#Cloud9 and #GamerLegion faced off in an elimination or progression match, with one team entering the Challengers Stage 0-2 and the other 2-0. With everything on the line, Cloud9 were successful in winning and moving on to the LegendsStage.
These two teams’ paths to this point could hardly be more dissimilar. GamerLegion can view their outcome as an overperformance because, despite being an underdog, they already exceeded expectations by making the Major.
On the other hand, Cloud9 entered as favorites, was ranked fourth in the IEM Rio Major power rankings by HLTV prior to the competition, and, following a sluggish start in Rio, barely made it through the Challengers stage.
The Match Recap
Dmitry #sh1ro Sokolov, who entered this match as the highest-rated player at the competition, demonstrated why in the first round of Overpass by scoring three kills as Cloud9 won the pistol round. However, the advantage was short-lived as GamerLegion on the CT side re-entered the contest.
GamerLegion was able to completely dominate the first half and extend their advantage to 11-4 thanks to some significant kills on the AWP from Frederik #acoR Gyldstrand and a masterfully executed play on Monster from Nicolas #Keoz Dgus.
Timofey #interz Yakushin found himself in a 1v1 in the pistol round, which GamerLegion won, as he found himself down significantly going into the second half. Interz was once again put in a critical position on the following round, but this time he closed it out. Despite losing the pistol round, Cloud9 was able to secure their force-buy.
On their CT side, the Russians were able to retake the lead by converting eight consecutive rounds. Cloud9 appeared more like themselves on their CT side because they were able to recover rounds even after losing a man advantage or dropping locations. The final score was quite tight, but Cloud9 prevailed 16-13.
The Second Map
Similar to Overpass, Mirage got off to a strong CT-sided start. However, Cloud9 seized the early lead this time. Interz would be put in a crucial clutch situation for the second consecutive map, and once more he would prevail, but following GamerLegion’s comeback, Cloud9 would only lead 8-7 at the half.
In order to avoid being swept in the series, Cloud9’s CT-side defeated their opponents in the first two rounds. They took advantage of their increased financial position and gained an 11-9 advantage thanks to Mihai #iM Ivan’s excellent fragging performance.
However, the advantage would not last long as the score was levelled at 12-12. Each round of the intense game came down to the wire because there wasn’t much separating the two sides. Sh1ro was able to give Cloud9 the 16-13 victory in the last seconds of the second map with the aid of a flying one-tap from Sergey #Ax1Le Rykhtorov.
