Game 1: SK 6 - 3 Spacestation
Map: Consulate
SK: Mint, Hotancold, Jarvis, Pojoman, Nyx
SSG: Shuttle, Chala, Thinkingnade, Redeemer, Rampy
In our first matchup of the evening a motivated SK gaming would take on the number 1 seeded Spacestation Gaming in a battle that tightens up the top half of the standings. The two teams met on Consulate where SK banned Thermite and Echo, while SSG removed Ying and Valkyrie.
The match started off with SK on attack, wasting no time executing their strategy. In round 1 they would employ a setup on the back of the main lobby bomb site, where Capitao fired down 2 smoke bolts. One to cover the sightline from the tellers hallway, and another to cover the double door of the main lobby. While one member of SK then rushed down spiral stairs for a kill, Hotancold ran through the lobby smoke planting the defuser just 55 seconds into the round. While this round looked locked down in SK’s favor, a lapse in post plant coverage after good pressure from SSG allowed the defense to recover and destroy the defuser to steal a victory. Round 3 would give us more excitement as the defuser was planted in garage in a 2v2 with just 2 seconds on the clock. After being left in a 1v2 and given only a small sightline to the plant, Hotancold would rotate over to yellow stairs to pick up both unsuspecting defenders and give his team a 2-1 lead.
After the side switch with SK in the lead 4-1, SSG would show some life with a couple close rounds. Round 6 had Rampy left in a very low health 1v2 as defuser was planted in kitchen. Picking up Mint near lockers to make it a 1v1, Rampy then rotated over to garage and waited for his opponent to make a play. Nyx attempted to follow but with time running down, had to commit to disarming the defuser and Rampy picks up the easy kill. SSG found another close win in round 8 where after a C4 stopped their lobby plant attempt with just 10 seconds remaining, they were able to recover, get the defuser down with just 3 seconds left and take out Pojoman for the win. SK however would finish this match in the next round in a battle for upstairs control. SSG found an opportunity with the Pulse being picked off first, but Mint would respond with a Smoke shotgun 2k. With kill traded back and forth and the round coming down to the wire, SSG was forced to rotate to the lobby to try and get the defuser down. In an SSG favored 2v1 with zero seconds on the clock, and the planter unfortunately being marked by a default camera, Jarvis is able to get an easy kill through the floor and give SK the 6-3 win.
SK has found new life recently and have been using their experience playing together for so long to their advantage. Their executions on both sides of the bomb as well as their ability to trade kills is making them a serious threat to the top of the North American standings.
The second scheduled match of the day was Cloud9 v Rogue. This match would be forfeited by Cloud9 for being unable to show due to travel requirements for DreamHack Valencia this weekend. Rogue was reportedly asked if they would grant a rescheduling of the match and declined. This default victory awards Rogue a 6-0 victory and 3 points. Cloud9 is also given a 0-6 loss which puts them solely in last place in the North American standings, and puts a potentially devastating dent in their round differential.
Map: Coastline
EG: Necrox, Yung, BC, Nvk, Canadian
Mouz: Beastly, Vandal, Neptunez, VertcL, Hyper
In what became our second match of the day, Evil Geniuses and Mousesports would get into a 9 round fragging battle. Yes you read that correctly, a 9 round tie ending in 5-5. With a draw occuring in round 8, both teams were awarded a point and so the match came to an end without needing 10 rounds. For operator bans EG would remove Ying and Mira while Mouz banned Glaz and Echo.
EG would get off to a hot start with 2 relatively easy rounds but Mouz was able to answer back in round 3 as VertcL started to find his groove. In round 5 with Mouz defending kitchen, EG would come out on top with a 3-2 lead thanks to a little bit of luck as Hyper and Neptunez missed crucial kills on Canadian and nvK respectively, both just being able to escape with slivers of health. After the side switch EG started with an early pick onto Hyper as Canadian basically just stood directly behind a window, but VertcL would take control with drone intel from his team. Starting off by killing both roamers he would then move onto theater room where he downed BC with a grenade. While prepping the second to finish off BC, Canadian rotated over to try and revive his downed teammate and both were eliminated with the explosion. Moving into the main area of penthouse VertcL was able to find the last remaining member of EG and finish him off for the ace.
Into round 8 Hyper would start with 2 kills, one trading out Canadian and then picking up nvK as he rotated around to try and respond. After a few more trades Beastly was left in a 1v2 in the kitchen where he was able to kill BC and face off against the smoke of Necrox. The two would meet near the 1F bathroom and end up killing each other which would end the round in a draw, awarding both teams 1 point to make the score 5-4 in favor of Mouz. EG however wouldn’t go down without a fight, and after having nvK literally disappear in front of our eyes from a disconnect, they were still able to take the round giving us our 5-5 result.
This game was an absolute frag fest with only 2 defuser plants, both of which came from EG. VertcL and Vandal once again sit atop their team with double digit kills, while Canadian put on a great slaying performance for his team especially in the absence of any major presence from nvK.
Game 3: Obey 6 - 4 Noble
Map: Oregon
Obey: Skys, MahMan, Bosco, Benji, Adam
Noble: Krazy, Breezy, Heavy, Yeti, ZZ
In our final match of the day, second seeded Noble took on an Obey squad hungry for their first win. This match-up took us to Oregon where Noble would ban Maestro and Thatcher, however not for his assumed intention. Obey would answer with Ying and Mute to answer the Thatcher ban.
Starting with Noble’s defense in round 1 they brought us to the ever uncommon tower and rear stage bomb site. Here the Thatcher ban would show its true intent in the Noble strategy. Normally you would assume that Thatcher is banned so the defense is able to jam the laundry room hatch with Mute, hence Obey’s answer in the ban phase. Noble however went to tower first and used bandit to block off the entryway to the attic above meeting hall. This threw a wrench into Obey’s attack and caused them to try and find a solution for nearly half the round. They would end up pushing through the exterior 2nd floor tower windows with the assistance of a Lion drone, but after a few back and forth trades Noble would take the victory.
Round 2 would continue to be wild as we would now travel to the kitchen. Yeti would manage a 3k here and while Heavy’s Echo would manage to stop multiple plant attempts, he would also pick up a detrimental teamkill onto Krazy. Skys was then able to finish off the Echo and give his team a tie at 1-1. The next few rounds brought us back to the standard bomb sites where Noble would take back their lead and go into Obey’s defense 3-2.
Switching sides however would prove deadly for Noble. Obey would take 3 straight after big kills across the board with Skys and Bosco shining. In Round 8 with Obey forced into a kitchen defense of their own, Skys combat crawled across the dining room with attacking smokes down for a plant. He picked up a 2k onto the planter and his cover but Krazy answered back with 2 kills of his own. Noble’s downfall however would come in the form of Bosco’s Smoke, who was able to stay in bathroom for the entire round and keep the map control for his team. In round 10 with Obey on match point, Yeti was left in a 1v2 with defuser planted in dorms. He was able to find one kill but with a synchronized push Skys would take him down and claim his teams first victory.
Obey has recently picked up a new coach, Kenz, to work alongside Snake_Nade and the team. With their recent results of not only this win but a victory in their qualification for the Paris major, Obey looks to climb not only out of last place, but to the top half of the standings.
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Be sure to catch Day 5 of North American Pro League on the officialTwitch andYouTube channels at 8PM EDT. To see all the upcoming games’ schedules, go to our Matches page, and check out completed games’ stats by clicking on the individual games.