HellRaisers have secured a spot at the offline qualifier for MLG Columbus after beating E-frag 2-1 in the grand final of the Europe Minor Championship (16-11 on de_dust2, 6-16 on de_inferno and 16-6 on de_cobblestone).

The first map of this best-of-three series was dust2, where HellRaisers came out strongly and got out to a 5-0 lead. E-frag then started to put together a small run of rounds but they were never able to get within touching distance of their opponents, who closed out the half with a 9-6 lead.

The second half began with HellRaisers picking up the pistol round thanks to a triple kill from Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk, and they followed it up with the first anti-eco. A third-round buy from E-frag failed to produce any results and forced them to go on eco, but Kamen "⁠bubble⁠" Kostadinov did not let that get in his way, picking up three kills with a USP to give his team their first round of the half.

E-frag were able to carry this momentum into several more rounds and reduced the deficit to 11-13. The Bulgarian team began to believe in a comeback, but HellRaisers called a tactical pause and picked up three rounds straight to seal a 16-11 victory.

STYKO was on fire on dust2 

Map two was de_inferno, HellRaisers' choice, but it was E-frag who came out the brighter, winning five of the first six rounds. HellRaisers then rallied to take the next four rounds and level the score at 5-5, but E-frag dominated the late game and went into the break with a 9-6 lead.

The second half was beginning to look lopsided, with E-frag picking up the first three rounds thanks to a 1vs2 clutch from bubble inside B during the pistol round. In the first gun round, Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný secured three opening kills with the AWP but HellRaisers were unable to capitalise on that and spurned a 5vs2 advantage. With HR's defense in complete disarray, E-frag eventually took the map without conceding a single round in the second half.

E-frag looked dominant on Inferno but were outclassed on cobblestone

The final map was de_cobblestone, where bubble once again went huge, picking up four kills in the pistol round to give E-frag the lead. HellRaisers hit back right after, however, with Emil "⁠kUcheR⁠" Akhundov getting four kills to his name with the Fiveseven. This eco win sparked a great run from Kirill "⁠ANGE1⁠" Karasiow's men, who brought the scoreline to a 4-1 advantage.

E-frag were unwilling to let the map slide however, and fixed their offensive mistakes to equalise the game at 4-4 and then at 5-5. But an impressive quad kill from oskar with the AWP in the 11th round put HellRaisers back in the lead and inspired the team to win five rounds in a row en route to a 10-5 advantage.

HellRaisers further extended their lead by winning the pistol and the corresponding anti-eco rounds, but the first gun round would go E-frag's way. Still, that one round win did little in the way of slowing the momentum of HellRaisers, who won the next three rounds to claim the Minor title.

PGL Regional Minor Championship EuropeBest of 3 HellRaisersMatchpage 2 1 31st January 2016 E-frag.net 16Dust2 11 6Inferno 16 16Cobblestone 6

HellRaisers	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Martin 'STYKO' StykSTYKO	61 - 44	+17	-	1.35
Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastnýoskar	55 - 39	+16	-	1.21
Emil 'kUcheR' AkhundovkUcheR	51 - 44	+7	-	1.13
Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowANGE1	47 - 48	-1	-	0.95
Patrik 'Zero' ŽúdelZero	45 - 46	-1	-	0.92

E-frag.net	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Kamen 'bubble' Kostadinovbubble	63 - 52	+11	-	1.23
Nikolay 'pNshr' PauninpNshr	43 - 48	-5	-	0.92
Viktor 'v1c7oR' Dyankovv1c7oR	41 - 49	-8	-	0.85
Emiliyan 'spyleadeR' DimitrovspyleadeR	39 - 58	-19	-	0.70
Nikolay 'nkl' Krastevnkl	35 - 52	-17	-	0.69

Europe Minor Championship final standings:

1. HellRaisers - $30,000 + MLG Columbus LAN Qualifier spot
2. E-frag.net - $15,000
3-4. Pixelfire - $2,500
3-4. PENTA - $2,500
5-6. CG
5-6. DenDD
7-8. LDLC White
7-8. Lemondogs

Kirill 'ANGE1' Karasiow Age: 26 Team: HellRaisers Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 804 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.70 Martin 'STYKO' Styk Age: 19 Team: HellRaisers Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 216 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.67 Emil 'kUcheR' Akhundov Age: 27 Team: HellRaisers Rating 1.0: 0.97 Maps played: 723 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.68 Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastný Age: 24 Team: HellRaisers Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 235 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.68 Kamen 'bubble' Kostadinov Age: 24 Team: E-frag.net Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 356 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.63