The results of the League's annual summer cyber tournament, traditionally held during the break for exams and national team matches, have been finalized.
For the first time, the Cyber Cup games took place not on the green pitches of EA FC, but in Counter-Strike 2—a rather unconventional discipline for football players. The change of scenery allowed the guys to take a break from their usual routine, while the team spirit of the shooter brought the clubmates even closer together.
The footballers of Pavlodar's "Irtysh" emerged as the winners: goalkeeper Bekzhan (bekxson, anchor and captain) Muratbek, midfielders Zhusuphan (jon1s, entry fragger) Egimbay and Danil (li1qu, sniper) Kapitonov, as well as forwards Tamerlan (Sho1xlw, rifler) Shokanov and Saveliy (horny2nightt, anchor) Dorozhkin.
The team won its group against "Zhaiyk", "Ontustik", "Okzhetpes", "Zhenis", and "Ordabasy", effortlessly securing a ticket to the offline stage held at the Lan Arena in Almaty. "Zhaiyk", "Caspiy", "Astana", "Altai", "Shakhter", "Zhas Kyran", and "Aktobe" also qualified for the quarterfinals.
Before the playoffs began, every player on the Pavlodar team was confident of the ultimate success, and their intuition did not fail them. In the quarterfinals, "Irtysh" confidently dealt with "Altai"—13:2, 13:3. Zhusuphan and Danil entered the top 5 players of this stage with ratings of 1.93 and 1.80, respectively. The other top 4 participants were "Zhas Kyran", "Shakhter", and "Caspiy".
The second day of the LAN stage began for the northerners with a match against "Zhas Kyran". Earlier, "Shakhter" and "Caspiy" played their semifinal matches—the Aktau team advanced, making a comeback after losing on the first map (13:16, 13:5, 13:3). "Irtysh", on the other hand, secured a more convincing victory over the Almaty side (13:1, 13:4).
Thus came the turn for the long-awaited grand final. "Irtysh" chose the Overpass map for the first game, while "Caspiy" settled on Anubis. Nuke was selected for the deciding match, but it remained unplayed: the Pavlodar team won with scores of 13:1, 13:4.
As a result, the "Irtysh" players lifted the long-awaited trophy, and all semifinal participants were awarded commemorative medals.
An interesting fact is worth noting: the Pavlodar entry fragger Zhusuphan Egimbay is the younger brother of Yernazar Dyusekov, the champion of the first QJ League Cyber Cup held in 2023. Back then, the League players competed in FIFA—but this weekend, jon1s proved that his family is great at shooters as well.
The break is coming to an end, and now the cyber tournament participants are returning to football—the Freedom QJ League will return as early as June 13.
