VeryGames win StarSeries VII

VeryGames have become SLTV StarSeries VII champions after defeating Astana Dragons 3-0 in the grand final (16-12 on de_mirage_ce, 16-9 on de_inferno_se), winning $7,500 in the process.

The rematch of yesterday's upper bracket final was set to be played in a best-of-five mode, with VeryGames having an automatic 1-0 advantage due to coming from the upper bracket.

It started on de_mirage_ce, which Astana won 16-12 in their encounter the day before, but the very beginning hinted at how this would play out.

Astana planted the C4 in the A bombsite, but before they could get into action, VeryGames smoked everything off and defused, going up 1-0.

Having still scored kills and survived, Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow prompted his team to buy in the second round, but it completely backfired as they were barely able to scratch their opponents.

After going up 3-0, VG tried to change things around and go aggressive, but it didn't pay off, and a round later Karasiow's 1-on-3 stopped VG's defuse and made the score 3-2.

SmithZz top fragged on mirage with 29:17

With both teams low on money, round 6 was worth double and it was the Frenchmen who came out on top, which eventually propelled them to a 7-2 lead, courtesy of some great actions by Edouard "SmithZz" Dubourdeaux.

However, the next five rounds went Astana's way and the score stood even at 7-7 before Nathan "NBK" Schmitt surprised his enemies with a SCAR-20 purchase, scoring 3 kills to take the lead at the half, 8-7 VeryGames.

Despite getting two entries in the second pistol, the Dragons fell to Dubourdeaux's two and Richard "shox" Papillon's three kills in a 3-on-5, setting up an 11-7 lead for the French-Belgian team.

With the full buy coming into play, CTs shut down the A bombsite and started another mini-comeback, later resulting in a 12-12 scoreline and putting VeryGames on the back foot and low on money.  

Kevin "Ex6TenZ" Droolans once again brought out the best in his team, orchestrating a semi-buy which kept them in the lead, before himself going clutch in a 2-on-2 situation inside the B bombsite for 14-12.

Papillon's 3 AK47 headshots singlehandedly put VG on match point, and despite Yegor "markeloff" Markelov's now almost trademark SSG 08 entry kill in round 28, the map concluded 16-12 in favor of VeryGames.

Dragons were in trouble after a must-win map one

The second map was also a repeat from yesterday order, de_inferno_se, and unlike then when VG only managed to take 4 terrorist rounds, this time they had a flying start.

Dubourdeaux continued riding his great form from map one and scored three kills, with Papillon adding two to secure the pistol and eventually a 3-0 lead.

During the first buy round Schmitt sneaked around the A bombsite, taking out two members and securing what would turn into a 5-0 advantage, already surpassing his team's T-side total from the day before.

Dragons then finally started winning rounds, but a grenade suicide from Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev paved way to Papillon's 1-on-4 clutch for 6-3.

Even though Astana consolidated and won the next five rounds, the last one of the half went to VG, and so did yet another pistol round (4 out of 4) making the score 8-8.

After a necessary eco, Karasiow instructed his team to buy in the third round despite having no bomb plants earlier, but it once again backfired as VeryGames' defense for the coming situation was perfect.

shox is a solid candidate for the MVP of the tournament after another strong performance

Being up 11-8, they did drop one round, but from that point on they defended against every attack in an almost perfect manner, getting the entry kills and executing retakes well.

Astana's best chance to get back into the game was actually an eco round at 13-9, but some easy shots were missed by Sukhariev and his teammates before that, and VeryGames were only minutes away from victory, 14-9.

And so it was, the last two rounds also showed Astana had no answer to their opponents' setup and the French-Belgian squad triumphed 16-9 on de_inferno_se, 3-0 overall to clinch the SLTV StarSeries VII title and a $7,500 cheque.

Final standings of SLTV StarSeries VII:

1. VeryGames - $7,500
2. Astana Dragons - $4,000
3. NiP - $2,000
4. fnatic - $1,500

In its fourth season since introducing CS:GO, SLTV StarSeries received a fourth different champion, as VeryGames followed in the steps of ESC Gaming, Virtus.pro and NiP.