Tainted Minds have beaten SCARZ Absolute 2-0, moving on to the upper bracket final at the Asia Minor (16-4 on Nuke and 16-13 on Cache).

Tainted Minds took on SCARZ Absolute in the second upper-bracket semi-final at the Asia Minor. The best-of-three game kicked off on Nuke where the Oceanic team chose to start on the CT-side and won the pistol round thanks to Chris "⁠ofnu⁠" Hanley's triple kill.

SCARZ Absolute hit back in the second round with pistols but Tainted Minds returned the favor in the third round, leading 2-1. It was 8-1 when Koji "⁠Laz⁠" Ushida showed up with two opening kills to give the Japanese their second round.

Tainted Minds will play TyLoo for a Major spot

Tainted Minds won a 2vs3 in the 11th round to make it 9-2 and didn't lose another round in the first half at the end of which they led 13-2. Yaman "⁠yam⁠" Ergenekon's team secured the second half pistol round and went on to close out the map with a 16-4 scoreline.

The Japanese side's pistol round fortunes didn't change on Cache where they started as Ts and lost the pistol round as Ryan "⁠zewsy⁠" Palmer got a quad kill. zewsy clutched a 1vs1 in the first weapon round to make it 4-0.

SCARZ Absolute went down to the lower bracket

Too much aggressiveness cost Tainted Minds in the fifth round as SCARZ Absolute got on the scoreboard with four Deagle kills. SCARZ Absolute came back to finish the first half with a 9-6 lead.

Callum "⁠BURNRUOk⁠" Henderson got a quad kill and clutched a 1vs2 in the second half pistol round, giving Tainted Minds their seventh round. ofnu & company reclaimed the lead in the 19th round as they made it 10-9 with the first weapon round victory.

Joshua "⁠INS⁠" Potter clutched a 1vs2 in the 24th round to break the Japanese team's economy as his team led 13-11. Tainted Minds won the map 16-13 and took the series 2-0 to advance to the upper bracket final where they will play TYLOO for a spot at the Major. SCARZ Absolute, on the other hand, will take on Renegades in the lower bracket to stay alive in the tournament.

Asia Minor - FACEIT Major 2018Best of 3 SCARZ AbsoluteMatchpage 0 2 18th July 2018 Tainted Minds 4Nuke 16 13Cache 16

SCARZ Absolute	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Koji 'Laz' UshidaLaz	38 - 38	0	85.7	1.10
Ryo 'barce' Takebayashibarce	30 - 37	-7	72.7	0.94
Shibasaki 'poem' Yumekipoem	33 - 41	-8	80.3	0.91
Takemori 'takej' Shogotakej	29 - 37	-8	64.8	0.81
Tomoaki 'crow' Maruokacrow	16 - 40	-24	45.2	0.53

Tainted Minds	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ryan 'zewsy' Palmerzewsy	46 - 28	+18	96.1	1.49
Chris 'ofnu' Hanleyofnu	48 - 32	+16	92.9	1.45
Joshua 'INS' PotterINS	38 - 28	+10	81.8	1.21
Yaman 'yam' Ergenekonyam	30 - 26	+4	72.7	1.11
Callum 'BURNRUOk' HendersonBURNRUOk	31 - 32	-1	77.2	1.05

Renegades #13 Justin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadKarlo 'USTILO' PivacNoah 'Nifty' Francis Koji 'Laz' Ushida Age: 22 Team: SCARZ Absolute Rating 1.0: 1.21 Maps played: 151 KPR: 0.82 DPR: 0.61 Joshua 'INS' Potter Age: 19 Team: Tainted Minds Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 403 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.67 Callum 'BURNRUOk' Henderson Age: 22 Team: Tainted Minds Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 465 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.69 SCARZ Absolute #97 Koji 'Laz' UshidaTomoaki 'crow' MaruokaRyo 'barce' TakebayashiShibasaki 'poem' YumekiTakemori 'takej' Shogo Tainted Minds #69 Yaman 'yam' ErgenekonRyan 'zewsy' PalmerChris 'ofnu' HanleyCallum 'BURNRUOk' HendersonJoshua 'INS' Potter Yaman 'yam' Ergenekon Age: 29 Team: Tainted Minds Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 451 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 Ryan 'zewsy' Palmer Age: 21 Team: Tainted Minds Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 370 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.67 TYLOO #16 Ke 'captainMo' LiuHui 'DD' WuHansel 'BnTeT' FerdinandHaoWen 'somebody' XuKevin 'xccurate' Susanto Chris 'ofnu' Hanley Age: 25 Team: Tainted Minds Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 412 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.67