forZe defeat OG to win CCT Central Europe Series 2

The Russian squad upset the highest-ranked team of the event to secure the title.

FORZE emerged victorious in CCT Central Europe Series 2, finishing at the top of the pile after besting OG 2-1 in a grand final that was anyone's game. The Russian quintet take home the $22,000 cash prize, as well as add 150 points towards their placing on the CCT regional rankings leaderboard.

OG, on the flip side of things, will lament being unable to go all the way in the tournament. They came into the event as the highest-rated team (13th) and made light work of their foes as they progressed through the playoffs, but couldn't keep up this momentum in the grand final.

shalfey put up a team-high 1.26 rating throughout the event

The Russian roster started their run through the 23-team event straight from the playoffs after receiving a direct invite to the knockout stage. The Andrey "⁠Jerry⁠" Mekhryakov-led team had to make their wins count as they moved through the elimination bracket, taking home hard-fought victories over los kogutos, Finest, and Into the Breach to set up a grand final matchup versus OG.

There, the side managed to rally together when it mattered, barely edging out their opponents after a laborious three-map series — 19-16 on Inferno, 14-16 on Dust2 and 16-11 on Overpass.

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FORZE now sit with 185 points on the CCT regional rankings. The three teams who secure a podium finish by the end of the four regional online series will book a spot in the Central Europe studio finals. The play-ins of the two remaining online tournaments get started on October 9 and November 26, respectively.

The event win also serves as a confidence booster for the Russian lineup's campaign through the upcoming IEM Road to Rio Europe RMR, which is set to begin on October 4. Jerry and company have been seeded into Group A, with their first matchup at the Major-qualifying event being against Sprout on Tuesday at 11:00 .

The final standings for CCT Central Europe Series 2 are:

1. FORZE - $22,000
2. OG - $10,000
3-4. Endpoint - $5,000
3-4. Into the Breach - $5,000
5-8. HONORIS - $2,000
5-8. SINNERS - $2,000
5-8. Finest - $2,000
5-8. Entropiq - $2,000
9-16. 9z
9-16. los kogutos
9-16. BLUEJAYS
9-16. Aurora
9-16. Enterprise
9-16. eSuba
9-16. Illuminar
9-16. K23
17-18. BIG Academy
17-18. ex-SKADE
19-21. Apeks
19-21. FTW
19-21. Nexus
22-23. MOUZ NXT
22-23. EYEBALLERS

K23 #46 Timur 'clax' SabirovBogdan 'xsepower' ChernikovVladislav 'FinigaN' UsovDaniil 'X5G7V' MaryshevKonstantin 'Raijin' Trubarov HONORIS #99 Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasKamil 'reiko' CegiełkoKamil 'Sobol' SobolewskiDenis 'Grashog' HristovDawid 'SaMey' Stańczak Aurora #39 Viktor 'Lack1' BoldyrevArtem 'RAiLWAY' GradovichAmin 'sugaR' AzimovAleksandr 'KaiR0N-' AnashkinEvgeny 'delus1onn' Plottsov Illuminar #88 Paweł 'reatz' JańczakPiotr 'morelz' TaterkaKonrad 'EXUS' JeńczeńMateusz 'TOAO' ZawistowskiBartek 'mASKED' Trybuła 9z #32 Maximiliano 'max' GonzalezFranco 'dgt' GarciaDavid 'dav1deuS' Tapia MaldonadoLucas 'nqz' SoaresNicolás 'buda' Kramer Entropiq #29 Nikolay 'mir' BityukovAleksei 'NickelBack' TrofimovVladislav 'Krad' KravchenkoIgor 'Forester' Bezotecheskiy Sprout #27 Ismail 'refrezh' AliFritz 'slaxz-' DietrichRasmus 'Zyphon' NordfossVictor 'Staehr' StaehrLaurențiu 'lauNX' Țârlea OG #13 Nemanja 'nexa' IsakovićAdam 'NEOFRAG' ZouharMaciej 'F1KU' MiklasAbdul 'degster' GasanovShahar 'flameZ' Shushan Time is adjusted to your selected timezone EYEBALLERS #89 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellAnton 'Sapec' PalmgrenCasper 'SHiNE' WennerbergLeo 'Svedjehed' Svedjehed Into the Breach #56 William 'draken' SundinAlfred 'RuStY' KarlssonAdam 'Adam9130' AhmadCai 'CYPHER' WatsonWilliam 'dobbo' Dobson FORZE #28 Andrey 'Jerry' MekhryakovAleksandr 'zorte' ZagodyrenkoAleksandr 'shalfey' MarenovAleksandr 'KENSI' GurkinEvgeny 'Norwi' Ermolin SINNERS #51 Patrik 'Zero' ŽúdelJindřich 'ZEDKO' ChybaSebastian 'beastik' DaňoMax 'SHOCK' KvapilDavid 'forsyy' Bílý Andrey 'Jerry' Mekhryakov Age: 24 Team: FORZE Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 1629 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.68 los kogutos #75 Karol 'Enzo' LasotaWojciech 'darchevile' KlębaSzymon 'kRaSnaL' MrozekTomasz 'tomiko' UrodaMartin 'maaryy' Nakonieczny Apeks #74 Richard 'shox' PapillonMartin 'STYKO' StykJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadTim 'nawwk' JonassonJustinas 'jL' Lekavicius Endpoint #37 Markus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeMax 'MiGHTYMAX' HeathKia 'Surreal' ManGuy 'NertZ' Iluz OG #13 Nemanja 'nexa' IsakovićAdam 'NEOFRAG' ZouharMaciej 'F1KU' MiklasAbdul 'degster' GasanovShahar 'flameZ' Shushan ex-SKADE #41 Kamen 'bubble' KostadinovSimeon 'dream3r' GanevGeorgi 'SHiPZ' GrigorovDenislav 'dennyslaw' DimitrovAleks 'Rainwaker' Petrov Nexus #116 Cătălin-Ionuț 'BTN' StănescuValentin 'SEMINTE' BodeaAdrian 'XELLOW' GuțăCosmin 'ragga' Teodorescu BLUEJAYS #36 Pavle 'stYleEeZ' StojanovskiDaniel 'dan1' GligorovAleksandar 'CacaNito' KjulukoskiDamjan 'kyxsan' StoilkovskiJane 'aidKiT' Apostoloski Finest #57 Simon 'twist' EliassonNiclas 'PlesseN' PlessenRasmus 'kreaz' JohanssonOlek 'hades' MiskiewiczKristjan 'shokz' Jakobson MOUZ NXT Jimi 'Jimpphat' SaloChristoffer 'Chr1zN' Storgaard eSuba #83 Martin 'Pechyn' PechoušekLukáš 'luko' HrabčíkDominik 'Blogg1s' JanitaLukáš 'Levi' BouřaJakub 'M1key' Krausko BIG Academy #52 David 'prosus' HesseElias 's1n' SteinTom 'skyye' HagedornNico 'Aqua' KembitzkyMarcel 'hyped' Köhn Enterprise #63 Raul 'Blytz' GligorErik 'The eLiVe' SithTomáš 'SYSTEM' ZemkoRobert 'manguss' KasperDeyvid 'h4rn' Benchev FTW #84 Renato 'stadodo' GonçalvesDiogo 'DDias' DiasRafael 'arrozdoce' WingBruno 'suka' MeiraAndré 'Ag1l' Gil