Post-Match Roundup | BeNeLux LAN Finals

BeNeLux League Season 1 took place over the last few months to determine the best teams in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg; this saw a LAN final take place last weekend in Haarlem, the Netherlands, to compete for the title of BeNeLux Champions as well as their slice of the €7,500 prize pool. After a 7 week long league the four invited teams were determined to be Team Demise, Big Guns, Flash Point and Trust Gaming which you can read more about here.

 

Semi-Final #1: Trust Gaming vs Flash Point

Trust Gaming: Craxan, Avaiche, Snuf, Leonski and Santos

Flash Point: Deox, Maunikrip, Deapek, Fml and PRESIDENT

The first map of the day saw the fan favourite of Border come out with Flash Point on defence. The map started in a somewhat unusual way with Flash Point choosing to defend the least popular site on the map of Customs/Supply Room with little success for them; Leonski managed to take control of CCTV Room in a very quick double kill allowing his team to press down onto site leading to a 4v1 advantage and a quick clean up by Lion.

Rounds began to be traded back and forth with stand out plays by Leonski in most of them. This was evident in round four as a drawn-out attack by Trust Gaming was given life after a triple kill by Leonski putting them in a 2v2 with little time remaining; this was then cleared up by Snuf killing the remaining defenders to win the round.

The map was now put firmly in Trust’s control as they won the next round putting them on match point at 5-1 however as Flash Point attacked Armoury/Lockers from the A side wall it looked as if they had woken up. A strong flank hold and roamer clear left the attackers up in a 5v2 with 1 minute left and large amounts of objective control but as the attackers pushed into Armoury Leonski pushed back getting a triple kill on Deapek, Fml and PRESIDENT. Leonski now in a 1v2 pushed downstairs and, with little time left on the clock, managed to kill the remaining two attackers through the ceiling from Ventilation Room as they attempted the plant winning what was effectively a 1v5 to take the map 6-1 for Trust Gaming.

Map 2, Oregon, saw no stop to Leonski’s as he managed to get a double kill on Ash finally killed off by a run out by Deox; this 4v2 deficit was too much for Flash Point, however, leading to a fairly simple take by Trust Gaming to take round 1. For the rest of the attacking rounds there was seemingly no stopping Leonski as he managed another ace on round 3 to eventually put his team up 5-0 at the side swap.

However, this lead did seem partly due to a side advantage as Flash Point rushed back into the game now they were on the attack. Very effective crossfires, as well as quick and effective roam clears, led to Flash Point mount a comeback bringing themselves back to 5-4. However, on a Laundry site attack, the attack fell apart due to inefficient candelas not doing their job and well-placed lesions slowing down the last second attack forcing the attackers to run out of time and for Trust Gaming to take the map 6-4 and series 2-0.

 

Semi-Final #2: Big Guns vs Team Demise

Big Guns: AvenTus, Kryen, Farooq, Yas9n and Ma3lish

Team Demise: Kabouter, Dark, Staed, Theo and Neo

The second semi-final also began on Border with much the same story throughout. Round 1 started out with a promising attack by Big Guns onto the Armoury side wall as they put themselves up in a 5v3 situation, however, an aggressive push by Kabouter as Jager helped even out the numbers before a series of trades left Dark in a 1v2 as Echo. Dark pushed forward managing to kill the Ash hiding behind the metal detectors which forced the Farooq off the defuser with zero seconds remaining.

This action-packed first round signalled what looked like a close match-up however this wasn't the case. Despite a series of strong attacking starts by Big Guns getting themselves in multiple men advantages, a 4k by Kabouter and a triple by Dark helped Demise start to run away with multiple rounds.

As Big Guns went onto defense themselves at a 5-0 deficit it looked as if they’d finally get a round victory as they were left in a 3v1 situation against Kabouter; this, however, went horribly for them as a team kill by Yas9n onto Kryen followed up by a KS79 Lifeline kill through the ceiling by Kabouter left it in a 1v1 before the Zofia quickly finished off Ma3lish up through a hatch to end the map 6-0 to Demise

This domination continues into the second map of Bank as Demise rushed into a quick 3-1 lead with little opposition. Big Guns did manage a few more rounds as, in round 5, a slow attack by Ma3lish led to a nice C4 denying the planter in a 2v2 situation and winning the round followed by, in round 7, Farooq winning a tense 1v1 to end a what looked like another 1v3 clutch for Kabouter. This, however, was never enough as Demise had clearly the greater fragging power shown off perfectly in the last few rounds.

Round 8, as Demise was up 4-3, saw what was possibly the best attack of the day by Big Guns as they took control of the site in a 5v1 situation however they neglected to fully check Main Lobby in which Staed was roaming in. Staed managed to find an initial kill onto Ma3lish, the bomb carrier, forcing the remaining attackers to push him rather than the site; Staed managed a nice 180 to take about both AvenTus and Kryen before injuring the bomb planter of Farooq at the zero second mark winning the 1v5 situation.

Demise ultimately won the map in a 6-3 situation, taking the series 2-0 and booking themselves a place in the final against Trust Gaming.

Grand-Final: Trust Gaming vs Team Demise

Trust Gaming: Craxan, Avaiche, Snuf, Leonski and Santos

Team Demise: Kabouter, Dark, Staed, Theo and Neo

The grand final of the BeNeLux League saw these two favourites playoff in a rematch of the very first matchup of the online season in which Demise beat Trust Gaming (then known as gBots Academy Black) 2-0; this meeting, however, would not be a clear win for either team as both pressed for the victory.

Map1, Consulate, began right away as a frag fest as Leonski was left in a 1v2 situation with the bomb already planted; he flanked up the spiral staircase managing to kill Neo in the process before dropping the Meeting Room hatch and winning a messy pistol fight against Theo in time to disarm the defuser.

This was, however, was likely the closest round of the whole map as, despite rounds being won by both sides, the majority of them ended in large 1vX situations. This was largely due to the individual plays seen such as by Leonski, who got a 4k in round 6 and Staed who got a triple kill in round 9 before a flawless round by Team Demise ended the map 6-4

Map 2 was a completely different story, however, as we saw back to back nail-biting rounds won by standout individual plays. One such example was, as four attackers rushed into the Archives bomb site a double by Neo on Maestro helped the defenders end the attack in just five seconds.

After traded rounds Demise finally took a confident lead in round 6 as they rushed the Armoury bomb site, taking control and finishing off the defenders in a perfect round with just under 90 seconds remaining. They then finished out the map as, despite Theo dying with the bomb with just 10 seconds remaining, Kabouter managed a 180 flick to kill the two remaining defenders to win the map 6-2.

This meant for the first time in the Finals the series went all the way to map 3 to decide the BeNeLux victors. Rounds were traded back and forth between teams with little between them up until it hit round 8 with Trust Gaming 4-3 ahead; after a nice set up for a plant by Demise smokes being deployed by the attackers allowed a super aggressive push by Snuf and Aviation. Snuf manages to pre-fire through the smoke to kill Dark planting the bomb before follow up kills by Avaiche, craxan and a final kill by Snuf in a matter of 4 seconds decimated the attack and won the round for Trust.

As Trust were now on the match, series and championship point neither team were willing to take too many risks leading to a final 15-second flurry of kills. With 7 seconds left Neo and Dark were left injured leaving Staed in a 1v3 as Dokkebi; he managed to find the head of Craxan before Snuf finished him off winning the series and title in the process.

The BeNeLux Champions, Trust Gaming, will now represent the region in the Milan Games Week in October as well as playing in the DreamHack Valencia Bring Your Own Computer open event in July.