According to [link:{"url":"https://www.dust2.dk/nyheder/31033/rmr-turneringen-i-fare-for-flere-russiske-mandskaber","isNewTab":true,"text":"Dust2.dk"}], Aurora, K23 and 1WIN are all facing some serious difficulties before the start of the Regional Major Ranking tournament. The media outlet explains that all three teams are experiencing problems with collecting visas for several team members.

The event is in less than two weeks, however, for now, Aurora only has four out of seven visas for their team. 1WIN is in the same boat as they only have visas for two of their players, both parties have told Dust2.dk.

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The CIS trio of teams is not the only one facing these issues. The five-man stack Benched Heroes are also in danger of missing the RMR due to Evgeniy "Aunkere" Karyat and Buğra "Calyx" Arkın both having had their visas declined, Aunkere has [link:{"url":"https://escorenews.com/en/csgo/news/38552-benched-heroes-aunkere-and-calyx-visas-for-rmr-got-rejected","isNewTab":true,"text":"confirmed"}].

Two weeks ago EU issued an updated list of guidelines for how to handle visa applications from Russian citizens due to the "heightened security risks the EU is facing following Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine". That includes a longer processing time to decide on visa applications, and also the possibility to deprioritize non-essential travel. You can read the guidelines [link:{"url":"https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_5430","isNewTab":true,"text":"here"}].

The European IEM Road to Rio RMR tournament is set to be played in Malta in about two weeks. The LAN event works as the last qualifier before the Major later this year, offering 16 spots for the $1.000.000 main event which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

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FaZe, Team Spirit, Ninjas in Pyjamas, G2, Cloud9, Bad News Eagles.

NAVI, ENCE, Heroic, Team Vitality, BIG, Outsiders.

The teams will be joined by the qualifiers from the four open qualifiers event.

 open qualifier: Sprout, Team Falcons, MOUZ, Aurora Gaming, and OG

 open qualifier: Fnatic, K23, forZe, and Monte

 open qualifier: Eternal Fire, Sangal Esports, B8, FANTASY, ECSTATIC

 open qualifier: SAW, Astralis, HEET, 1win, GamerLegion, Benched Heroes

Lack1

The new roster is led by the in-game leader Artem "RAiLWAY" Gradovich, with the Ukrainian veteran starix as well. The promising roster came together in early August going into the RMR qualifier which they managed to go through. They came through in the Europe RMR by defeating Astralis in the round of 16 and reverse-sweeping BLUEJAYS in the quarter-finals. 

Aurora is competing in the CCT Central Europe Series 1 against well-known teams like Copenhagen Flames, ForZe, and MIBR. The next match for the new roster is against 1WIN on Friday at 19:00 (CET).

Aurora

Entropiq had the first pick of maps, and with it, they chose Overpass where they would start on the T-side. It started out well for Entropiq who were able to take the first two rounds. The rest of the half was a convincing display from ECSTATIC who were able to take ten rounds in the first half, by way of multiple great retakes and amazing reads that forced Entropiq to save. And if they had none of those there was always "FASHR" who had a great CT-side performance and almost single-handedly won several rounds.

The second half turned things up and down. The CIS-squad was now on the more comfortable CT-side, and they took a dominating nine rounds in a row to start the half, two of which featured two huge quad-kills from "Krad". ECSTATIC were finally able to break the Entropiq's hot streak after removing star AWP'er "El1an" early on. The ECSTATIC side were not allowed more than that, and Entropiq took map one of Overpass at 16-11.

With their map pick, Ecstatic chose Vertigo, the same pick they made when the teams played against each other on day one of the tournament. Back then Entropiq took the win in double overtime, but that did not deter “birdfromsky” and his team.

Ecstatic started the out dominating on the T-side, taking a fast 6-0 lead. Entropiq were able to answer back taking four of the next five rounds, looking to at least go positive on their CT-side, but a well-coordinated Ecstatic team made sure that did not happen. The halftime score was 10-5 in favor of Ecstatic.

ECSTATIC continued their dominance on the CT-side, showing why they picked this map, even though they lost it the last time. Entropiq only managed to win one round in the second half, and the well-oiled Vertigo-machine of ECSTATIC took the victory at 16-6.

The map left over as the decider was Ancient, and after a knife-round win ECSTATIC chose to start on the CT-side.

The map started out very gritty with the teams trading close rounds back and forth. Entropiq carried by consistently great entries from “Lack1”, and ECSTATIC led by crazy plays from IGL “birdfromsky”. The Danish org. were able to break the economy of Entropiq halfway through the first half and strung together seven rounds in a row to take a 10-2 lead. Entropiq were able to take one more round but had to go to halftime with a disappointing 12-3 scoreline.

It looked like ECSTATIC would close it out fast as they went up 14-3, but that is when Entropiq woke up. Led by magnificent holds from “Lack1” and great reads from “NickelBack”, Entropiq were able to come all the way back and pull the game into overtime.

Entropiq were able to complete the comeback, and took the win in overtime at 19-17, thus eliminating ECSTATIC from Funspark ULTI 2021 Finals.

Ecstatic - Entropiq (1-2) | Funspark ULTI Finals

11-16 (Overpass) | {cflag:KZ} Lack1 - 1.24 Rating / 17-16 K-D / 78.2 ADR

16-6 (Vertigo) | {cflag:NL} FASHR - 1.55 Rating / 21-15 K-D / 103.3 ADR

17-19 (Ancient) | {cflag:KZ} Lack1 - 1.77 Rating / 42-26 K-D / 120.6 ADR

MVP: {cflag:KZ} Viktor "Lack1" Boldyrev - 1.42 Rating / 74-59 K-D / 101.9 ADR

FASHR

El1an

Krad

birdfromsky

ECSTATIC

Entropiq

Tier 1 Counter-Strike is back! As an appetizer for the upcoming season, Funspark Ulti 2021 Finals kicked off Tuesday with Entropiq vs ECSTATIC (former Lyngby Vikings).

Entropiq entered the opening match as favorites and on Mirage they showed why. In a very one-sided map, Viktor 'Lack1' Boldyrev and his teammates won 16-5 without breaking a sweat.

On to Vertigo which gave way for a much more competitive battle. A 4-0 lead for ECSTATIC forced Entropiq to find an additional gear to keep up. The CIS team did exactly that and went 8-7 ahead at halftime with Igor 'Forester' Bezotecheskiy leading the way on the scoreboard.

On their CT-side ECSTATIC made it clear, that despite being one of the unknown quantities of the tournament, the Danes at least have a very solid Vertigo in their map pool. At 15-10, everything was lined up for a decider map on Dust2, but then ECSTATIC fumbled. Aleksei 'El1an' Gusev had been pretty quiet in the game, but the Russian AWP’er decided to make some impact at the very end of Vertigo to help his team to overtime.

Here Entropiq managed to edge out the Danes after double overtime and won the match 22-18. The CIS team is now set up for a match against their countrymen from Gambit if sh1ro and company win their opening match against Extra Salt tomorrow. ECSTATIC will play against the loser in the lower bracket to try and stay alive in the $250.000 tournament.

Entropiq – ECSTATIC 2-0 | Funspark Ulti 2021 Finals

Mirage (16-5) | {cflag:KZ} Lack1 – 1.85 rating / 23-13 K-D / 113.6 ADR

Nuke (22-18) | {cflag:RU} Forester – 1.31 rating / 36-29 K-D / 95.7 ADR

MVP: Igor 'Forester' Bezotecheskiy - 1.29 rating / 55-45 K-D / 91.0 ADR

Forester

A very experienced Team Liquid squad, with two former major winners and two players holding a grand-slam title, was set to meet the lesser-known Entropiq, who performed excellently in the Challengers Stage. The choice of map fell upon Vertigo, a map that both sides are fairly comfortable on having played it 11 and 9 times respectively, over the last three months. Entropiq started on the T-side, with Team Liquid trying to defend.

Team Liquid, who on paper were the favorites started great taking the first three rounds of the map, only giving away one frag. They struggled to keep the momentum going as Entropiq answered back by going on a 9-3 run to end the half, with only NAF living up to his name, dropping 16 bodies in the first half. 9-6 in favor of Entropiq at the break.

Liquid had not given up hope though as they started the second half by dominating the CIS squad in the pistol round and converting the following two without too much trouble. But once again the American powerhouse was broken once their opponents had a full-buy. They struggled so much against the Entropiq rifles that they were not able to take any more rounds, and the map concluded at 16-9 after a dominating performance from Entropiq.

Team Liquid – Entropiq 0-1 | PGL Major Stockholm Legends Stage

9-16 (Vertigo) | {cflag:KZ} Lack1 – 1.49 Rating / 23-14 K-D / 87.4 ADR

Team Liquid

At a crucial time at 11-11, Entropiq's Viktor "Lack1" Boldyrev misses a free kill, as he somehow is unable to see Keith "NAF" Markovic, who fully blinded ends up winning the duel against the Russian. 

The round went in favor of Team Liquid, who ended up winning Vertigo. A crazy situation, that might have tipped the match in favor of the North Americans.

The first map was on Mirage, which was picked by Entropiq.

And the Russian organization got themselves a fantastic start as they were leading 7-3 after the first ten rounds as the T side.

But the Flames came back in the game and were only down by one after the first half on Mirage.

In the second half, the map became a thriller as Copenhagen Flames played a great T side, and after the first twenty-eight round the score was 14-14, and you had the feeling that the Flames had some sort of momentum with them after a great comeback.

But Entropiq were too strong in the last two rounds, and ended up winning the first map 16-14, but with a more competitive game than was expected.

The fifty-first floor was where the next game would be played, and the Danes came out very strong.

They were leading 8-0 and they seemed unbeatable with nicoodoz with his AWP, who provided fantastic kills, especially in the first ten rounds.

Then Entropiq woke up from sleep, but the Flames were too strong and the first half on Vertigo ended 11-4 to the Flames, and a big comeback was required if they didn’t want to play the deciding map on Nuke.

And they did very well as the T side, as they won the second half 10-5, but it wasn’t enough for Entropiq, therefore a third map was required after the 16-14 win for the Flames on Vertigo.

The third map became the decider, and the Flames got the best start again with 7-0 this time before Entropiq woke up from their sleep, when they were down 1-9. A big comeback was required, and that was what we got from Entropiq.

Entropiq was 15-1 after they were down 1-9, which means that they won the map with an impressive 16-10 after the perfect comeback!

Entropiq – Copenhagen Flames 2-1 | Spring Sweet Spring 2

16-14 (Mirage) | NickelBack – 1.55 Rating / 31-17 K-D / 101.9 ADR

14-16 (Vertigo) |Krad – 1.43 Rating / 29-23 K-D / 107.4 ADR

16-10 (Nuke) | Lack1 – 1.52 Rating / 25-16 K-D / 98.3 ADR

Aleksey ”NickelBack” Trofimov – 1.33 Rating / 73-53 K-D / 92.9 ADR

NickelBack

Copenhagen Flames

The first two matchups of the playoffs at EPIC CIS League saw Spirit and Gambit take the expected wins.

Spirit sent K23 to the lower bracket after winning their opponent's map pick 16-4 before finishing the job on Dust2.

16-4 (Overpass) | {cflag:RU} mir – 1.81 Rating / 22-11 K-D / 120.2 ADR

16-14 (Dust2) | {cflag:KZ} mou – 1.72 Rating / 31-18 K-D / 121.4 ADR

The world's no. 1 had more difficulties. Against Entropiq, sh1ro, and the rest of the talented Russian roster had to work hard. On Dust2 they lost 16-7, but before anyone had spelled out "upset", the winners of IEM Katowice won the next two maps in similarly dominant fashion. Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov popped off on Vertigo, while Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov made life tough for Entropiq on Mirage. 

16-7 (Dust2) | {cflag:KZ} Lack1 – 1.55 Rating / 22-10 K-D / 93.6 ADR

6-16 (Vertigo) | {cflag:RU} Ax1Le – 1.79 Rating / 22-10 K-D / 109.3 ADR

7-16 (Mirage) | {cflag:RU} sh1ro – 1.65 Rating / 26-12 K-D / 112.1 ADR

Gambit and Spirit will face each other in the upper semi-final at EPIC CIS League. K23 and Entropiq will fight against each other in the lower brackets on Wednesday.

Ax1Le

sh1ro

Gambit Esports

Spirit

The former ex-Winstrike Team showed that they were strong in April, where the roster won the ESEA Premier Season 36 Europe and the Dell Gaming League Season 2. They came second in the Snow Sweet Snow 3 after a defeat against mousesports in the final.

The roster signed with Entropiq on May 10th, where they have won three out of their first four games for the new organization, with one of the wins being against s1mple´s troops from Natus Vincere.

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The new Entropiq roster is going to compete in two events today in the REPUBLEAGUE TIPOS Season 1 and EPIC League CIS 2021.

Alexey ”NickelBack” Trofimov (In-Game leader)

Andrey “XomA” Mironenko (Assistant coach)

hooch

Xoma

ex-Winstrike

The ex-Winstrike roster has been without an organization for over a month now, after the Russians left the Winstrike organization on the 31st of March, owing to a disputed controversy concerning “constant breaches of contractual obligations”.

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However, the promising star AWPer Aleksey "⁠El1an⁠" Gusev and the rest of the roster has finally found a new org, as the Czech’s from Entropiq has decided to acquire the entire roster, they confirm on Twitter.  

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- In the last few days, we had very intense talks about assembling a new international CS:GO team. I believe that this roster, comprised of CIS players, will excel in representing us at major global events.

At Entropiq, we have the highest goals, and one of them is to celebrate major success on the international level. We keep growing and expanding, and I am very pleased that, while still a young organization, we have already been able to land such a high-profile team. 

- Entropiq's Managing Director, Ondřej Drebota quotes after the signing.

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Lack1

Player stats

Articles mentioning Lack1

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Entropiq off to perfect start to 2022

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Video: Is NAF invisible?

Amazing comeback secures the win for Entropiq!

Spirit, and Gambit through to upper semi's at EPIC CIS League

The reformation of Entropiq

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