we lost the force-buy round in that game, which made it very difficult on the CT side, and the first few gun rounds also went our opponent's way. That's basically how the game slipped away.
The playoffs will begin this Friday, and KSCERATO says FURIA must learn to win the rounds they should win to go further in the knockout stage.
KSCERATO: Overall, we have to win the rounds we're supposed to win. The force-buys on the CT side cost us a lot — if we can't win those rounds, the match becomes very hard to play. On Ancient we gave away two force-buy rounds, which turned into a four- or five-round swing. The score was 10-3 at the time; without those mistakes, it could have been 10-5. So we must learn to win these rounds and do better in the next game.