Cloud9 reeled off a second straight dominant performance Friday to headline the first four teams to clinch spots in the playoff bracket at the Roobet Cup.
Playing out of Group B for the second straight day, Cloud9 again produced a 2-0 blowout over Astralis to finish 2-0 in the group stage.
Three other teams earned berths in next week’s playoff bracket. BIG outlasted FaZe Clan 2-1 to take the top spot in Group A, ENCE rallied for a 2-1 win over MOUZ to claim Group C and forZe finished atop Group D by virtue of a 2-0 sweep over 9z Team.
The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event features 16 teams battling for a prize pool of $250,000, with the winner earning $150,000. The teams are divided into four groups, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the playoffs.
All group stage matches are best-of-three. The playoffs are single elimination and also best-of-three.
Cloud9 made quick work of Astralis on Friday, winning by the same 16-7 score on Overpass and Mirage, scoring the final eight points of the match. Cloud9’s plus-36 point differential is best of any team in the event by far, with no other squad at plus-10 or higher.
Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov of Russia led the way for Cloud9, sporting a match-best 47 kills and plus-24 kills-to-deaths differential. Asger “Farlig” Jensen topped the all-Danish Astralis unit with 31 kills.
BIG had a much tougher time claiming victory against FaZe. The opening map was tightly contested, with BIG winning 16-14 on Dust II after mounting a furious comeback, scoring the map’s last 10 points. FaZe evened the match, ending with a 6-0 run on Nuke for an 16-11 victory. But BIG built an early 8-2 lead, riding it to a 16-12 win on Overpass.
The all-German BIG lineup featured Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz, who tallied a team-high 63 kills, and Florian “syrsoN” Rische, who posted a plus-10 K/D ratio. Norway’s Havard “rain” Nygaard led all players with 71 kills.
MOUZ got the first jump on ENCE, taking the first map 16-13 on Mirage. ENCE took control from there with lopsided scores on Nuke (16-8) and Overpass (16-4) for the match triumph. Poland’s Olek “hades” Miskiewicz recorded match highs for ENCE with 58 kills and a plus-21 K/D differential. Adam “torzsi” Torzsas put up 56 kills for MOUZ.
forZe trailed 7-0 to start their battle on Mirage, but rallied to win 16-14 for a 1-0 lead. forZe then used a match-ending 8-1 spurt for a 16-9 cllincher on Dust II. Four forZe players topped 40 kills in a well-balanced attack, with Russian Alexandr “shalfey” Marenov notching a match-best 45. Franco “dgt” Garcia of Uruguay had 38 kills for 9z.
Four elimination matches are slated for Saturday:
–Group A, Entropiq vs. OG
–Group B, Complexity vs. Movistar Riders
–Group C, Eternal Fire vs. Imperial Esports
–Group D, Outsiders vs. FURIA Esports
The four decider matches are all scheduled for Sunday:
–Group A, FaZe Clan vs. Entropiq-OG winner
–Group B, Astralis vs. Complexity Gaming-Movistar Riders winner
–Group C, MOUZ vs. Eternal Fire-Imperial Esports winner
–Group D, 9z Team vs. Outsiders-FURIA Esports winner
Roobet Cup prize pool
1. $150,000
2. $50,000
3-4. $15,000
5-8. $5,000
9-12. no money
13-16. no money
–Field Level Media
