Passion UA advance to playoffs at Roman Imperium Cup V

Passion UA have qualified for the playoffs at Roman Imperium Cup V after a 2-0 victory in the Group B decider v. Rebels.

Passion had lost to Rebels 13-11 in their opening match, but advanced to the decider match after ALGO forfeit the elimination match.

This may be Michael "Grim" Wince's last tournament with the international squad, with rumors of his imminent move to NRG.

Also read: Report: NRG in advanced talks to acquire Grim from Passion UA

Rebels chose to begin the second match between the two sides on Nuke. Passion UA took advantage of the CT side start to take an early 7-2 lead, which granted them an 8-4 halftime advantage. Rebels started strong in the second half, evening the score at 8-8 out of the gate. A back-and-forth finish saw Passion UA come out better, winning 13-11.

PUA's pick was Overpass. Both teams exchanged rounds in threes, leading to a deadlocked 6-6 half. It was another treble of wins for Passion and Rebels, which left the score at 9-9. Rebels held the lead at 11-10, but it was Passion who closed strong, winning 13-11 to eliminate Rebels and advance to the quarterfinals.

New man Santino "try" Rigal was the standout in the series. The Argentine AWPer led the team with 37 frags and a 1.23 rating to guide his new squad to the win.

Roman Imperium Cup V

Bo3

Passion UA

2 - 0

Rebels

All maps

Passion UA	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 3.0
Santino 'try' Rigal	37 - 26	+11	77.1	81.2%	1.23
Vladyslav 'Kvem' Korol	36 - 32	+4	86.3	68.8%	1.17
Michael 'Grim' Wince	36 - 30	+6	79.2	70.8%	1.12
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou	31 - 34	-3	67.2	66.7%	1.11
Nick 'nicx' Lee	23 - 31	-8	48.2	75.0%	0.89

Rebels	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 3.0
Filipe 'NOPEEj' Dias	38 - 32	+6	77.4	79.2%	1.24
Diogo 'snapy' Rodrigues	35 - 36	-1	84.5	72.9%	1.15
Renato 'stadodo' Gonçalves	33 - 30	+3	73.9	66.7%	1.03
Diogo 'Icarus' Cruz	26 - 31	-5	61.8	58.3%	0.80
Tiago 'TMKj' Martins	21 - 34	-13	51.7	60.4%	0.67