Cloud9 eliminate Winstrike from the Major

Cloud9 survive a Winstrike come back in a match that went to overtime and win 19-16 on Inferno to stay alive in London.

An aggressive play down middle on the CT side of Inferno by Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta gave Cloud9 the first two frags of the match, which Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk then followed up with a double of his own to take the first pistol round of the match. After losing the pistol buy in a round that took Cloud9 to the limit, Winstrike were able to get on the board with a forcebuy on A that Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim & co. failed to read as they only had two players on A site that got quickly overrun. With a proper buy, Cloud9 were able to reset Winstrike for a 4-1 lead, following it up with a great read and stopping the Russian team’s B push to force them back on an eco.

Up 6-1, Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham was able to clutch a 1vs2 in a three-kill round on an afterplant on A to keep his team’s roll going. Up 8-1, Skadoodle once again made a big play, singlehandedly stopping three Winstrike players from making it on site to further increase his team’s lead. It was finally on the 13th round that Winstrike were able to get a second on the board, following it up with a clean take of the B site. Cloud9 took the last round to make it 12-3 at the half.

The second pistol round saw the American-European team make their way up mid and jump into the A site to plant the bomb in a 1vs4. Having won the round it seemed Cloud9 sealed the fate of Winstrike, but a strong defense on B after an opening frag by Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov with the CZ saw C9’s attack crumble. After Winstrike made it to 6 rounds the first gun round of the second half kicked off with a slow round that ended in Cloud9 planting on A in a 2vs1 which they were able to win to make it 14-6 as Savelii "⁠jmqa⁠" Bragin ran out of time to defuse despite getting the two frags.

A crucial round came with Winstrike having to play with one M4, a shotgun, and three pistols, that the Russian-Lithuanian team was able to win as Aurimas "⁠Kvik⁠" Kvakšys and Boombl4 came out big with CZ doubles. Slowly but surely Winstrike got their momentum going, making it to double digits while not allowing Cloud9 to hit match point, 10-14. Showing superiority on the CT side, Winstrike made it to within two, and further making it worst for Cloud9 as they stopped a B split to make it a one-round match, 13-14. Playing against an eco, they then tied it up, 14-14, bringing the match down to the line. Double openers from William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba on A then swayed the balance on his team's favor going into the last round. Two well-timed frags by Gregory "⁠balblna⁠" Oleinick from Apartments and Boiler then helped his team force overtime, making it 15-15.

Cloud9 then opened the extra innings winning the first round, still on the attacking side, and followed it up with an A execute to leave Winstrike's economy in shambles. Having swept the side, Cloud9 jumped into the CT side with three match points. On their way to winning the match, balblna clutched a 1vs3 in a four-kill round for him to keep it alive. With a wallbang kill on STYKO, Winstrike hit B with a 5vs4 advantage but Cloud9 were able to bring it to 3vs3 and win the retake to close it out 19-16.

The standings after the first team is eliminated from the New Legends stage are: