Grayhound beat TYLOO to secure StarLadder Major spot

Grayhound have punched their ticket to the StarLadder Major's New Challengers Stage after taking down TYLOO 2-1 in the Asia Minor's upper bracket final.

Six months after making their first appearance at a Major at IEM Katowice, Grayhound are back in the biggest stage in international Counter-Strike, this time by topping the Asian Minor. The Australian team required three maps to take down TYLOO in a hotly-contested series in which the only one-sided map was the one that they lost, Dust2. The Chinese team, who conceded all six pistol rounds in this match, will now fight for the second spot at the Major in the consolidation final, against MVP PK, on Sunday.

The Australian team came out the brighter of the two sides and were in the lead for the vast majority of their CT side on Inferno. TYLOO kept struggling to break through the Grayhound defence but came fighting back towards the end of the half, bringing the deficit to a solitary round.

The early stages of the second half were all about the clutches. First it was, Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong who won the pistol round with a clutch behind the new box. Then, WingHei "⁠Freeman⁠" Cheung replied with a 1v2 of his own with a Desert Eagle, with TYLOO riding that momentum to a 14-10 lead.

It seemed like the Chinese team had the game under control, but it all fell apart from there. Grayhound exploited some gaping hopes in the A defence and made TYLOO pay dearly for some questionable decisions late in the game, resulting in a massive comeback and a 16-14 victory for the Australian side.

TYLOO shook off the pain from that defeat and put up a commanding performance on Dust2, their opponents' map pick. After an unsuccessful pistol round, TYLOO hit back with a quad-kill by Hansel "⁠BnTeT⁠" Ferdinand with a Scout, and set a water-tight defence for the remainder of the half to cruise to a 14-1 lead.

Grayhound still attempted a response in the second half, but a comeback was simply beyond them as TYLOO calmly wrapped things up in the 22nd round to take the series to Train.

dexter's charges got off to a strong start on the decider map and jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but then they struggled to keep the TYLOO players at bay, with the Chinese side keeping the pace very high to end the half on top by the slightest of margins.

The second half began at a frenetic pace, with rounds going back and forth and neither side able to get a grip on the game. With Liam "⁠malta⁠" Schembri leading the charge on the SG, Grayhound hit match point at 15-11 following a five-round streak, but then they surprisingly fell off the pace. Unable to strike the finishing blow, the Australians saw TYLOO make a climb back into the game, ultimately forcing overtime with a 1v2 clutch by BnTeT.

The first overtime could not determine a winner as TYLOO let three match points slip. Grayhound, who had malta to thank for the comeback thanks to his nail-biting 1v2 clutch, then put up another flawless CT performance before locking down the map in the second half to seal passage to the Major.

The StarLadder Major's New Challengers Stage will run from August 23-26 at the Verti Music Hall, where 16 teams, 11 of whom determined by the Minors and the Minor Play-In, will duke it out for eight spots in the New Legends Stage.

The team list for first stage of the Major currently looks as follows: