Image via Ubisoft
Halfway through their SI campaign, Spacestation Gaming are 1-1 in matches, 2-3 in maps.
That might seem like a poor result for a team with their accolades and star power, but so far they’ve only played two of the tournament favorites: FaZe Clan and Team Liquid.
They beat FaZe Clan in what might go down as the most hotly contested match of the group stage, on map three, in round fifteen.
In a do-or-die situation, Spacestation pulled through. “FaZe was just everywhere,” Nathanial “Rampy” Duvall said when asked to recount the final map and round. “The way they attack, it just kinda feels like they’re smothering you … we were just reacting really well to what they were doing.”
As far as margins go, in that match they were thinner than most. FaZe Clan won the first map 7-5 – the maximum amount of rounds played in regulation. The final two maps, won by Spacestation, went to overtime.
Against Liquid, Spacestation managed to push the first map to overtime, but ended up finally losing an overtime map for the first time at SI. The next map was a clean 7-3 win from Liquid.
On paper, Spacestation have played the two toughest opponents in their group, but say they aren’t overlooking anyone. Rampy says that they’re acutely aware of how CAG can overwhelm teams – they scrimmaged against CAG before they played Team Empire in the Mexico Major quarterfinals. Spacestation also cites Rogue’s Sweden Major semifinals placement as an indication that their job is far from over.
“We are definitely not sleeping on [CAG],” Rampy said. He elaborated, saying that while FaZe and CAG don’t play the same, they play similarly – fast. Having three full-speed maps against another fast team is a solid warm-up. “Our group is called the ‘Group of Death’ for a reason,” chimed in Matthew “Hotancold” Stevens.
“We are literally trying to be our best selves, and every day we’re literally trying to do that,” said Spacestation’s coach Justin “Lycan” Woods when asked if they feel they have more to prove. “That’s all we care about.”
A victory over Sweden Major champions FaZe Clan shows the team has grown, Lycan explained. The loss to Liquid shows they still have more room to grow. If their performance against two of the best teams in the world is anything to go by, Spacestation might be living up to their billing as one of the world’s best sooner, not later.
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