THUNDER dOWNUNDER completes Brisbane back-to-back with ANZC Autumn win

THUNDER dOWNUNDER is your new Oceania VRS leader following a thrilling 2-0 (13-10, 16-13) victory over SemperFi at ANZ Circuit Autumn in Brisbane.

In back-to-back LAN finals, TdU proved to be the region's new team to beat — but by the narrowest of margins — as SemperFi fell oh-so-short of double titles of their own.

As a result, THUNDER dOWNUNDER now comfortably claims the top spot in the race to find Asia's representatives for the IEM Cologne Major later this June.

Both TdU and SemperFi surpassed FlyQuest in VRS rankings, while fellow ANZC attendees Mindfreak and Ground Zero also gained ground but will likely fall short of a Stage 1 spot.

TdU's dual wins should be enough to see them through to Cologne, but with the likes of TYLOO, The Huns, Lynn Vision, and Chinggis Warriors all in action before the cutoff, SemperFi will assuredly need to hunt for more points if they hope to hold one of the four invite slots.

The ANZC grand final opened on Ancient, and SemperFi dug deep in the second half on CT, winning five-straight rounds to snatch the lead after a 7-5 deficit at halftime.

Tyson "asap" Paterson (20-14, 1.39 HLTV rating, 11 assists) remained ever-consistent, however, leading the TdU T-side with help from IGL sniper Alistair "aliStair" Johnston (18-14, 1.23 rating).

With their map pick lost, SemperFi rallied on Inferno seeking a third map, and the boys in green began well. James "SaVage" Savage's men led from the front, until an unfortunate dropped AWP from Kristers "keen" Dārznieks saw TdU claim their first round.

They'd go on to win the next five, flipping the game on it's head, and after dropping five of the first seven rounds on T, it seemed all was lost in the grand final. But SemperFi rallied, breaking back and winning three straight to force overtime.

That's where SemperFi's last stand would end, however. The new duo of asap (21-16, 17 assists) and Tynan "TjP" Purtell (22-19, 1.27) took control and put the result beyond doubt.

Before the two titans met in the final, we saw a surprise in the form of Arcade who took down Ground Zero in the lower bracket opener 2-0 (13-9, 19-16).

• Read more: Arcade makes OCE CS return official as DFRAG Wildcard LAN appearance looms

GZ was hoping to climb above The Huns and (at least temporarily) create an OCE lockout of the Asia major slots, but Jae "74LOR" Webb (47-40, 1.46) had other ideas, putting up a monster performance to send OCE's top three squad packing.

The majority of squads in OCE will now return to online action before the season wraps up in June.