Looking back at their track record over the tournament, they first beat BB 13-10 in the best-of-one group stages, and then two days later, best Monte in a very intense game to rematch BB in the grand finals. Given that they had beaten BB before, they knew they could do it again and that’s exactly what they did as they delivered a 2-0 defeat. BB, of course, was a formidable team by every metric, especially since they beat Eternal Fire twice throughout the tournament, consistently towering over them.
The redemption run
SAW has seen its fair share of troubles get to this point. Very few were expecting them to reach the grand finals, much less win it, as the Portuguese team arrived in Poland after losing Rafael "arrozdoce" Wing and coach Danny "BERRY" Krüger two weeks prior. However, that was only the tip of the iceberg as their problems began much earlier in the year.
SAW had a good start to 2024 - the team had ramped up much momentum as they made it to the top 10 in global rankings after reaching the semi-finals at IEM Cologne. However, uneasiness seeped into fans as the team also lost in the semi-finals of ESL Challenger’s Atlanta, a tournament where they were the favourites to win. Shortly afterwards, fans were hit with shocking news as SAW decided to bench anchor/lurker “arrozdoce,” having expressed an interest in leaving the team at the end of the year, with Ag1l arriving as a replacement.
Things had hit rock bottom at SAW as Christopher "MUTiRiS" Fernandes explained in a pre-recorded interview: "In Atlanta our team was kinda destroyed inside. People don't see that because they are not inside the team, but the mood was not really good. Right now I think we're bouncing back from back then, day by day people seem more happy, we are improving on the days that we have practices, and that is really important for our confidence.”
"When I say that we need time, it is really what we need because we are growing, but of course you can't find the solutions all the time. Sometimes you're struggling on some maps and that is what is happening to us. I don't want to change a lot because Ag1l is here for two or three weeks and if we come to a tournament, we do a game with a lot of anti-strats, it isn't going to feel comfortable. So we're going to try and find our game; if we play with confidence, we have a chance," he added.
Seeing the ups and downs at SAW makes us appreciate their victory at ESL Challenger’s Katowice. After juggling so many roster changes just before a tournament, confidence is the last thing a team is expected to have, but the Portuguese somehow showed up and proved everyone wrong. Their performance at the grand final was especially dominant as they took Ancient 13-3 and Nuke 13-5. Every player on the team performed exceptionally, boasting a positive KD and a rating higher than 1.0.
The following are the detailed stats of each player on the occasion of the grand final:
1. Christopher 'MUTiRiS' Fernandes
K/D: 30/15
+/-: +15
ADR: 91.9
Rating: 1.56
2. João 'story' Vieira
K/D: 31/15
+/-: +16
ADR: 93.3
Rating: 1.46
3. Ricardo 'roman' Oliveira
K/D: 31/18
+/-: +12
ADR: 93.1
Rating: 1.45
4. Michel 'ewjerkz' Pinto
K/D: 21/18
+/-: +3
ADR: 66.8
Rating: 1.18
5. André 'Ag1l' Gil
K/D: 20/17
+/-: +3
ADR: 69.4
Rating: 1.05
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