Cloud9 outlast BIG, advance to ELEAGUE Invitational grand final

Cloud9 have advanced to the ELEAGUE CS:GO Invitational's grand final after topping the group with a narrow 2-0 victory over BIG (Cache 16-14, Overpass 16-14).

The series began on Cache, picked by BIG, who got off to a great start on the CT on the back of a pistol round win, as well as Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş picking up a quad-kill and Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik a 1v2 in two of the first three gunrounds, to get off to an 8-1 lead. By the end of the first half, Cloud9 only managed to grab two more rounds, both thanks to key multikills from Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta, while BIG continued their dominance for a 12-3 half.

When the sides switched, so did the momentum as Cloud9 grabbed the pistol round off doubles by Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist and Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey and began to close the gap to just five rounds. BIG responded with one, but they could not string more together and started to struggle on the offense, as flusha turned around a massive 2v4 in his team's favor en route to an 11-13 scoreline.

Although gob b's team clinched the next round, Cloud9 answered once more with flusha and kioShiMa being the heroes of the next two rounds. Jordan "⁠Zellsis⁠" Montemurro then clutched a 1v2 in a dangerous anti-halfbuy on A, helping his team reach match point, and the Frenchman denied Owen "⁠smooya⁠" Butterfield a 1v3 attempt to secure the huge comeback on the opening map at 16-14.

Overpass followed with Cloud9 taking point on the CT side this time around, as the European side of the team took over the first few rounds, particularly kioShiMa, who stepped up with a double in the pistol and an ace in the second round, in which BIG forcebought.

In the fourth round, XANTARES and Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz started stealing the show, leading their team to a five-round streak before also adding their sixth round shortly after. However, the half still went the way of Cloud9, as autimatic ended the streak with a triple from the flank and kioShiMa grabbed another triple en route to a 9-6 lead.

The start of the second half saw BIG retake the lead with five in a row and they looked poised to equalize the series when they reset their opponents after the two sides traded a couple of rounds. That led to 13-10 scoreline in their favor, but things would soon turn sour when Cloud9 finally found a way to break through the defense with three in a row. Not even gob b's quad-kill in a 3v5 situation was enough to save BIG's chances, as they got reset and Cloud9 went on to win the map 16-14 and the series 2-0.