As the weekend draws to a close, so to does the illustrious V4 Future Sports Festival. With eight of the best teams in the game competing for a whopping prize pool of almost $600,000, the action was intense in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Each of the participants brought their A game to the major. Teams were initially divided into two groups, where they played a round robin format. Group A saw FaZe Clan and HellRaisers emerge victorious over GameAgents and Dark Tigers. Group B saw mousesports and Virtus.pro triumph over eXtatus and x-kom Team.
Virtus.pro vs. FaZe
Virtus.pro and FaZe faced off in the first semifinal of the V4 Future Sports Festival. The first round went the way of the Polish side, as did the next two anti-eco rounds. Virtus.pro continued their hot start by winning the first gun round and the subsequent rounds. Then, in a shocking turn of events, the eighth round and the rest of the half went to a suddenly streaking FaZe; what was a 0-7 deficit suddenly became an 8-7 lead. In a thrilling second half, the two sides would go back and forth, with Virtus.pro narrowly winning 16-14.
Virtus.pro continued their solid form and took the opening pistol round on Nuke, eventually grinding out an 8-7 victory in the first half. Although the second half saw FaZe take their first pistol round of the match, it was not meant to be for the European superpower. The Polish side won their force buy and rolled the rest of the half to win the map 16-10, shocking FaZe in the process.
mousesports vs. HellRaisers
mousesports and HellRaisers faced off in the second semifinal, with the former turning a 3v5 deficit into a surprising victory. The two sides traded runs before HellRaisers took the half 8-7. Krill “ANGE2” Kraslow’s 1v3 clutch in the pistol round saw HellRaisers extend their lead. This momentum came to a quick halt when mousesports picked up weapons, demolishing HellRaisers seven rounds in a row to hit 14 rounds. HellRaisers managed to make it exciting and tie the game at 14-14, before mousesports took the map 16-14.
Map 2 was Cobblestone, and HellRaisers began their pick with a victory on the pistol and anti-eco rounds. However, Martin “STYKO” Styk pulled off a 1v3 clutch to halt HellRaiser’s momentum and win the first round for his team. Each team would pull off multiple runs to end the half 7-8 in favor of HellRaisers. The second half began with three victories for mousesports and a 10-8 lead, before HellRaisers won the first gun round. Down 11-12, mousesports would go on a run and reach matchpoint, with Chris “chrisJ” de Jong eventually getting four kills to take mousesports to the finals
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mousesports vs. Virtus.pro
mousesports and Virtus.pro kicked off the grand finals on Mirage, with the former taking the opening pistol round and the following anti-eco rounds. Virtus.pro then made things competitive, taking the first gun round, and holding their own against the favored mousesports, narrowly losing the half 8-7. The second half started with mousesports winning the first five rounds handedly. Although the Polish side was able to take a round back, the rest of the half went the way of mousesports, who took the map 16-8.
After getting smothered on Mirage, Virtus.pro looked much more convincing on Cobblestone, winning the first seven rounds. It would take three kills from Tomáš “oskar” Šťastný for mousesports to get on the board. Virtus.pro continued their run and took the half with an astounding 13-2 lead. The second half was much of the same, with Virtus.pro eventually taking the map 16-2.
The V4 Future Sports Festival grand final would come down to the final map: Train. Despite getting crushed on Cobblestone, mousesports won five of the first six rounds on Train. Once again, the two sides traded rounds, with the half ending 8-7 in favor of mousesports. The second half began with Virtus.pro overcoming an early deficit to win the pistol round and two more wins on the subsequent anti-eco rounds. Although mousesports were able to win the first gun round of the half, they immediately dropped the following round, forcing them to call a tactical pause. After some stunning play from Jarosław “pashaBiceps” Jarząbkowski, Virtus.pro held a 14-10 lead and looked ready to take the tournament. Then, in stunning fashion, mousesports won the following six rounds to win the map and the tournament.
MVP
Several players put on outstanding performances in this tournament, but none was better than Czech superstar Tomáš “oskar” Šťastný. oskar led mousesports to their second title of the year with a 1.28 rating and a +20 KDD in the finals against Virtus.pro. In addition, oskar had the third-highest tournament rating at 1.24, led the event in KDD (+63), AWP kills (134), AWP kills per round (0.47) and total opening kills (44). This is oskar’s second MVP medal, after previously winning at ESG Tour Mykonos.
As Hungary’s first international tournament in the CS:GO, the V4 Future Sports Festival was one for the books. With Virtus.pro’s dramatic upset over FaZe in the semifinals and a thrilling three-map final that saw numerous lead changes, the weekend was certainly one to remember.
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