Sulfur
Funspark ULTI 2021 just came to an end, with the young CIS squad taking home the first significant trophy of 2022. With three top 10 teams playing in the event, it wasn’t completely a low-tier tournament. Gambit, Astralis, fnatic, Entropiq, etc. alone made up half of the competitors.
With the first tournament of a predictably bright year of CS behind us, let’s look at how things transpired, who were the winners and who were the losers, and what storylines await us.
2022 is here… and here’s what happened.
The Synopsis
The tournament started with UB Quarterfinals, with Gambit defeating COL 2-1 and Entropiq defeating ECSTATIC 2-0. The first surprise of the tournament was Astralis losing to K23 1-2. fnatic vs BIG was a match well-placed, and it showed as BIG only narrowly defeated the British, 2-1.
In LB Round 1, ECSTATIC knocked out the worst-ranked team in the event, COL. Astralis also knocked out fnatic.
With COL and fnatic out, we only had 6 teams remaining.
In UB Semifinals, Gambit defeated Entropiq with relative ease, and BIG defeated K23. Both matches ended 2-1, but it was quite easy for Gambit and BIG to win the maps they did.
With two more teams relegated into the lower bracket, it was time for Round 2 of elimination. ECSTATIC brushed aside K23 with an easy 2-0 win. On the other hand, Entropiq dramatically brought Astralis to their knees, kicking them out of the tournament.
Round 3 between Entropiq and ECSTATIC was no straightforward match either, as it was a complete comeback galore. Entropiq disappointed ECSTATIC, as Danes followed Danes out the gates of the event.
With Entropiq waiting alone in the LB Final, Gambit and BIG stood off in the UB Final. But it was barely competitive, as Gambit easily swept BIG away 2-0.
In the last map of the LB Final, Entropiq finally used all their lucky cards, as they cut down an incredible BIG lead to win another comeback-ridden match to qualify for the Grand Finals.
The Grand Finals was another uninteresting affair, as the exhausted Russians couldn’t stand up to Gambit’s intensity, as Gambit won the finals 2-0, and a prize of $150,000.
First title in 2022 ?#GambitCSGO #FUNSPARKULTI pic.twitter.com/w6gUWiIj2X
— Gambit Esports (@GambitEsports) January 24, 2022
There were some highly interesting storylines in the first tournament of 2022.
Gambit’s Road To The Finals
Gambit started their journey against the worst-ranked team in the event, Complexity. After picking up each other’s map picks, the game went on to Dust 2, where COL had no answers to sh1ro’s 1.95 rating masterclass.
Gambit faced eventual finalists Entropiq next. Both the teams won their map picks. Gambit won quite easily on Dust 2 (16-5), but Entropiq had to work hard to win theirs (16-14). The last map was barely competitive, as World Number 4, 5, and 6 lit up the arena to win the map 16-6.
In UB Final, Gambit next faced BIG, and it’s nothing to write home about for BIG. They got easily brushed away without posing any real threat to the CIS side, as Gambit won the match 2-0, with sh1ro picking up another MVP.
In the Grand Final, Gambit faced Entropiq again. The Russians had fought their way into the Grand Final from the Lower Bracket after they were first relegated by nafany’s men. Now, they were ready for redemption. But it wasn’t meant to be, as the exhausted Russians couldn’t even win a single map this time, as Gambit ran riot on their defensive side.
And just like that, Gambit never had to go out of second gear to easily warm themselves up for the upcoming events in February.
Astralis’ Demise
Astralis attended the event, too, as the second-best team amongst all the teams. They were destined to play against Gambit in the Upper Bracket Final and most probably the Grand Final, too. But things went awry right off the bat.
Astralis started their year in agony, as K23 relegated them to the Lower Bracket, courtesy to three overtimes. It was a disaster. Despite blameF and k0nfig’s fragging powers, K23 reigned supreme and continued their long streak of wins.
Now in the lower bracket, Astralis faced fnatic in LB Round 1, the loser of whom would become the first of two teams to quit the tournament. After obliterating fnatic 16-2 on Mirage, Astralis lost their map pick of Nuke. The match had gone to the third map, and it was another scare for the Danish side, not less because the map also went to overtime. But they persevered, winning 19-16 and progressing to the second round at the mercy of the British.
That’s where they met Entropiq, fully equipped to start their slaughtering streak of serial comebacks. After winning the first map, Astralis looked like they were in control, but the Russians fought back valiantly, winning both the following maps and slashing Astralis’ dreams of a great start to 2022.
We were unable to beat @Entropiqteam and say goodbye to @FunsparkCSGO.
GG WP Entropiq, good luck tomorrow.
Progress has been made, but we are not done working. Time to prepare for @BLASTPremier spring groups next week. See you all there. ?#ToTheStars pic.twitter.com/S1G3u33qwO
— Astralis Counter-Strike (@AstralisCS) January 22, 2022
As it would turn out to be, this was only the first of Entropiq’s heroics of the tournament.
Entropiq’s Epic Tale Of Shockers
Entropiq created some of the most talked-about stories in the tournament. Their loss to Gambit in UB Semifinals was no surprise, but they had to take down the mighty Danes in Astralis if they wanted to progress further into the event.
After losing their own map pick and going 1-0 down, no one expected Entropiq to have any fight left in them. But on Astralis’ strong pick of Nuke, the Russians fought hard. After a rock-solid defense, they had won the map 16-8. The match had frustratingly gone to the third map. Astralis took a minute lead after the first half, 8-7. But El1an activated god mode, as Entropiq went on to win 9 out of 11 rounds, to seal the comeback victory, and send Astralis packing.
Their next task was the rematch against ECSTATIC. In the three maps that were played, ECSTATIC won the first halves 10-5, 10-5, and 12-3. Yet, they could only win one of these maps, as Entropiq heroically fought back on the first and third maps.
On the first map, Entropiq’s Overpass, they were 10-5 down, but then put up an impenetrable defense to win 11 out of 12 rounds, bagging the map 16-11.
They were down 10-5 again on Vertigo, but this time, they couldn’t stage any comeback, as they succumbed to the Danes 16-6.
The third map was legendary, as Entropiq found themselves 14-3 down. Despite that, Entropiq randomly came to life, as ECSTATIC simply couldn’t find a way past the Russian defense. Entropiq went on to win the map 19-17 in dramatic fashion, completing and winning a surreal match.
2-1 against @EcstaticCS haha what a comeback from 14-3 ! GG boys , tomorrow next match let’s go @Entropiqteam #thisisourworld
— Dmitry Bogdanov (@hoochR) January 23, 2022
The tale doesn’t even end there, as the third map against BIG was another banger. After sharing the spoils in the first two, the match had gone to Nuke. Entropiq’s Terrorist side was devoid of ideas, as they could plant the bomb only on 3 occasions. After going down 13-4, Entropiq turned the tide around in classic Entropiq style, activating another godly defense, winning 12 out of 13 rounds.
Is this some kind of a comeback challenge or what? ?#FUNSPARKFINAL
— Entropiq (@Entropiqteam) January 24, 2022
After a poor start to the war, the Russians had finally tamed the Germans and defeated them in the winters of the match. (Sorry for the pun.)
Iconic.
The Little Controversies
Entropiq’s dramatic comeback victories were met with a little more than just awe and admiration. Cheating and match-fixing accusations were being thrown around, and it’s easy to get away with it if the tournament is online. I mean, it’s easy to get away with both cheating and with throwing around cheating accusations.
There were other claims of ECSTATIC and BIG match-fixing instead. Which is weird because they chose to lose in such a suspiciously dramatic fashion. If you were fixing a match, you would want it to be as plain and non-suspicious as a match can get. You’re not gonna elect to create the greatest comeback story. Maybe, maybe not. Nonetheless, informal accusations do exist on all parties involved.
Hopefully, the core of the accusations was hot-blooded and it’s nothing serious on a deeper level. That’s the best we can hope for as Counter-Strike fans.
sh1ro: The Most Valuable Player
Out of the 4 matches Gambit played en route to winning the title, sh1ro was the MVP of 3 of them. It was never a doubt that sh1ro would become the MVP of the tournament if Gambit won. The only real competition he had was Entropiq’s El1an or Lack1. The Russians simply couldn’t stop putting in mental performances to inspire comeback after comeback, but since Entropiq failed at the last hurdle, it was sh1ro to take home the MVP.
sh1ro averaged a 1.43 rating in 10 maps, miles ahead of his competitors. The World Number 4 is wasting no time to improve his rank for 2022. sh1ro also continues his tradition of being either an EVP or an MVP in every tournament he plays in, a streak he has continued since the beginning of 2021.
Prolific.
The first MVP medal of 2022 goes to @sh1rocsgo
The Russian sniper ends #FUNSPARKFINAL with 100% of maps with 1.00+ ratings and becomes the HLTV x @BitSkinsCom MVP! pic.twitter.com/fAaUmQ2pB6
— HLTV.org (@HLTVorg) January 24, 2022
If such craziness is an omen of how 2022 CS is gonna be, I’m all in, baby! (except the cheating part. Please don’t cheat.) LESSGO!
