Three games, three deciders. Who went on, who went home? These questions will be answered in yesterday’s decider showdown. So, no time to wait, let’s get right into the recap.

The 2-2 Bracket

Legacy vs TheMongolz

This wasn’t just a huge game for Mongolian CS, but also a huge game for all of Asian CS, as the Mongolian squad (the youngest in the tournament) would mean an extra RMR spot for the region, and the first Asian team in the Top 16 in 6 years. For Legacy it was a game for a comeback to the Major scene to CS legend Marcelo “Coldzera” David. The map picks gave us two new ones and one classic with Mongolz picking Ancient, Legacy picking Anubis and Inferno being left over. 

The first map started off even with the teams trading wins all the way until Mongolz found their footing on their CT side, winning 7 out of 10 rounds to take a 13:9 win. Heading to Legacy’s map pick of Anubis, the story was similar. A pretty even, 5:7 first half turned into a trouncing as the Mongolian team found themselves playing excellent CT CS for a 13:6 win, and the first Asian spot in the Top 16 since the FACEIT Major in London. For Legacy, it was goodbye, however, coldzera did say he enjoys playing with his new teammates.

Imperial vs GamerLegion

We have a Brazilian team in every match here and Imperial were looking to do better than Legacy as they faced off against Paris finalists GamerLegion. Overpass, picked by the Legion was the first map and it was looking like the Brazilians had the edge as they finished it 9:3 on the CT-Side with 7 straight rounds to end the half. However, GL responded in kind with an excellent CT half of their own, taking the game into overtime where they won 4 straight rounds to head to Imperial’s pick—Mirage.

The first half was all even with the teams trading runs for a 6:6 score. However, Imperial’s superior CT-Side came through with 7 straight rounds for a 13:6 win, sending us to the tiebreaker on Nuke.

Imperial continued their momentum into Nuke, winning their CT half 8:4, before losing a pistol to the Europeans only to bounce back with 5 straight rounds to win the map 13:5 and the whole series 2:1, sending Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski and co. packing, and joining paiN in the Elimination Stage.

SAW vs FURIA

The sensational SAW were looking to make history by having 5 Portuguese players in the Top 16 for the first time ever, while FURIA were trying to return to the top, along with legendary IGL Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo. And it was FalleN who really showed up as the match headed to Vertigo (FURIA), Ancient (SAW) and Overpass. 

The Brazilians took Vertigo by storm, winning 9 rounds on the CT–Side before finishing off SAW in 8 rounds on their T-Side, joining Imperial and paiN in the Elimination Stage, and granting another RMR spot to their region (NA failing upwards, apparently!).

Elimination Stage

So, what’s ahead of us? Big games. Once again, just like in the last round, we have the Swiss bracket and we’re starting off at 0-0 with seeded teams going up against unseeded teams.

Today’s matches:

The storylines to look out for? The continued surge of The Mongolz, the hometown power of Ecstatic, and how the favored Team Spirit will fare against their rivals in Cloud9. All that and more coming up… very soon.