SemperFi was given an insurmountable route to the DFRAG Invitational trophy on Sunday but climb they did, winning three-straight best-of-threes to take home the title.
The Kristers "keen" Dārznieks-led outfit took down ex-TALON 2-0 (13-2, 13-9) in a late evening affair, but it was just one part of an incredible day—and weekend—for SemperFi who find themselves among the best squads in Asia thanks to DFRAG Invitational's status as a VRS event.
Mārtiņš 'shadiy' Gūtmanis (36-16, 1.65 HLTV rating) was the standout in the 2-0 win, which began with a nuclear beatdown on Nuke 13-2 behind shadiy (18 kills, 1.75 rating) and a Matthew "Valiance" Hartrick (15 kills, 1.74 rating).
Ex-TALON weren't going down without a fight, keeping things close on Inferno and leading into the second half, but SemperFi adjusted with shadiy (18 kills, 1.59 rating) and Latvian IGL Kristers "keen" Dārznieks (21 kills, 1.55 rating) leading from the front.
"It means a lot, we had a pretty rough start to the day, especially me," James "SaVage" said in the post-game interview. "I kind of reset, the boys kept me calm... it means so much tat we could do it with this much confidence. I'm so proud."
The win is Alistair "aliStair" Johnston's first with the squad in his proper debut with SemperFi. The former FlyQuest AWPer linked with SemperFi in early March, but was a quintessential piece of the winning puzzle recording a 1.14 rating across the event.
"I think there's still so much work to do. The more we got game time, the more we were actually able to play together and it proved to be important," aliStair said.
The win netted SemperFi a cool $10,000, but critically, they've picked up VRS points the squad needs to climb the regional rankings. SemperFi's win means they're now all but certain to be OCE's second seed for the Austin Major MRQ behind FlyQuest.
Most of the DFRAG Invitational teams reconvene later this week for the PGL Astana OCE Qualifier, with one team booking a spot in the Asia Qualifier and a shot at an appearance at the Kazakhstani tournament.
