September has seen London play host to its first Major Counterstrike tournament and with proceedings in full swing, the playoffs have not disappointed. The preliminary rounds had already thrown in their fair share of surprises with Fnatic, Cloud9 and G2 taking early exits after the second round.
The opening quarter final fixture saw a steady performing BIG face off against title hopefuls NaVi in what was pitted to be a hotly contested fixture. German contenders BIG were looking to build on their success in the second round, bolstered by the services of lone Brit Owen ‘Smooya’ Butterfield and the UK crowd, the semi finals were a genuine possibility.
Smooya had proved his worth prior to the playoffs with an affirmative display that saw his performances unrivalled by any other player at the tournament. NaVi’s resident Talisman Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev had come close, but would need to deliver a flawless counter-display if Smooya continued his run of form.
Dust 2 opened the fixture, a map which had proved very successful for BIG in many matches prior. Despite their previous run of form, NaVi went against the grain, with a ruthless team performance which saw BIG immediately thrown onto the back foot. Smooya and co. showed individual glimmers of brilliance but lacked any bite during what proved to be the game’s decisive moments.
S1mple’s performance showcased why he is arguably the World leader, with an early 2vs1 clutch to cripple BIG’s economy, whilst Edward and Electronic’s defensive displays took the Ukrainian side into a dominant 13:2 halftime.
There was little let up after the half, BIG lost the second pistol round and ultimately the first map as NaVi pulled the rug from under their feet, armed with just a MAC-10, Edward sealed the win despite having the odds stacked against him in a 2 vs 1 offence on the B site.
NaVi had a significant upper hand going into the second match, stepping onto a Nuke map which has proved to be a reliable backdrop for the side in previous fixtures. BIG knew full well that they had it all to do if they were to give back to the support of Smooya’s home crowd. Ultimately, NaVi ensured that there was no way back for the Berlin side as the Ukrainians stood true to their name and closed out the half before shortly taking the second map in a routine 16:6 victory.
Thursday's second bout saw Complexity take on a fledgling MIBR side looking to get back to winning ways since a rampant 16:0 thrashing at the hands of title favourites Astralis.
Train played host as the opening map between the two sides and it didn't take long for the former Cloud 9 and SK roster to dictate the state of play. Coldzera and Fer were both quick off the bat, with Tarik and Stewie2k in hot pursuit. The North American roster which featured UK talent Dephh, were short of answers to their opponents’ onslaught, a shortcoming which saw them slump to a 4:11 deficit at the interval. Complexity had dug deep to earn some much needed rounds, but it wasn't to be as MIBR struck back to take first blood with a 16:4 turnover from map one.
The NA side's decision to play Inferno would prove to be the decisive map in the fixture and the most exciting match of the day. Dephh went huge with an assertive four-k, much to the delight of his home crowd as Complexity went into the interval leading 8-7. MIBR looked to have dipped in form with a lacklustre performance by their standards, but it was the Brazilians who turned the tides back into MIBR’s favour, Stanislaw’s last ditch effort to reclaim the A site was clinically finished by Fer to see MIBR take the second map 16:12 and proceed to the Semi-Finals against NaVi on Saturday.
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