Renegades qualify for ESL One Cologne over OpTic

Earlier on Friday, the upper bracket final between Renegades and OpTic had seen the Australia-based team sweep the Green Wall 2-0 to secure a spot in the grand final, earning an automatic one-map advantage. Sent to the lower bracket, OpTic faced off against eUnited in the consolidation final, in which the all-Danish lineup beat the North Americans 2-0 to get a shot at revenge on Renegades.

The grand final kicked off on Renegades map pick, Inferno, where Noah "⁠Nifty⁠" Francis picked up three headshots in the first pistol round to put his team in the lead. Renegades went on to claim the anti-ecos and two more before OpTic could respond with their first (5-1). Swiftly, Renegades came back and marched through the first half, limiting their opponents to just three rounds.

Renegades secure their ticket to Cologne in July

The second half saw OpTic come out of the gate red-hot to quickly earn the second pistol and the following anti-ecos; however, with money in the bank Renegades were able to secure four CT rounds in a row to take the 2-0 series lead.

The series then moved on to Train, OpTic’s pick, which saw a pair of doubles from Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke and Jakob "⁠JUGi⁠" Hansen secure the T-pistol for the Danes before Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage’s triple with the CZ-75 evened things out in the following round. From there, Renegades racked up four defensive rounds in a row to take a 5-1 lead, but the Green Wall contested to reduce the deficit, eventually tying the game at 6-6.

The two sides went back and forth before OpTic finally topped the first half with an 8-7 scoreline. In the second half, Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer and co. continued to press on the CT-side to win eight straight over Renegades, earning their first map victory.

The final map in the series landed on Renegades’ pick, Mirage, where JUGi created a 1v1 to beat Nifty for the pistol round. The Danes went on to secure the following anti-ecos to make it 3-0, but Renegades topped the first gun round and picked up two more to tie the score (3-3). The two sides briefly traded rounds until Renegades finally got the edge and tacked on five in a row to secure a 10-5 half-time lead.

OpTic secured the second pistol round with ease, but it didn’t take Renegades long to snap back into things with three straight. From there, Renegades kept OpTic’s economy to a minimum and won the remaining rounds they needed to punch their ticket to ESL One Cologne.

ESL One Cologne 2018 North America Closed QualifierBest of 5

Renegades

Matchpage

3

1

26th May 2018

OpTic

1

Default

0

16

Inferno

6

7

Train

16

16

Mirage

9

Renegades	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostadjkaem	60 - 53	+7	95.6	81.4%	1.37
Noah 'Nifty' FrancisNifty	55 - 37	+18	71.6	78.6%	1.25
Karlo 'USTILO' PivacUSTILO	49 - 43	+6	74.9	68.6%	1.10
Justin 'jks' Savagejks	45 - 43	+2	69.8	72.9%	1.04
Aaron 'AZR' WardAZR	37 - 53	-16	65.6	68.6%	0.84

OpTic	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
René 'cajunb' Borgcajunb	55 - 47	+8	76.4	78.6%	1.14
Nicklas 'gade' Gadegade	43 - 49	-6	69.8	68.6%	0.99
Kristian 'k0nfig' Wieneckek0nfig	49 - 51	-2	76.8	62.9%	0.97
Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferSnappi	45 - 51	-6	70.4	68.6%	0.94
Jakob 'JUGi' HansenJUGi	37 - 49	-12	59.1	70.0%	0.93

ESL One Cologne will run from July 3-8, with the playoffs being held at the Lanxess-Arena. With Renegades topping the North American qualifier, only three spots remain in the $300,000 tournament remain up for grabs. Two teams will come from the European qualifier, while the last will be determined by the GG.BET Majestic Champion.

The team list for the event looks as follows:

Astralis	BIG
Cloud9	FaZe
fnatic	G2
Liquid	MOUZ
Natus Vincere	Ninjas in Pyjamas
SK	BOOT-d[S]
Renegades	Qualifier
Qualifier	GG.BET Majestic winner