iNation win Balkan Pro League

The VitalBet Balkan Pro League took place in Sofia, Bulgaria over the weekend where the four top qualifying teams from the online league played the finals out. Eventually, it was Serbia's iNation who came out on top taking the better part of the $5,000 prize.

The LAN finals featured four teams from the region including Buğra "⁠Calyx⁠" Arkın's DarkPassage, Nexus from Romania, iNation from Serbia, and the home team Outlaws, who were to play a double elimination bracket starting on Saturday December 3 and ending on Sunday December 4.

huNter was a big part of iNation's success in Sofia

The first round of matches saw the two favorites and eventual finalists DarkPassage and iNation win 2-0 in their openers vs Outlaws and Nexus respectively. The upper bracket final then had the Serbian-Bosnian side upset the Turkish side by taking the match in a 2-1 nail biter which ended in a third map overtime win on Train, 22-18. 

Nexus eliminated the Bulgarian team straight away in the lower bracket, 2-0, and were then in turn easily swept by DarkPassage who earned a rematch against iNation. This time around, DarkPassage's pick, Mirage, was played first. Nestor "⁠LETN1⁠" Tanić and company won it amply, 16-8, and then took their map, Dust2, 16-12, for a 2-0 win. iNation, which features the likes of Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač, Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač's cousin, and Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković, the 19-year-old rising star from Serbia, bagged the $2,500 first prize and bragging rights in the region.

The stats from the grand final:
VitalBet Balkan Pro League FinalsBest of 3 iNationMatchpage 2 0 4th December 2016 DarkPassage 16Mirage 8 16Dust2 12

iNation	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nemanja 'huNter-' KovačhuNter-	53 - 35	+18	92.4	1.39
Đorđe 'DJOXiC' NiciforovićDJOXiC	38 - 34	+4	85.0	1.35
Nestor 'LETN1' TanićLETN1	42 - 31	+11	82.8	1.34
Nemanja 'nexa' Isakovićnexa	38 - 28	+10	80.2	1.26
Luka 'emi' Vukovićemi	39 - 35	+4	89.0	1.24

DarkPassage	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Buğra 'Calyx' ArkınCalyx	43 - 41	+2	94.4	1.23
Özgür 'woxic' Ekerwoxic	32 - 36	-4	65.2	0.87
Bora 'Maiko' IgciMaiko	33 - 41	-8	70.6	0.87
Muhammed 'mini' Salmanmini	30 - 48	-18	58.5	0.75
Ufuk 'SasuKe' GöktaşSasuKe	25 - 44	-19	59.7	0.60

Final standings:

1. iNation - $2,500
2. DarkPassage - $1,500
3. Nexus - $750
4. Outlaws - $250

DarkPassage #51 Buğra 'Calyx' ArkınÖzgür 'woxic' EkerUfuk 'SasuKe' GöktaşMuhammed 'mini' SalmanBora 'Maiko' Igci Nemanja 'nexa' Isaković Age: 19 Team: iNation Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 76 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.66 Nexus #158 Cătălin-Ionuț 'BTN' StănescuRoberto 'r1d3r' PatruCosmin-Mihai 'cosmeeeN' ButucAdrian 'XELLOW' GuțăCristian 'sXe' Niță Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač Age: 20 Team: iNation Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 97 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.71 iNation #56 Luka 'emi' VukovićĐorđe 'DJOXiC' NiciforovićNemanja 'huNter-' KovačNestor 'LETN1' TanićNemanja 'nexa' Isaković Nestor 'LETN1' Tanić Age: 24 Team: iNation Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 186 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.66 Outlaws #117 Preslav 'acl' PavlovIvan 'Rock1nG' StratievPetar 'Partodis' CholakovTeodor 'SPELLAN' NikolovTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 19 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 484 KPR: 0.82 DPR: 0.70 Buğra 'Calyx' Arkın Age: 18 Team: DarkPassage Rating 1.0: 1.22 Maps played: 159 KPR: 0.83 DPR: 0.63