The persistence of the North American team has paid off, as in the end they managed to take away a 16-12 win over Vexed Gaming and sent the Polish team packing home.
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The first elimination match of the tournament has brought us a very interesting match between Cloud9 and Vexed Gaming. The North American team, Cloud9, didn't really excel in their opening match against Luminosity Gaming and therefore, they were looking for redemption here. On the other hand, Vexed were looking really good in their match against Fnatic, but the more experienced Swedes shut them down in their way towards the victory.
This one, similarly to the majority of the matches played during day one, featured de_cobblestone, which looks to be the new favourite map of the pro players. Vexed Gaming had the opportunity to start first on the CT side, while Cloud9 kicked off on the T side. Cloud9 opened with a nice pistol round, quickly extending it to 2-0. However, Vexed managed to catch them off guard with a force buy, and the board was now showing 2-2. From this moment on, we saw a back and forth match, where neither team had an advantage. In the end, Cloud9 was the one taking a single round lead at the end of the first half.
The second half saw Vexed Gaming having a better start, as they collected the first two rounds for a 10-8 score. Even with the first buy round Cloud9 couldn't find a way to stop the Polish attacks, and they were forced to use a tactical time-out. Following this break, Cloud9 managed to consolidate their units and strike back. One round after another Cloud9 quickly arrived at match point. They were led by no one else but their in-game leader, Sean Gares who was performing out of his mind. The final score was 16-12, and Vexed Gaming will be packing home now, whereas Cloud9 will look for their chance in the match against the loser of Fnatic vs Luminosity Gaming match.
