NA Day 3: SK recovers, ties all around

Game 1: Rogue 5 - 5 Obey

Map: Consulate

Rogue: Bryan, Easilyy, Slashug, Ecl9pse, Geoo

Obey: Skys, Mahman, Bosco, Benji, Adam

 

 

After a tough loss for both teams in the first day of this super week, Rogue and Obey were both looking to bounce back from suboptimal starts. Consulate would be the map of choice where Rogue banned Blackbeard and Maestro, and Obey decided to remove Hibana and Echo.

 

Both squads would win a majority of their defensive rounds in this match, Obey starting off in their defense of lobby. Rogue would set up a late push after clearing out the top floor, and although they were able to plant the bomb in a 2v4 situation, Mahman would teamkill Benji and give Rogue a chance in a 2v2. However Skys and Bosco would hold strong and set the tone for their team. Immediately following that Rogue would get a decisive victory in a nearly flawless round on a garage attack, and once again in round 3 while attacking upstairs. Obey however would find their footing again, and pull out two rounds in a row to finalize the first side 3-2.

 

Now on defense Rogue would employ a long roam game from Slashug with an uncommon Alibi pick. This was very successful in wasting time and not allowing Obey to find a solid push anywhere earlier than about 35 seconds remaining in any rounds. Round 6 saw Obey only manage a garage push with less than 30 seconds left on the clock, but with getting the plant down in a 2v2 at 0 seconds remaining, Bryan was left alone in a near impossible situation and Obey would take the lead 4-2. The two teams would then trade rounds quickly, giving Rogue the potential to tie in round 10. This would end up in a 5v5 with just 20 seconds left. At around 10 seconds kill trades went back and forth and both teams fought for control of the garage, and finally as the round expired Bosco was left alone with no defuser in hand.

 

Both teams spent a majority of rounds on roam clearing, which while very important for this map, only allowed for a lot of hectic late round site pushes. Most rounds won by attackers only came from early picks and both teams definitely seemed more comfortable on the defense.

Game 2: Noble 5 - 5 Cloud9

Map: Villa

Noble: Krazy, Breezy, Heavy, Acid, Yeti

Cloud9: Laxing, Foxa, Goddess, Shlongii, Retro

 

 

Our first trip to the italian countryside was a thrilling one, as Noble and Cloud9 would go to a full 10 rounds. Noble would start this one off by choosing to ban Lion and Vigil while C9 removed Ying and Pulse.

 

The first round of this one truly set the stage for how close this match would be. Breezy and Retro would end up in a 1v1 with Retro getting the defuser planted with 0 seconds on the clock. Breezy doesn’t take the immediate push, and Retro is able to close it out for the win. Noble would quickly answer back however as Yeti would find a second round ace to tie things up. After another C9 win due in part to a Foxa 3k, Noble would once again answer back with a flawless victory. With Noble’s last defensive round of the match, Shlongii and Retro would take matters into their own hands and give C9 the lead going into the second half.

 

Krazy would start this side strong for his team with a 3k after the defuser had been planted to tie things back up for Noble. Then in round 8 and 9 Acid would give his team their first lead with a 3 and 4 kill round respectively. In round 10 he was almost able to seal the fate of C9 but in a 1v3 that Acid managed to bring down to a 1v1, Foxa clutched up and gave us our second tie of the day.

 

Game 3: SK 6 - 2 EG

Map: Border

SK: Mint, Hotancold, Jarvis, Pojoman, Nyx

EG: Necrox, Yung, BC, Canadian, Nvk

 

 

In the only match of the day that would end in a victory, the result we saw may be a surprise to most. SK was able to bounce back fantastically well against a strong EG team, due in part to some very good choices of operator bans. SK would choose to remove Thermite and Mira, two staples of Border strategy, while EG would ban Zofia and Jager.

 

SK would start this map nearly flawless on defense only losing round 5 to a nice plant setup from EG. The first 4 rounds saw great teamplay from SK, a few multikills from multiple players, and it really looked like they did their research with the confusion that a Thermite ban brings. Going into the side switch, EG would win their first defense on a nice jump out from Canadian, and then a clean up from nvK and BC. SK however would close things out quickly in a contested round 7, and then end the map on a flawless round 8 to give them their first points of the season.

 

Game 4: Spacestation 5 - 5 Mousesports

Map: Oregon

SSG: Shuttle, Chala, Thinkingnade, Redeemer, Rampy

Mouz: Beastly, Vandal, Neptunez, Vertcl, Hyper

 

 

Our last match of the day featured yet another tie game as Spacestation and Mousesports fought it out on Oregon. Here Mouz would ban out Blackbeard and Echo, while SSG took away Glaz and Valkyrie.

 

We started with SSG on defense and Mouz took control with a fantastic early performance from Hyper. He would end up 9-1 through 4 rounds here, but slow down later in the match where Vandal would pick up the slaying duties. From the start we had strong kill trades from both teams and in round 2, with a 5v5 defuser plant at 20 seconds, SSG would manage to pull out a victory after getting Hyper into a 1v2 with Chala going for the destruction of the defuser. Round 4 saw Mouz attacking the dorms and with a synergized push into the site, as well as down below in the kitchen to kill the roamers, they take the victory off of a Hyper 3k.

 

After switching sides SSG would attack the laundry room and basically just ignore the roamers in meeting hall while they were allowed a plant under light site coverage from Mouz. Redeemer would find a 2k stopping anyone from rotating around for a flank, and beastly was left in a tough 1v2. The next round however Mouz put their roamers to good use using them as a late round distraction, and while SSG went for a similar plant as before, some well placed smokes would allow Mouz to hold strong. For round 9 SSG would get themselves to match point with a fast and organized site push, and even with a Vandal 3k SSG is able to get the defuser down for the win.

 

Knowing that they were guaranteed a tie, Spacestation decided to get a little creative with their last attack onto the laundry room. After opening the hatch they would drop 3 people under cover of smoke directly in front of the mira windows on closet. Holding steady, and throwing out some well placed smokes and C4’s. Mouz was able to hold and give us yet another tie game.

 

Spacestation seemed to be a bit more decisive with their site pushes, giving themselves a chance to try and blow their opponents utility earlier, where on the attacking rounds from Mouz things generally came down to the wire which admittedly did seem to work out for them.

 

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Be sure to catch the rest of this weeks play days on the official Twitch and YouTube channels. To see all the upcoming games’ schedules, go to our Matches page, and check out completed games’ stats by clicking on the individual games.