SCARZ Absolute are through to the playoffs at the FACEIT Major Asia Minor after defeating Renegades in the Group A winners' match (16-14 on Dust2).

The match kicked off with SCARZ Absolute winning their Terrorist pistol in a straight B rush that saw Takemori "⁠takej⁠" Shogo and Shibasaki "⁠poem⁠" Yumeki find two opponents each. Renegades responded well, however, countering the Japanese squad with nothing but pistols to take control of proceedings, 3-1.

SCARZ Absolute then strung two rounds together to level up the score, so Renegades called for a tactical pause in a bid to halt them. Still, Koji "⁠Laz⁠" Ushida and co. further added to their lead with three more successful rounds, 6-3. Renegades did not back down, losing just two more rounds until half-time to bring the deficit to a sole round, in part thanks to Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage stepping up to the plate with multi-kills.

takej led the way for SCARZ Absolute with 28 kills

Renegades came from half-time set to turn things around, and began the second half with jks and Karlo "⁠USTILO⁠" Pivac finding a entry kill each. But with a triple-kill from takej, SCARZ Absolute won their second pistol to eventually go up 11-7.

Although the Japanese men followed that up with two more rounds fairly easily, 13-7, that was when Renegades came back to life, winning five rounds in a row to reduce the deficit to a single round.

SCARZ Absolute won the subsequent round, but Renegades immediately crushed their economy to equalize the score at 14-14. Nevertheless, SCARZ Absolute remained calm and collected to complete the upset in regulation, 16-14.

Asia Minor - FACEIT Major 2018Best of 1 SCARZ AbsoluteMatchpage 16 14 16th July 2018 Renegades 16Dust2 14

SCARZ Absolute	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Takemori 'takej' Shogotakej	28 - 19	+9	92.3	1.32
Koji 'Laz' UshidaLaz	20 - 15	+5	70.7	1.21
Shibasaki 'poem' Yumekipoem	20 - 22	-2	86.8	1.11
Tomoaki 'crow' Maruokacrow	19 - 21	-2	61.1	0.87
Ryo 'barce' Takebayashibarce	9 - 22	-13	30.5	0.55

Renegades	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Justin 'jks' Savagejks	32 - 19	+13	103.5	1.61
Aaron 'AZR' WardAZR	22 - 21	+1	72.0	1.16
Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostadjkaem	15 - 20	-5	68.6	0.97
Noah 'Nifty' FrancisNifty	12 - 16	-4	48.5	0.93
Karlo 'USTILO' PivacUSTILO	16 - 20	-4	67.1	0.90

Koji 'Laz' Ushida Age: 22 Team: SCARZ Absolute Rating 1.0: 1.22 Maps played: 149 KPR: 0.82 DPR: 0.61 Renegades #13 Justin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadKarlo 'USTILO' PivacNoah 'Nifty' Francis Karlo 'USTILO' Pivac Age: 24 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 592 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.70 Justin 'jks' Savage Age: 22 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 618 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.63 SCARZ Absolute #126 Koji 'Laz' UshidaTomoaki 'crow' MaruokaRyo 'barce' TakebayashiShibasaki 'poem' YumekiTakemori 'takej' Shogo Shibasaki 'poem' Yumeki Age: 20 Team: SCARZ Absolute Rating 1.0: 0.89 Maps played: 126 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.73 Takemori 'takej' Shogo Age: 17 Team: SCARZ Absolute Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 120 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.70