The home crowd advantage has given FunPlus Phoenix a significant boost. After a massive comeback, they have taken down FUT Esports. The Chinese squad is only one win away from securing the Playoffs.
The first Chinese team to appear in front of the Shanghai crowd was FunPlus Phoenix, the region’s second seed. They faced cNed and FUT Esports, the third seed of the EMEA region. Coming into this matchup, the Turkish squad was heavy favorites to win.
Sunset was the first map in play, the pick of FUT. It is known as one of their comfort maps and was used to qualify for Shanghai through the grueling EMEA Stage 1 tournament. However, FPX was immediately off to a great start, with their star player, Life, fragging out of his mind on the server.
FUT won the first two rounds, lost the bonus, and then converted their first gun round to build a 3-1 lead. However, FPX won eight straight rounds on the offense to end the half 8-4, rendering FUT’s defense futile.
The Turks won the second pistol round of the map and converted the first gun round again, but the lead was too far already, and FPX closed the map 13-7. Life had a stellar performance on Yoru, going 25/13 with an Average Combat Score of 329 to please the Chinese crowd. Meanwhile, cNed was shut down, going 8/17 on Raze with zero First Bloods.
FUT was not going down as easy as that. On their opponent’s map pick, Lotus cNed led the charge to finish the first half 8-4 in his team’s favor. However, being such an attacker-sided map, FPX won the first six rounds of the second half, and the map was forced into overtime.
Keeping their composure, FUT didn’t let the game slip out of their hands and won both overtime rounds to win the map 14-12. The star player, cNed, woke up for the second game and was the most impactful player in his team, 22/15 on Jett. Still, Life’s Raze put up a great fight, going 23/20 and netting six First Bloods.
It really seemed like cNed took the loss on Sunset personally. FUT won the pistol round on the third map, Icebox, but FPX quickly replied with three straight after a thrifty. Still, the Turkish Jett helped the team end the half 8-4 in their favor.
With the common trend of FUT winning pistol rounds, they could win the 13th round and convert the anti-eco to go up 10-4. The series seemed over, but FPX was not here to disappoint the Chinese crowd. Through a miracle, FPX won nine straight rounds to win the map 13-10 and take the series.
First win on the stage of international matchup! And now let’s go win more!! pic.twitter.com/i7a0vXElTj
— FPX (@FPX_Esports) May 23, 2024
FUT must be frustrated that they would let such a game slip, and mistakes like these are extremely punishing at the highest level. The Turkish lineup will only have one life remaining in the Group Stage and must win two matches in a row to qualify for the Playoffs.
Header: FunPlus Phoenix
