FORZE secured a spot at LAN Sweet LAN with their grand final victory over EPG Family.

EPG Family, the recent ESEA Premier champions, were on the road to adding another notch to their belt with a clean run at Spring Sweet Spring. Dmitry "⁠hooch⁠" Bogdanov’s men were going into the grand final with a 6-0 record in the tournament and a broader 11-match winning streak, but FORZE spoiled their countrymen’s plans by taking the final three-map thriller, which ended in the 30th round of the decider map, to win the title.

This grand final victory puts the squad led by Andrey "⁠Jerry⁠" Mekhryakov through to the LAN Sweet LAN tournament, where a plethora of winners from the same tournament series will face off in Belgrade, including Snow Sweet Snow frontrunners MOUZ, HAVU and FunPlus Phoenix, with the initial tentative dates aiming at it taking place next February.

A 1vs2 by FL1T in the decider map's last round gave forZe the victory

The grand final series started on Overpass, EPG Family's pick, although it was FORZE who got ahead on the CT side. EPG Family quickly tied it up before a back-and-forth series of rounds ensued, although they finally took the three last rounds before the half. FORZE brought the map back to a 12-12 tie with decisive offensives, but Aleksei "⁠El1an⁠" Gusev swung momentum in his team's favor with a four-kill round after which EPG Family went on to close out the map to take the lead in the series.

EPG Family and FORZE brawled in the opening rounds of Mirage, with clutches by Aleksei "⁠NickelBack⁠" Trofimov and Almaz "⁠almazer⁠" Asadullin swinging momentum back-and-forth like a pendulum, although it was the squad under the orders of hooch who were able to run away initially, leading 7-3. An impressive comeback put FORZE on top at the half, however, as they chained five rounds in a row before switching sides. On the CT side FORZE continued to throw their weight around and ran away with their pick, 16-10, to force a third map.

It appeared as though FORZE were going to be able to bring their CT-side momentum to Dust2, going up 3-0, but EPG Family turned the tables in the early rounds, winning five in a row, although they again ran out of steam as Aleksandr "⁠zorte⁠" Zagodyrenko and co. took the remaining rounds in a 10-5 half. A quick five in a row by EPG Family tied things up going into the last 10 rounds of the series, but they failed to keep the pace and fell behind, 11-15. EPG Family made a last stand heroic attempt at sending the map to overtime, but a 1vs2 clutch by Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev with seconds left in the final round of regulation sealed the deal for his team to win the title.

Spring Sweet Spring 1Best of 3 EPG FamilyMatchpage 1 2 5th May 2021 FORZE 16Overpass 13 10Mirage 16 14Dust2 16

EPG Family	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Igor 'Forester' BezotecheskiyForester	61 - 55	+6	82.7	1.15
Vladislav 'Krad' KravchenkoKrad	67 - 64	+3	84.9	1.09
Aleksei 'El1an' GusevEl1an	58 - 53	+5	72.1	1.06
Aleksei 'NickelBack' TrofimovNickelBack	48 - 58	-10	67.3	0.96
Viktor 'Lack1' BoldyrevLack1	44 - 57	-13	58.8	0.85

FORZE	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Evgenii 'FL1T' LebedevFL1T	70 - 59	+11	84.5	1.18
Almaz 'almazer' Asadullinalmazer	62 - 56	+6	75.2	1.14
Andrey 'Jerry' MekhryakovJerry	58 - 54	+4	80.5	1.10
Aleksandr 'zorte' Zagodyrenkozorte	56 - 54	+2	70.0	1.10
Aleksandr 'KENSI' GurkinKENSI	41 - 56	-15	55.0	0.79

The Spring Sweet Spring 1 final standings are:

1. FORZE - $44,000 + LAN Sweet LAN
2. EPG Family - $4,000
3-4. fnatic
3-4. FURIA
5-8. ENCE
5-8. EXTREMUM - $4,000
5-8. Spirit
5-8. SINNERS - $4,000
9-12. SKADE - $6,000
9-12. AGO - $3,000
9-12. K23 - $6,000
9-12. Lyngby Vikings - $6,000
13-15. Extra Salt
13-15. Apeks
13-15. Fiend - $3,000
16-18. MAD Lions - $3,000
16-18. Copenhagen Flames
16-18. Case - $3,000
19-20. Izako Boars - $3,000
19-20. Young Ninjas - $3,000
21-23. AGF - $1,000
21-23. LDLC - $1,000
21-23. Galaxy Racer - $1,000
24-26. EC Brugge - $1,000
24-26. Nordavind - $1,000
24-26. M1 - $1,000
27-28. EC Kyiv - $1,000
27-28. Ambush - $1,000

The LAN Sweet LAN team list so far is:

FunPlus Phoenix
HAVU
MOUZ
FORZE
Spring Sweet Spring #2
Spring Sweet Spring #3
Invite #1
Invite #2 Sun Sweet Sun #1
Sun Sweet Sun #2
Sun Sweet Sun #3
Fall Sweet Fall #1
Fall Sweet Fall #2
Fall Sweet Fall #3
Invite #3
Invite #4 HAVU #17 Jani 'Aerial' JussilaSami 'xseveN' LaasanenLasse 'ZOREE' UronenOlli 'sLowi' PitkänenJemi 'jemi' Mäkinen Case #67 Paulo 'land1n' FelipeDenis 'dzt' FischerFelipe 'delboNi' DelboniYan 'yepz' PedrettiVinicius 'n1ssim' Pereira Almaz 'almazer' Asadullin Age: 22 Team: FORZE Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 1152 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.65 ENCE #24 Aleksi 'allu' JalliMarco 'Snappi' PfeifferJoonas 'doto' ForssPaweł 'dycha' DychaLotan 'Spinx' Giladi MOUZ #14 Christopher 'dexter' NongDavid 'frozen' ČerňanskýFrederik 'acoR' GyldstrandRobin 'ropz' KoolAurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras Extra Salt #19 Aran 'Sonic' GroesbeekEdgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoJohnny 'JT' TheodosiouJosh 'oSee' OhmJustin 'FaNg' Coakley FORZE #25 Almaz 'almazer' AsadullinEvgenii 'FL1T' LebedevAndrey 'Jerry' MekhryakovAleksandr 'zorte' ZagodyrenkoAleksandr 'KENSI' Gurkin Fiend #58 Kamen 'bubble' KostadinovViktor 'v1c7oR' DyankovSimeon 'dream3r' GanevMartin 'mar' KuyumdjievHristiyan 'REDSTAR' Pironkov Apeks #51 Dennis 'dennis' EdmanFredrik 'FREDDyFROG' GustafssonJoakim 'Relaxa' GustafssonRasmus 'kreaz' JohanssonSander 'Grus' Iversen FunPlus Phoenix #15 Jesse 'zehN' LinjalaLuka 'emi' VukovićMartin 'STYKO' StykPavle 'Maden' BoškovićAsger 'Farlig' Jensen M1 #128 Michał 'Czapel' CzaplaDominik 'fanatyk' BarkietBrajan 'DGL' LemechaOlaf 'Olfii' TyszkiewiczMaciej 'b1elany' Biliński Young Ninjas #47 Anton 'Sapec' PalmgrenLove 'phzy' SmidebrantLinus 'LNZ' HoltängLinus 'nilo' BergmanTim 'Mann3n' Isak Nordavind #39 Jesper 'TENZKI' PlougmannKevin 'HS' TarnDaniel 'mertz' MertzSabit 'mirbit' CoktasarAnton 'supra' Tšernobai SKADE #20 Georgi 'SHiPZ' GrigorovDenislav 'dennyslaw' DimitrovViktor 'Duplicate' MitevAleks 'Rainwaker' PetrovBlagoi 'oxygeN' Dimitrov Copenhagen Flames #46 Asger 'AcilioN' LarsenMagnus 'Nodios' OlsenNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiJakob 'jabbi' Nygaard Aleksei 'El1an' Gusev Age: 21 Team: EPG Family Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 892 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.62 Izako Boars #54 Michał 'mono' GabszewiczMateusz 'TOAO' ZawistowskiDaniel 'STOMP' PłomińskiKamil 'siuhy' SzkaradekHubert 'szejn' Światły EXTREMUM #34 Hansel 'BnTeT' FerdinandAaron 'AZR' WardJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadSean 'Gratisfaction' KaiwaiJay 'Liazz' Tregillgas Andrey 'Jerry' Mekhryakov Age: 22 Team: FORZE Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 1237 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.67 EPG Family #21 Aleksei 'NickelBack' TrofimovVladislav 'Krad' KravchenkoViktor 'Lack1' BoldyrevAleksei 'El1an' GusevIgor 'Forester' Bezotecheskiy FunPlus Phoenix #15 Jesse 'zehN' LinjalaMartin 'STYKO' StykPavle 'Maden' BoškovićAsger 'Farlig' Jensen Galaxy Racer #60 Joakim 'disco doplan' GidetunNiclas 'PlesseN' PlessenAdam 'dezon' WahlqvistHugo 'chawzyyy' GüntherJoel 'joel' Holmlund AGF #74 Martin 'PERCY' WesselThomas 'Ryxxo' NielsenLucas 'Lukki' PilhedenMagnus 'Frøslev' FrøslevCasper 'Cabbi' Jensen Aleksei 'NickelBack' Trofimov Age: 23 Team: EPG Family Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 980 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.67 SINNERS #29 Tomáš 'oskar' ŠťastnýJindřich 'ZEDKO' ChybaSebastian 'beastik' DaňoMax 'SHOCK' KvapilAdam 'NEOFRAG' Zouhar Aleksandr 'zorte' Zagodyrenko Age: 22 Team: FORZE Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 403 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.63 Spirit #11 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevAbdul 'degster' GasanovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev EC Brugge #72 Mateusz 'matty' KołodziejczykSteven 'Stev0se' RombautRobin 'simix' BynensRichard 'ritchiEE' MestdaghMateusz 'n0tice' Wolniak LDLC #48 Christophe 'SIXER' XiaLambert 'Lambert' PrigentAli 'hAdji' HaïnoussBryan 'Maka' CandaNicolas 'Keoz' Dgus MAD Lions #68 Thomas 'TMB' BundsbækFilip 'tudsoN' TudevVolodymyr 'Woro2k' VeletniukPere 'sausol' Solsona SaumellJustinas 'jL' Lekavicius Dmitry 'hooch' Bogdanov Age: 34 Team: EPG FamilyC EC Kyiv #90 Oleksandr 'Smash' TurchynYaroslav 'byr9' BuryakKyrylo 's4ltovsk1yy' LytvynovDenys 'amster' Liashenko K23 #38 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevRustem 'mou' TelepovSanzhar 'neaLaN' IskhakovDavid 'n0rb3r7' DanielyanPetr 'fame' Bolyshev AGO #33 Karol 'rallen' RodowiczPaweł 'reatz' JańczakDamian 'Furlan' KislowskiMichał 'snatchie' RudzkiMaciej 'F1KU' Miklas Lyngby Vikings #52 Rasmus 'raalz' SteensborgGuy 'anarkez' TrachtmanDion 'FASHR' DerksenThomas 'birdfromsky' Due-FrederiksenHannes 'hns' Johansson FURIA #7 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoPaytyn 'junior' JohnsonKaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato Evgenii 'FL1T' Lebedev Age: 20 Team: FORZE Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1005 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65 fnatic #26 Jesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonMaikil 'Golden' SelimLudvig 'Brollan' BrolinJack 'Jackinho' Ström Mattsson Ambush #139 Sébastien 'SBT' SabbadinDamien 'wasiNk' DufourKilian 'Gringo' GarciaAymeric 'SoneSb' PetitEmre 'EMZ' Eryoruk