Esport Me100 Thieves win FiRe Last Chance to claim final Singapore Major berth
Jack "Gizmy" von Spreckelsen's side beat Wildcard 2-0 in Buenos Aires to finish the Argentinian LAN unbeaten and seal Europe's last Stage 1 qualification spot.
100 Thieves have won the FiRe Last Chance tournament in Buenos Aires, beating Wildcard 2-0 in Sunday's final to complete a run of five matches without dropping a single map, HLTV reports.
The result lifts 100 Thieves to 18th in the Europe Valve Regional Standings, which is enough to claim the region's final place in Stage 1 of the PGL Major Singapore. The spot became available after HOTU finished second at GLuck Moscow Cyber Games.
It will be the first Counter-Strike Major appearance for the 100 Thieves organisation. The North American outfit had previously qualified for ELEAGUE Major Boston in 2018 with its former Immortals lineup, but that team was ruled out of the event because of immigration issues.
The final against Wildcard was closer than the 2-0 scoreline suggests. On the opening map, Cache, 100 Thieves built a 9-3 lead on the CT side before wasting a 5v2 advantage in the pistol round, letting Wildcard back into contention. Gizmy's side had to save map point twice before eventually closing out the game in double overtime, with Nicolai "device" Reedtz winning a 1v1 duel with three seconds left on the clock.
100 Thieves were far more comfortable on the second map, Dust2, where they had carried a 17-1 record over the previous three months. They moved to an 8-4 lead on the T side before finishing the map with a 5-0 run to take the title.
Dust2.us reported that the run to the final followed a tense semi-final against Isurus. 100 Thieves opened with an 11-round streak on the CT side of Nuke to take the map 13-1, before Isurus briefly seized control of Dust2, building a 10-7 lead after winning their first pistol round of the series. 100 Thieves fought back to level at 11-11 and closed out the map 13-11 to eliminate Isurus.
Device was the standout performer in that series, finishing with 37 kills, a round swing of +6.84% and a 1.57 rating. Ahead of the final, 100 Thieves still had to beat BESTIA in an all-or-nothing match to keep their Singapore hopes alive.
Esports.net reported that the qualification arrives in a compressed window for the rest of the Major field. The Valve Regional Standings cutoff on 2 November marks the shortest gap on record between a cutoff and the start of a Major, with earlier editions typically allowing around two months to prepare. The Singapore Major is set to feature 32 teams competing for a $1,250,000 prize pool.