MAD Lions secure upper bracket final appearance over Cloud9

MAD Lions were able to beat Cloud9 in two maps after taking the latter's map pick, Inferno, in triple overtime before closing it out on Nuke to advance to the upper bracket final.

MAD Lions and Cloud9 faced off in a match that pitted two of the top four teams from the Flashpoint 1 group stage, with the Danes favored as they reached 150 points across the first two phases to Cloud9’s 125. After winning a triple-overtime map on C9's pick, it was the Danes who were able to proceed through the upper bracket after a 16-7 on Nuke, sending their opponents to face Orgless in the lower bracket.

Inferno kicked off with MAD Lions taking the first three rounds on the CT side after a pistol round in which Fredrik "⁠roeJ⁠" Jørgensen downed three with USP headshots. Doubles by Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery and Josh "⁠oSee⁠" Ohm put Cloud9 on the board, and the American-South African team brought it back to an even 3-3. Back-and-forth rounds made it 5-5 before the Danes were able to take control as Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck downed five players in two rounds to help his team secure a 10-5 lead at the half.

Doubles by Asger "⁠AcilioN⁠" Larsen and roeJ inched MAD Lions closed to match point after the second pistol round, as they made it 12-5 before the first big buy, but Cloud9 made a contest of it snowballing on the CT side with oSee and Aran "⁠Sonic⁠" Groesbeek taking charge in a double AWP setup. Aggressive miss plays by Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou and floppy against an eco helped MAD Lions make it 14-12. Cloud9 were able to straighten the ship and hit match point, but were unable to seal the deal as the Danes forced overtime.

MAD Lions and Cloud9 then squabbled back-and-forth in three overtimes, all of which MAD Lions made map point, but it wasn’t until the last of the three that they were able to close it out thanks to an A-site defense by sjuush, AcilioN and Lucas "⁠Bubzkji⁠" Andersen that allowed them to hit 25-23 on Cloud9’s pick.

Cloud9 were able to take not only the CT pistol round and anti-eco, but they also won the bonus round to make it 3-0. MAD Lions were finally able to get on the board and make it 1-4 after an eco, doubling the following round thanks to a 1vs2 clutch by Bubzkji in a B-site afterplant situation. Despite the slow start, the Danish team was able to turn the half around and went on to take a 9-6 lead at the half after winning the last six rounds before switching sides.

Cloud9 went for a fast play down to the B bombsite to plant, but were unable to defend the 4vs4 situation as MAD Lions hit double digits. The majority-American squad were able to convert on their first buy round, but were quickly denied a second round as the Danes inched closer to match point, 12-7. AcilioN and company then hit 13-7 against a forcebuy and made it to 14 on an anti-eco after which they carried the momentum to a 16-7 win.