The day started with a short delay in the morning but the tournament went very smooth afterwards which is unusual for events. After that, the group stage started at about 10.00 CET with some great games and already a few upsets.

In Group A, Alternate again lost to k23 but this time on de_train which put them in the second place. In Group B mTw also placed second, having had a hard time with KerchNET (starix, weiss, craft1k, lmbt and kucher), only getting a tie. Virtus.Pro didn't really have any trouble in Group C placing first with three wins against Amazing Gaming, es4x and PinCho. GamePlay struggled against DTS in Group D losing 9-21 but winning their other matches putting them on the second rank.

The Double Elimination bracket started right away with k23 versus GamePlay, where again k23 managed to cause trouble to a top team, winning with 16-7. Also, mTw had a close match against Virtus.Pro winning with 16-13 on de_tuscan. Alternate lost to DTS with 13-16 on de_inferno after being down 3-12. Amazing Gaming then beat their Ukrainian mates of KerchNET with 16-11 which led to great fixtures for Round 2.

DTS and Amazing Gaming met in the upper bracket round 2 and both teams had just switched players, but Amazing Gaming came out on top this time winning with a close 16-14. On the other side, mTw did not have any problems with k23, sending them to the lower bracket with 16-3.

The upper bracket final was almost as exciting as the k23 match, with mTw completely destroying Amazing Gaming on de_train with 15-0 and 1-3 making it a 16-3 in total. They were now waiting in the grand final for their opponent, having the upper hand due to only need one map to win.

The lower bracket was a bit more exciting, with Alternate losing to KerchNET again on de_inferno with 14-16. The Moscow trip was not successful at all for Alternate, losing against Virtus in the ICC and to k23, DTS and KerchNET in the Rekrut Championship. GamePlay and Virtus.Pro met in the lower bracket round 1 which was again very close and unfortunately GamePlay lost with 13-16.

Both Virtus.Pro and KerchNET did not have problems with their opponents DTS and k23 which led to the lower bracket Final between those two. This was one of the few times for Virtus.Pro playing de_dust2 in the tournament and they managed to beat KerchNET fairly easily with 16-7, advancing to the consolation final.

The consolation final was played on de_inferno where Virtus won the first half with a close 8-7 but then finished A-Gaming off with 16-11, going into the grand final.

mTw were waiting in the grand final for Virtus.Pro, whom they had had a hard time against earlier in the day on the same map, de_inferno, favouring Virtus.Pro. It was a close but great match between those two teams but in the end mTw won with 16-11 and won the event overall.

Rekrut.ru Championship 2008

1st. mTw ($9,840)
2nd. Virtus.Pro ($6,560)
3rd. Amazing Gaming ($3,280)