With three teams having already qualified for the playoffs in the Pinnacle Cup Championship 2022 event, it was time to find out the fourth and final contender in the playoffs. The last team would either be Imperial or Team Finest as the two rosters were set up for a thrilling brawl against each other. The iconic Brazilians of Imperial, spearheaded by "FalleN" were, without doubt, the favorites on paper going into the Bo3-series against Team Finest. Despite this, however, it was the predominately Swedish roster of Team Finest to come out on top in the end. An exciting brawl ended with Team Finest as the victors which means that they are set to face Heroic in a battle for further survival at the Pinnacle Cup Championship 2022. 

The first map of the Bo3-series was picked by Imperial and saw the Bo3-series kick off on Overpass. When looking at the numbers it is perhaps nu surprise that "FalleN" and his troops opted for Overpass as their own map pick. The experienced roster of Imperial have managed an impressive win rate of 82% in the past three months on Overpass (11 maps), whereas Team Finest have only managed to win 30% of their games (10 maps). Despite the statistics speaking heavily in favor of Imperial, it was Team Finest to hit the ground running and start Overpass the strongest. A solid CT-sided half saw Team Finest go to halftime with a small lead at the scoreline of 9-6. After switching sides, the cohesive and impressive performance from Team Finest continued. On the arguably harder T-side, they managed to further expand the lead against Imperial and ultimately close out the first map of the Bo3-series at the scoreline of 16-9. 

The second map of the brawl between Team Finest and Imperial was, of course, picked by Team Finest. For the second map of the series, Vertigo was picked. Whilst Overpass seemed to favor Imperial on paper, Vertigo was heavily favored toward Team Finest. Having only managed to win on Vertigo once in the past three months (7 maps), the Brazilians had a tough task ahead of them as Team Fines, now with momentum carrying over from Overpass, have won 52% of their matches on Vertigo (12 maps) on the past three months. Things were as close as possible in the first half of Vertigo, with Imperial starting on the arguably stronger CT-side. After trading rounds back and forth the first concluded at the scoreline of 9-6, in favor of Team Finest. The second was far less close as Team Finest seemed impossible for Imperial to beat on their CT-side. A cohesive and impressive performance from Team Finest concluded with them as victors on Vertigo at the scoreline of 16-9, meaning a 2-0 victory against Imperial. 

Team Finest – Imperial 2-0 | Pinnacle Cup Championships

16-9 (Overpass) | {cflag:SE} PlesseN – 1.41 Rating / 24-17 K-D / 111.4 ADR

16-9 (Mirage) | {cflag:SE} PlesseN – 1.57 Rating / 26-18 K-D / 103.5 ADR

MVP: {cflag:SE} Niclas “PlesseN” Plessen – 1.49 Rating / 50-35 K-D / 107.5 ADR

PlesseN

Finest

Imperial

The former Fnatic and Ninjas in Pyjamas player, Simon "twist" Eliasson has found himself a new home on the Israeli Team Finest.

Another Swede Niclas "PlesseN" Plessen has also been announced on the roster, which peaked in 36th place on the World Ranking last year. The team has had a troublesome 2021 with 16 different players on the roster throughout the year. 

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