We recently reported on how our partners fared in the league phase of the Arrmy Open. Excurity Gaming performed the worst there, finishing the phase in 105th place. They came close to missing out on the play-offs, but managed to secure their place, and in their first match they faced 89team – an opponent ranked higher in the team standings following the league phase. It promised to be a tough encounter…
The battle for Arrmy Rising continues! – Excurity Gaming vs 89team
Of course, in the play-offs we’ve moved from BO1 matches to BO3 matches. This means both teams can each choose one map. The first map of this clash was Ancient, chosen by our partner. They’d had quite a good run on this map during the regular season, so they were a threat once again. Excurity started on the CT side.
We started, of course, with the pistol round, where our partner had to play catch-up right from the start. Our opponents took a 2–0 lead, but our partner fought back and we saw the score level at 2–2 once again. Excurity Gaming were looking to build momentum and managed to do so, taking a 4–2 lead. At that point, however, the opponents showed that they still wanted to take the lead in the first half, and they managed to do just that. They took a 5–4 lead, but Excurity refused to give up, and the final rounds of the first half of the map went their way. As a result, our partner went into the second half with a 7–5 lead.
Thanks to the pistol round, the score was level by the 14th round. However, the first full round went to our partner. 89 managed to respond, but Excurity didn’t give up, and that winning round from their opponents only served to spur them on. This momentum continued right until the end of the map, which our partner won 13–8.
ANCIENT
(Excurity Gaming pick)
Excurity Gaming 13–8 89Team
The second map, this time picked by our rivals, was Dust 2, where Excurity had the privilege of choosing which side to start on. They opted for the defensive side. In the pistol round, however, our rivals had the upper hand, though they couldn’t enjoy it for long. Our partner managed to win the force buy, which gave them an early 3:1 lead. They didn’t stop there, and it was only when their opponents halted their run at 5–1 that the problems began. 89 managed to string together a run similar to our partner’s and levelled the score at 5–5. Towards the end of the first half, they also managed to win two rounds, thus ending the half with a 7–5 lead.
Fortunately, in the second half, our Excurity had no trouble drawing level again, which happened in round 14. Our partner didn’t stop there and managed to take a 9–7 lead. Our opponents didn’t let up, first levelling the score at 9–9 and then taking the lead at 11–9. Excurity Gaming had to fight hard to avoid a third map. They managed to close the gap to 11–10, but that was as close as they could get. 89team took an early 12–10 lead, and after a single reply from Excurity, they closed out the map 13–11, meaning we were in for a third map: Nuke.
DUST 2
(89team’s pick)
Excurity Gaming 11:13 89Team
The remaining decisive map was Nuke, which I mentioned earlier. 89Team started in the lead, but our partner’s determination and force play saw us take a 3:1 lead over them. We saw a similar scenario to the previous map, as with Excurity leading 5:1, our opponents decided to fight back, although this time it was just a single round. After that, Excurity Gaming extended their lead to 6–2. 89team played the end of the first half quite well, but thanks to winning the final round of the first half, our partner remained in the lead at 7–5.
The second half, however, saw a very strong start from 89team, levelling the score at 7–7 and then even taking the lead at 10–7. Excurity managed to respond, however, first with one round, and then added two more, bringing the score level. The next rounds were to decide who would go on to compete for Army Rising and who would see their campaign end in the first round. Unfortunately, it was the Excurity Gaming players who came off second best, with the final map ending 13–10.
NUKE
(decider)
Excurity Gaming 10:13 89Team
This marks the end of Excurity Gaming’s journey in this season’s Arrmy Open. Looking particularly at the last two maps, it’s clear they were very close. Now it’s time to train and look forward to the next season. Perhaps they’ll manage to qualify for the Rising league then?
Excurity Gaming (x.com — Facebook — team profile)
English 
Polish 