Ghost qualify for DreamHack Masters Stockholm over Rogue

Ghost have sealed passage to DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018 after defeating Rogue 2-0 (16-14 on Nuke and 16-10 on Train) in the North America Closed Qualifier.

Ghost reached the grand final after sweeping Spencer "⁠Hiko⁠" Martin's squad in the upper-bracket; however, in the consolidation final Rogue managed to secure their spot in the grand final, defeating eUnited 2-0.

The first map in the best-of-three grand final was Nuke. Rogue started on the CT-side where Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller held ramp by tapping down three with the USP-S to secure the pistol. Joshua "⁠steel⁠" Nissan and his men then rallied back on the offensive side to win five in a row, before a quad-kill hold from Daniel "⁠vice⁠" Kim snapped the streak (2-5).

Rogue pressed on to add two more to their lead, but a change of pace from Ghost netted them two of their own to make it 7-4. Hiko and his men weren't going down without a fight and topped their following full-buy to sail through the remainder of the first-half, sealing the 8-7 lead at halftime.

The second half saw Ghost take the reins right from the start as CTs, with the first-five rounds going their way, before vice and Hiko put in work on their side, winning three in a row. An aggressive approach from Ghost meant two rounds on the board for them, but a relentless Rogue fired back to equalize the score at 14-14. Matthew "⁠WARDELL⁠" Yu and co. then held on tight to reach map point before sealing the 16-14 victory.

The series then moved on to Train, where steel shutdown Hiko in a 1vs1 in the post-plant to secure the T pistol. Ghost pressed on, securing the anti-ecos and then walking over Rogue's defense for a slated 7-0 lead. However, a lopsided round allowed Rogue some room to secure their first of the half, which then saw the CT-side march on with four in a row (5-7). A stable economy finally relieved Ghost for two rounds, but in the end, vice's triple-kill was enough to settle the first-half, down 9-6.

In the second half, Rogue got off to a flying start on the T-side to secure the pistol and the following anti-ecos to even things out (9-9). Ghost then won a clean retake to regain the lead, but a determined Rogue fired back to equalize the score once again. From there, it was all Ghost on the defense to win the remaining six rounds to secure the 2-0 series and a spot at DreamHack Masters Stockholm.