Eternal Fire avenged an earlier loss to Cloud9 in Group D to send the Russians home from Pro League in 21st-28th place.

XANTARES put up a 1.55 rating to power Eternal Fire to victory

Eternal Fire sent Cloud9 packing from ESL Pro League Season 18 following a 2-0 victory in Group D's Last Chance bracket, striking first on Vertigo (16-6) before hammering the final nail in the Russians' coffin with a hard-fought win on Overpass (16-14).

The two teams had already faced off once in Malta and Cloud9 prevailed, 2-0, in the Group D opening round. This time, however, it was the Turkish ensemble who triumphed, doing so in a fixture with much higher stakes on the line.

The Turks not only send Cloud9 packing from Pro League altogether, rounding out a dismal 1-3 run from the Russian superteam, but they now advance to the fourth-place decider in Group D and sit just one best-of-three away from picking up the tournament's final playoff berth.

Eternal Fire will play the winner of the series between Liquid and Lynn Vision on Sunday at 19:30 to conclude ESL Pro League Season 18's group stage and for a chance to earn that final playoff spot.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
24/09/2023	Eternal Fire19:55 Liquid	Match

Eternal Fire had a phenomenal start to life on their Vertigo pick, turning to their individuals' raw aim to crack open bombsites and help run up a commanding 10-5 lead by the end of their T-side.

A triple kill from Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş' Dual Berettas kicked off the Turks' time on the defense, and Eternal Fire didn't look back from that point on, conceding just one round en route to a comfortable 16-6 victory on their map choice. Of particular note was Cloud9's toothless performance on the skyscraper-based map, with Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov (21 kills) being the only resistance to the Turks' onslaught.

Cloud9 started Overpass on the right foot, accruing an early 6-1 lead in a desperate bid to make amends after such a disappointing performance on Vertigo. Despite this, Eternal Fire quickly began to answer back with a stalwart CT-side to halt the Russians' attempt at forcing a three-map series. XANTARES and Ali "⁠Wicadia⁠" Haydar Yalçın, the Turks' 18-year-old young gun, joined forces with 13-kill performances to help their team win eight rounds on the trot and post a three-round buffer at the switch.

This cushion ended up being Eternal Fire's saving grace, however, as a consistently poor economy and an over-reliance on B-site rushes allowed Cloud9 to bring things back to a dead-even 14-14 stalemate. Alas, this resurgence from the Russians ultimately proved to be all for naught; the Turkish outfit, on the back of a timeout ahead of round 29, pieced together the two rounds they needed to eke out victory, 16-14, and close the series out in two maps, sending Cloud9 home from Malta in the process.

ESL Pro League Season 18Best of 3 Eternal FireMatchpage 2 0 23rd September 2023 Cloud9 16Vertigo 6 16Overpass 14

Eternal Fire	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşXANTARES	42 - 26	+16	93.9	1.55
Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar YalçınWicadia	43 - 33	+10	83.7	1.25
Buğra 'Calyx' ArkınCalyx	33 - 32	+1	65.8	1.01
Özgür 'woxic' Ekerwoxic	25 - 27	-2	53.0	0.96
Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliMAJ3R	20 - 32	-12	50.6	0.80

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolovsh1ro	38 - 30	+8	77.1	1.19
Ilya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyPerfecto	35 - 29	+6	78.8	1.11
Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAx1Le	24 - 34	-10	70.3	0.89
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	27 - 34	-7	57.2	0.79
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	26 - 37	-11	54.2	0.71

Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş Age: 28 Team: Eternal Fire Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 2011 KPR: 0.81 DPR: 0.67 Liquid #17 Keith 'NAF' MarkovicJosh 'oSee' OhmMareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisAleks 'Rainwaker' PetrovRobert 'Patsi' Isyanov Damian 'daps' Steele Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov Age: 22 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.23 Maps played: 1061 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.54 Cloud9 #7 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovDenis 'electroNic' SharipovSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovIlya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy Konstantin 'groove' Pikiner Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın Age: 18 Team: Eternal Fire Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 167 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.71 Eternal Fire #34 Özgür 'woxic' EkerEngin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşBuğra 'Calyx' ArkınAli 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın Lynn Vision #53 Zhe 'Westmelon' NiuSike 'z4kr' ZhangLizhi 'Starry' YeDongkai 'Jee' JiJunjie 'EmiliaQAQ' Tang