Space Soldiers win South

Space Soldiers have booked their spot at the WESG Europe & CIS Regional Finals after beating Orion 2-0 in the grand final of the South-East CIS & Turkey qualifier.

Almost 30 teams, hailing from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, competed in this qualifier for the chance to represent the region at the upcoming Europe & CIS Regional Finals, which will be held in Barcelona.

Space Soldiers went into the qualifier as red-hot favourites, and they managed to live up to that billing, reaching the grand final without any hiccups. Joining them in the tournament decider was Orion, who beat Ufuk "⁠SasuKe⁠" Göktaş's Royal Bandits in a close semi-final series that went to all three maps, two of which were playing past regulation.

Space Soldiers will compete in Barcelona

The final began on Cache, where Space Soldiers took ten rounds on the Terrorist side as their opponents failed to string more than two rounds together during the half. Orion came out of the break much livelier and won three of the first four rounds, but then Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli's men tightened up their defense, conceding just one more round before taking the map at 16-9.

Overpass, the map that followed, was even more one-sided than the first. With Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş leading the way, Space Soldiers cruised to a 13-2 lead on the defensive side. After switching sides, the ESEA Global Challenge champions quickly hit match point, and even though Orion still managed to get a couple of rounds on the board, a miraculous comeback was not on the cards. 

WESG 2017 South-East CIS & TurkeyBest of 3 Space SoldiersMatchpage 2 0 4th October 2017 Orion 16Cache 9 16Overpass 4

Space Soldiers	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşXANTARES	42 - 23	+19	109.6	1.69
Ahmet 'paz' Karahocapaz	44 - 23	+21	93.2	1.48
Buğra 'Calyx' ArkınCalyx	34 - 25	+9	80.3	1.27
Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliMAJ3R	34 - 24	+10	81.4	1.27
Engin 'ngiN' KorngiN	34 - 25	+9	74.6	1.15

Orion	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Hüseyin 'ELOSSA' TüysüzELOSSA	33 - 39	-6	72.3	0.81
Mustafa 'PROV' DemirmanPROV	23 - 34	-11	66.2	0.80
Batuhan 'russ' Malgaçruss	27 - 37	-10	67.7	0.78
Emre 'ruffian' Tutçalıruffian	19 - 38	-19	49.9	0.74
Anılcan 'andrEX' DörtkolandrEX	18 - 41	-23	61.4	0.58

Here is what the team list for the $92,500 WESG Europe & CIS Regional Finals, taking place from November 22-26 in Barcelona, looks like after Space Soldiers' qualification:

Ukraine	BIG
RESISTANCE	Limitless
Envy	Space Soldiers
Russia	Russia
Poland	Poland
Denmark	Denmark
Sweden	Sweden
Baltics + Scandinavia	Eastern Europe
Central Europe	United Kingdom
Benelux	Iberia

Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş Age: 22 Team: Space Soldiers Rating 1.0: 1.25 Maps played: 574 KPR: 0.89 DPR: 0.70 RESISTANCE #114 Nemanja 'k1Ng0r' BoškovićDejan 'd3k1' KosanovićDimitrije 'DiMKE' VeljkovićPetar 'HOLMES' DimitrijevićAleksa 'Impulse' Stankić Royal Bandits #295 Ufuk 'SasuKe' Göktaşİbrahim 'mag0o' TemizelMuhammed 'mini' SalmanBurak 'Glovee' YildirimBora 'Maiko' Igci Engin 'MAJ3R' Küpeli Age: 26 Team: Space Soldiers Rating 1.0: 0.95 Maps played: 362 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.68 BIG #14 Fatih 'gob b' DayikNikola 'LEGIJA' NinićJohannes 'tabseN' WodarzKevin 'keev' BartholomäusJohannes 'nex' Maget Limitless Léonard 'Smyli' MichelinoLéo 'Kan4' IntronatiThéo 'LoWkii' Téchené​Paul 'Polox' BarbeBryan 'Maka' Canda Ukraine Orion #218 Anılcan 'andrEX' DörtkolBatuhan 'russ' MalgaçEmre 'ruffian' TutçalıHüseyin 'ELOSSA' TüysüzMustafa 'PROV' Demirman Space Soldiers #19 Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşBuğra 'Calyx' ArkınAhmet 'paz' KarahocaEngin 'ngiN' Kor Envy #15 Christophe 'SIXER' XiaCédric 'RpK' GuipouyFabien 'kioShiMa' FieyVincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerAlexandre 'xms' Forté Ufuk 'SasuKe' Göktaş Age: 21 Team: Royal Bandits Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 217 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.71