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Vulgarus takes DM-Shrine after a wild fight for lead

Jano briefly took command and hemeroid produced the longest spree, but Vulgarus had the final word.

DM-Shrine got fifteen minutes of relentless work, and after only 19 seconds it was already clear who wanted to dictate the pace. Vulgarus opened with a Rocket Launcher kill on Jano, added hemeroid five seconds later and claimed the first small patch of territory on the scoreboard. Peace did not last. Jano answered with the Flak Cannon and Rocket Launcher, reached 3:2 after a second kill on Vulgarus at 75 seconds and made it 4:2 ten seconds later. The match produced only two lead changes, but both came early and defined the story: Jano managed to knock Vulgarus off the top, while Vulgarus took the lead back and never surrendered it again.

An opening where nobody wanted the back seat

Jano damaged his own surge with a Rocket Launcher suicide at 88 seconds, dropping from four points to three. Vulgarus tied the game 3:3 with the Shock Rifle, Jano moved ahead 4:3 again at 135 seconds, and then came a strange sequence. Vulgarus tied with the Redeemer, immediately fell to his death, and one second later hemeroid suffered the same fate. Jano's Bio Rifle kill at 173 seconds put him up 5:4, but that was his final lead of the night.

Five seconds later Vulgarus tied with the Flak Cannon and then produced the run that broke the balance: hemeroid, Jano, Jano and Jano again fell between 185 and 231 seconds, turning the score into 9:5. Jano did not disappear; two Flak kills and a rocket brought him back to 10:9 at 285 seconds. The leader was within reach again, yet instead of another turnover Vulgarus answered with the Enforcer and three more kills by 347 seconds. A tight duel had become a 14:9 cushion.

Shock, flak and a widening gap

The middle phase belonged to Vulgarus, especially through his mix of Shock Rifle, Shock Combo and Flak Cannon. He moved to 15:10 at 375 seconds, 16:10 at 399 and 17:10 with another kill on Jano at 437. Ten seconds later a Shock Combo removed hemeroid and, at 18:10, the longest quiet spell of the match arrived: 51 seconds without a kill. DM-Shrine briefly exhaled, although in a match this busy it felt more like an intermission than a change of personality.

Trajbalajka entered the action after the pause and immediately caught hemeroid with the Flak Cannon at 498 seconds. The tenth minute then became rush hour: ten kills, the busiest minute of the match. Vulgarus accelerated through Flak and Shock to 24 points and recorded a Double Kill with a Shock Combo on Trajbalajka at 584 seconds. In that very same second Trajbalajka answered with a Rocket Launcher kill on Vulgarus. At the same time another story was beginning to form around a player who had spent much of the match buried below zero: hemeroid.

hemeroid's seven and Jano from range

hemeroid had fallen as low as -3 after repeated self-inflicted losses, but from 539 seconds he produced the longest spree of the match. He killed Trajbalajka with the Enforcer, added Vulgarus one second later for a Double Kill, then removed Jano at 559, 595, 612 and 634 seconds and once more at 679. Seven unanswered kills dragged his score back into positive territory and turned a messy score line into the standout individual streak of the game. Vulgarus finally ended it with a Shock Combo at 683 seconds.

Jano meanwhile delivered the longest hit of the match. At 697 seconds he killed hemeroid with the Redeemer from 57.8 metres, the only kill beyond 50 metres. Jano also had a high average kill distance of 16.5 metres, but attrition hurt him: six suicides and an average life of only 23 seconds. Vulgarus, by contrast, survived 47 seconds on average and collected twice as many items as Jano, 18 to 9. That gave him more room to rebuild attacks even after his own falls and point losses.

A finish without questions

Vulgarus made the road to 30 harder for himself. Lava at 637 seconds and an unknown cause at 654 pulled him from 24 points down to 22, and later, after killing hemeroid, another fall cost him one more point. Even so, nobody closed the gap enough to reopen the contest for first place. Jano kept scoring against Trajbalajka, Rucha and hemeroid and reached his final 16 at 854 seconds, but Vulgarus controlled the closing stretch.

From 809 seconds came the decisive finish: Jano, hemeroid and Jano again pushed Vulgarus to 26. Rucha stopped him with the Flak Cannon at 836, but the leader continued. An Enforcer kill on hemeroid made it 27, a rocket on Jano made it 28, and hemeroid fell again at 891 for point 29. Fourteen seconds later Vulgarus ended the match exactly as he had started it—with a Rocket Launcher kill on Jano. The final 30:16 was emphatic, and the last frag underlined the central rivalry of the night.

Match moments

• Vulgarus claimed First Blood with a Rocket Launcher kill on Jano at 19 seconds.
• Jano led 4:2 at 85 seconds, then lost a point to his own rocket three seconds later.
• After the 5:5 tie, Vulgarus surged to 9:5 and never lost the lead again.
• The tenth minute produced a match-high 10 kills.
• hemeroid recorded the longest spree: seven kills from 539 to 683 seconds.
• Jano hit hemeroid with a Redeemer from 57.8 metres, the longest kill of the match.
• Vulgarus won the main head-to-head duel with Jano 21:8 in kills.
• Vulgarus scored the final point for 30:16 with a rocket on Jano at 905 seconds.

DM-Shrine did not deliver a flawless win; it delivered a win by the player who survived his own mistakes better than everyone else. Vulgarus had four suicides and gave away points late, yet 34 kills, 18 collected items, a much longer average life and a dominant direct record against Jano built a reserve nobody erased. Jano owned the sharpest opening and the longest hit, hemeroid the best spree, Trajbalajka a short but visible cameo, and Rucha even managed to drop the leader. The scoreboard still ended with a simple statement: Vulgarus 30, Jano 16, hemeroid 9, Rucha 0, and Trajbalajka 3 before leaving early.