StarSeries S3 Finals: Day 1 results, Day 2 schedule

The StarSeries i-League Season 3 finals kicked off today with all 16 teams competing in a Best of 1 match to start the swiss system.

The first match of the finals saw Danish team North face Brazilian outfit Immortals on Cobblestone. The pair most recently met in a best of three series at IEM Katowice three months ago. Immortals won that series 2-1.

The Danes started well and picked up the t-side pistol round. Immortals won the first gun round of the game, but the following round ‘MSL’ won a post-plant 1v3 to give his team a 4-1 lead. Immortals picked up two rounds out of the next six seeing the score 7-3. ‘MSL’ and his men would control the game from there, though, as they won the next five rounds to take a half-time lead of 12-3. It went from bad to worse for Immortals as North won the ct-side pistol round and the following two rounds to take the game 16-3.

North 16-3 Immortals

The second match of the day saw Virtus.pro take on massive underdogs MVP Project. The map was Mirage.

The Korean side managed to pick up the first pistol on the ct-side with a B site stack. MVP managed to win the following two ant-eco rounds and lead 3-0 early on. Unfortunately for the underdogs, this was where the uphill battle started. VP won the first gun round followed by the next two to make the score 3-3. Excluding a 1v3 clutch from XigN, VP won the remainder of the first half rounds to take an 11-4 lead heading onto the ct-side.

MVP’s chanced of a comeback disintegrated when VP won the second half pistol. It was followed a ‘ninja defuse’ inside of a smoke by TaZ which saw the Poles at match point shortly before they closed out the game.

Virtus.pro 16-4 MVP Project

The third match of the day saw a much more competitive battle than the first two. Former Major champions SK Gaming took on TyLoo’s newly formed line-up. The map was Mirage.

TyLoo took advantage of a B apartments push by ‘TACO’ to secure the b bombsite and take the terrorist side pistol round. FalleN managed to get a pick with his scout in the force-buy round which saw SK shatter TyLoo’s anti-eco round. SK picked up the following two rounds making the scores 3-1. TyLoo managed to execute some slick takes on the A bombsite to take a 6-3 lead. The pair traded rounds with SK winning some by narrow margins to make the half-time score 8-7 to TyLoo.

TyLoo won their second pistol round on the ct-side and the following anti-eco round. However, SK would again win a P250 eco round which hugely affected TyLoo’s economy. The pair again traded rounds until the score was tied 11-11. SK then took control and allowed only one more round to slip and finally took the map 16-12.

SK 16-12 TyLoo

Defending Major champions Astralis were up next and they took on StarSeries debutantes Counter Logic Gaming (CLG). The map was Train.

The North American outfit started well on the ct-side. Although Astralis managed to plant the bomb in the pistol round, CLG re-took and defused the bomb. Cutler’s triple kill in the third round helped CLG on their way to a surprising 6-0 lead. Xyp9x pulled off a triple kill in the seventh round which helped the Danes secure their first round. CLG lost the following two and had their economy broken. A crucial 1v2 clutch from Xyp9x tied the scores at 6-6. The North Americans dug in, however, and picked up the last three rounds to take the half 9-6.

Similarly to the first half, the t-side were able to get the pistol-round bomb plant. However Astralis, this time one the ct-side, retook the site and defused the bomb. After saving one round, CLG bought the next. With a slick B-site execution the North Americans picked up their first t-side half and clinch a 10-8 lead. Astralis themselves dug-in and would win five rounds in a row to give them a 13-10 lead. The Danes dropped just two rounds on the ct-side and won the game 16-11.

Astralis 16-11 CLG

It was an all-European affair in the next game as FaZe took on HellRaisers. The map was Cache.

Although HellRasiers won the ct-side pistol with an almost flawless round, it was FaZe who took the early lead. Winning a second-round force buy followed by the next four rounds. FaZe would only win one more round in the first half as HellRaisers tightened their defense up and took a 9-6 lead into the second half.

HellRaisers continued to pile the pressure on FaZe after winning the second half pistol followed by the two anti-eco rounds. FaZe’s economy was shattered early in the gun round as ANGE1 cut off rotations and earned himself a triple kill. With their money in tatters, FaZe quickly found themselves on the brink of losing. They managed to string three rounds together but their thoughts of winning were shattered when Bondik clutched a 1v3 holding just a tec-9 and 10HP. HellRaisers clinched the game and a massive upset to go along with it.

HellRaisers 16-10 FaZe

Next up was an intriguing match between Fantic and Gambit. The map was Inferno.

Gambit won the initial pistol round on the ct-side but were broken back when Fnatic won the next round force-buy. Fnatic would control the rest of the first half but dropped the final two rounds seeing the scoreline at the end of the first half 10-5 in the Swedes favor.

Zeus managed to win the second half pistol for Gambit with a triple-kill. His team won the following two rounds to reduce Fnatic’s lead to 10-8. A spectacular display from olofmeister, however, saw Fnatic power on and take the map 16-8.

Fnatic 16-8 Gambit

Perhaps the biggest game of the day was up next as French superteam G2 took on fan-favorites NiP. The map was Inferno.

It was the French team that won the initial pistol round on the ct-side. Quickly getting the double AWP setup on the shox and kennyS, G2 dominated. Stopping NiP at every turn they were leading 8-0. NiP responded by winning two of the next three rounds but G2 shut them down again and took a dominating 13-2 half-time lead.

Xist saved NiP in the second half pistol with a triple-kill as the Swedes looked to mount a comeback. However, a tec-9 a-site execute saw NiP fall to a force-buy round. shox would see off NiP with a 1v2 clutch as G2 took the map 16-6.

G2 16-6 NiP

The final match of the day saw the relatively unknown Chinese outfit UYA take on Na’Vi. The map was Inferno.

The first half went as expected, in the favor of Na’Vi. Winning the initial pistol and controlling the half throughout the CIS team took a 12-3 lead into the second half.

The Chinese team managed to show more resolve in the second half and tripled their round score from the first half. Winning the pistol and breaking Na’Vi’s economy allowed UYA to gain the rounds but it was just a matter of time. Na’Vi would eventually be on the buy and see out the game 16-9.

Na’Vi 16-9 UYA

The full schedule of matches for tomorrow are below as the swiss system continues.

Wednesday, April 5th 2017
10:00 – Gambit vs. TyLoo (0-1)
11:30 – 5POWER vs. CLG (0-1)
13:00 – FaZe vs. Immortals (0-1)
14:30 – Astralis vs. North (1-0)
16:00 – G2 vs. HellRaisers (1-0)
17:30 – fnatic vs. Natus Vincere (1-0)
19:00 – NiP vs. MVP Project (0-1)
20:30 – Virtus.pro vs. SK (1-0)