If you’re unfamiliar with ELEAGUE'S setup, here is a quick rundown. All games are played on LAN in Atlanta, USA. The groups start with a round robin where each team plays two B01’s against the other three teams. The teams are then seeded and a 4 team tournament is played. The first place finisher qualifies for ELEAGUE's LAN Championship, while the second place team in each group is placed into a “Last Chance Qualifier” Lan and the top two at the qualifier and the winners of all six groups play at the ELEAGUE Tournament
Tuesday, May 24th
Luminosity Gaming vs. 
Renegades – 9:6, 6:9, 4:2 (19:17); 15:0, 1:0 (16:0)
Winner: Luminosity Gaming - 2:0
Maps: de_Cobblestone, de_Train
MVP: Fernando “fer” Alvarenga
The first map in the two best of ones between the Aussies and the Brazilians was Cobble, a map picked by LG. However it was the Australian side of Renegades that came out with a dazzling pistol round winning a 4v5 including a knife kill from SPUNJ. Both anti-ecos then went the way of Renegades as they advanced to a 3-0 score line. LG’s first buy round included a double AWP on FalleN and Coldzera. Luminosity then came out with a strong B hold against Renegades fast push, including Cold getting an AWP pick from chicken coop. LG then proceeded to pick up the next 2 rounds to tie the game up before a strong buy came out from Renegades and they put themselves in a 2v2. Unfortunately for Renegades, Fer and Coldzera were able to clutch the round and gain their first lead of the map. Afterwards, a low nade buy from Renegades led them to another round win and a tied score line. However, Luminosity still was able to take out a double AWP in the next round and shut down a Renegades A push making the score five to four. Finally, the back and forth stopped and Luminosity was able to take a 9-4 lead, but the 5-AK setup from Renegades and a 4K from azr was able to give them the last two rounds of the half making the halftime score line 9-6 in favour of the Brazilians. LG then followed up the half with a T-side pistol of their own, but it was Renegades that won a crazy eco round with a four man stack on the B bombsite. LG was unable to follow in the steps of Renegades and they lost their force-buy and Renegades took the score line to 11-10. Afterwards, another buy from Luminosity came in and won a close round to tie the game and break Renegade’s economy. Renegade’s incredibly light buys led to a 13-11 lead from LG. However, when Renegades finally came out with a full buy it was jks that won a 1v1 against fnx. After a tactical timeout by Renegades, they won another round after an incredible AWP no-scope from Yam and a great site hold from the rest of the team. Afterwards, rounds were traded until the game went to a tie at 15 and brought the game to overtime, where Luminosity was only able to win 1 round on their T side, but they ended victorious with 3 strong holds on the CT side and a 19-17 win.
The Second map of Train was not nearly as contested as Cobble, as Luminosity won all 15 rounds in the first half due to stellar performances from Fer and FalleN, and ended the match with a pistol win on their T side and finished the game 16-0.
Cloud9 vs. Team Liquid – 8:7, 8:4 (16:11); 13:2, 3:0 (16:3)
Winner: Cloud9 - 2:0
Maps: de_Dust2, de_Cache
MVP: Jordan “n0thing” Gilbert
The First map of Dust2, Liquid’s map pick, started with a C9 pistol round and two anti-ecos on their CT side, but it was Liquid that took the first rifle round off an early pick on Skadoodle by Koosta. Liquid then put the 5th round into a two versus one, but Koosta threw a molotov before getting the plant started and Cloud9 crept away with their fourth round because Liquid ran out of time. Liquid then came back with a fast Mid-B split and won the round to bring Cloud9’s lead to two. After a couple of ecos from the C9 side, the score was tied 4-4 and Cloud9 had another buy to work with, where C9 demolished Liquid’s mid to B play and kept 5 alive to help build their bank. Afterwards, the score got tied again, this time at 6-6. The next three rounds were traded and the half ended eight to seven with a Liquid lead. Liquid then took their CT pistol, but lost the first buy round from Cloud9. C9 then capitalized and took the score to 10-10. Then, Cloud9 took the next 3 rounds and a 3 round lead, but it was Liquid that came out on top in the 24th round with a great retake on the A site including a 3k from Nitro. Liquid, however, was unable to capitalize and lost the next three rounds and the game sixteen to eleven.
After Cloud9 won on Liquid’s map pick, it came down to Cloud9’s pick of de_Cache. C9 came out swinging, winning the first three rounds on their CT side. The fourth round then pitted Skadoodle versus four Liquid players. Ska was able to get two AWP picks as Liquid hunted him down, but he did get traded and Liquid snagged their first round. Cloud9 was unable to win a small pistol buy, and Liquid brought the Cloud9 lead to one round, but C9’s buy round brought another round win and a two round lead. Liquid then brought a tec-9 force buy and took B site, but Stewie2k won a crazy one versus three with the AWP and Five-Seven. After the rocky start, Cloud9 stomped Liquid and refused to surrender another round on their CT side, finishing the half 13-2. Then a strong pistol and two good anti-ecos led to a 16-2 finish and a second point for Cloud9.
Luminosity Gaming vs. Team Liquid – 11:4, 5:1 (16:5); 3:12, 13:2 (16:14)
Winner: Luminosity Gaming - 2:0
Maps: de_Dust2, de_Cobblestone
MVP: Lincoln “fnx” Lau
The first map of Dust2, the pick of Liquid, started with a great pistol round from Liquid. Afterwards, however, the 4 UMP setup did not stand against the tec-9 force buy of LG. After the anti-eco loss, Liquid fell behind 1-4. Then, after an incredible 3 AWP kills on long by FalleN, Luminosity picked up another round against Liquid’s rifle setup. After Luminosity took a eight to one lead, Liquid tried a 4 man push to B tunnels, but Luminosity sniffed it out watching mid doors. Liquid survived the push taking no causalities, and were able to rotate to A. Even though they did surrender the site, the retake from Koosta and EliGe came in and brought Liquid their first rifle round of the map, but FalleN came in with another 3k to break Liquid’s economy and make the score 9-2. After Liquid’s eco being broken, they were unable to buy until round 13. Then, a strong B split came in from Luminosity, but Hiko and Nitro held the site and brought their score to 3 rounds. Liquid was able to finish the half four to eleven on the back of the double AWP including a 3k by Koosta. Then, at the beginning of the second half, Liquid’s pistol B rush was shut down by double kills from TACO and Coldzera. Luminosity then brought the game to 14-4 winning both anti-ecos including an UMP 4k from Cold. Then, Liquid was able to buy and take A site. A retake by Luminosity won them the site, but Liquid brought the long plant and Hiko was able to stop the defuse and win the round. In the next round, Liquid forced TACO and fnx into a 2v3, but were unable to hold the B site and gave LG the 10 map points. At five to fifteen, a Liquid force-buy won the round with four alive to give them a bigger chance of making a comeback, but Luminosity followed in Liquid’s footsteps with a force-buy of their own including a saved M4 from TACO to win the game sixteen to four.
The second map of Cobble was much more contested by Liquid than the first map of Dust 2. The Americans started with a pistol win on their T side, powering through a double kill from fnx. Liquid followed up the pistol win with two anti-ecos before LG brought out their double-AWP setup with FalleN and Coldzera. LG used the two AWPs to take their first round of the game. Liquid then beat LG with a force buy including a knife kill from Hiko onto Coldzera. Liquid pulled ahead to 6-1 before losing to another Luminosity double-AWP. Liquid pushed the lead even further to 8:2, and LG force bought with FAMAS’s, SMG’s, and a MAG-7. Liquid’s superior gear did lead to another round win, however. Liquid continued to twelve rounds until Luminosity won the last round of their CT half. Luminosity was the team that started the half with a pistol win, and then followed it up with a win against Liquid’s force-buy, but Liquid’s second force gave them another round and extended their lead to eight rounds. LG came back with a one versus one win by fer. Luminosity used the momentum to bring the lead of “Chokequid” down to three rounds until the Americans took a tactical timeout. The timeout was enough to bring Liquid to 14 rounds, but LG came back firing with fer and fnx winning a two versus four in the next round due to adreN being unable to defuse in time. LG then kept pushing taking an anti-eco before Liquid had another full buy. Liquid lost one player and the A site then decided to save their weapons and give themselves another chance, but it was only EliGE being able to save a M4. Luminosity used Liquid’s broken buy to take the game to a 14-14 tie. FalleN then won a 1v1 against adreN to put the Brazilians onto map point. Luminosity won the last round of the game with a plant at five seconds left and three surviving. LG takes the second map 16-14 for their second point against Liquid.
Wednesday, May 25th
Renegades vs. Team Liquid – 4:11, 12:3 (16:14); 10:5, 6:5 (16:10)
Winner: Renegades - 2:0
Maps: de_Mirage, de_Train
MVP: Yaman “yam” Ergenekon
The first map of Mirage started off with a B site stack on Liquid’s CT pistol. The stack paid off, however, as Renegades rushed B and were stomped upon jumping out of apartments. Liquid then followed their pistol win with two anti-eco wins to create a 3-0 score. Renegades’ first buy round looked strong, putting themselves in a three vs. three, until Adren was able to kill the bomb carrier without being traded, which earned Liquid their fourth round. Renegades then took their first round with a mid and A split. Liquid then pulled away to seven to one, until Renegades was able to buy again where Liquid won with five alive on a beautiful CT hold. Then, at 9-1, the Aussies took their second round of the map. Renegades were then able to follow up and bring their score to four, but Liquid then took the last two rounds of the half and finished 11-4. It was the Aussies that came out swinging in the second half, taking the pistol round off of a 2k opener from SPUNJ. They then followed up their win with two anti-ecos to bring the score to 11-7 in favour of Liquid. Renegades then won the first buy round, and followed it up with two more anti-ecos that brought Renegades within one point of a tie. Renegades then tied the game with a 3v4 and ninja defuse from yam. Liquid then took their tactical timeout which they used to take B site, but Liquid was unable to plant the bomb before time ran out. Renegades then lost their first CT round, when Hiko outsmarted yam in a 1v1. Liquid then used the momentum to take another round and the lead. Yam, however, got his hands on a saved AWP and took a 4K while his teammates were on only pistols. Renegades used the four kills to tie the map again at 13-13. Liquid responded by winning a tec-9 B rush versus a full buy from Renegades to take a 14-13 lead, but it was Renegades who won an eco of their own to tie the map again. Liquid used the 29th round to try to force a buy and a win, but Renegades was able to hold. Afterwards, in the 30th round, Renegades then held again and Liquid lived up to their nickname “Chokequid” only winning three rounds on their T side.
The second map played between the two teams was Train. Renegades won the pistol with yam in a 1v3 winning by stopping the defuse multiple times. The Australians then won the two anti-ecos off of A site rushes. Renegades eventually took an uneventful 7 round lead, until Liquid struck back to make the score one to seven. Renegades continued the fast pace taking another round on their T side, but Liquid’s tactical timeout led them to their second round of the half, but it was Renegades that took their revenge and another round to take a seven round lead. They then took an anti-eco round, before a crazy AWP boost from yam got them an opening kill, but it was not enough to win the round. Liquid was able to take the last two rounds and a 5-10 score line heading into halftime, and they took that momentum into the second half with a 4k pistol round from Adren. They then took the next couple of rounds, and then won the first rifle round due to a misspray by azr. Liquid then tied the map at 10-10, but it was Renegades that came out the better of the two teams, winning the next six rounds and both maps to gain two points towards their seeding.
Luminosity Gaming vs. Cloud9 – 10:5, 6:2 (16:7); 10:5, 6:5 (16:10)
Winner: Luminosity Gaming - 2:0
Maps: de_Dust2, de_Train
MVP: Marcelo “coldzera” David
Two matches between the two teams that seemed to be the best of this group started with de_Dust2, a map chosen by Cloud9. The Americans started with a pistol win, and then an anti-eco, but it was Luminosity that prospered on the third round of their CT side, with almost no buy they stole a round from Cloud9. LG’s economy was then incredibly strong. Their first buy round included a double AWP on FalleN and Coldzera. Cloud9’s full buy was unable to take Long A against FalleN’s AWP. The Brazilians then took another AWP from the Skadoodle’s dead hands. Luminosity then played a triple AWP defence, which did not work quite as planned against Cloud9’s tec-9s. However, FalleN was able to get three AWP kills of his own on the retake. Cloud9 won the next round on a B take winning a 2v2 with shroud and Skadoodle. LG then took the double AWP back out and built themselves a 7-3 lead. Shroud then lost a one versus two to help Luminosity continue their winning ways. The Brazilians then took the next three rounds off of FalleN’s nearly reckless, aggressive AWP, but Cloud9 took the A site in a 3v5 and brought the round to a 2v2 where Slemmy and Skadoodle got two AK kills to finish the round. Cloud9 took the last round of the half due to four AK kills from Skadoodle with a one versus one clutch against Coldzera. Luminosity grabbed the second pistol round due to a quad-pistol-kill from fer. LG followed it up with the next four rounds taking the game to match point with a ten round lead. Cloud9 was able to take two rounds in a row, but LG finished out the map in the 23rd round, 16-7.
Luminosity Gaming is usually considered one of the best teams in the world at playing de_Train, which was not good news for C9’s chances. None the less, it was the Americans that started with a pistol round win on the favoured side of CT. LG fired back with an eco win, but Cloud9 followed it up with their own, but were unable to win the next, bringing the score to 2-2. Rounds were traded again in what seemed to be a hotly contested game as the score advanced to 3-3. However, it was Cloud9 that won two in a row first and took a five to three lead, but Luminosity fired back and tied the game again. LG then really got the ball rolling and did not lose another round in the rest of the half, completing a 10-5 half. Cloud9, however, was able to take their second pistol round with a clutch by Slemmy against Coldzera. The Americans followed it up with a couple of anti ecos to bring the game within two points. They continued their winning ways with a follow-up win against LG’s first buy. The Americans tied the game at ten points each before Luminosity broke their momentum and rolled over them with impenetrable defences and finished out the map 16-10.
Cloud9 vs. Renegades – 9:6, 7:1 (16:7); 6:9, 5:7 (11:16)
Winner: Renegades 1:1 Cloud9
Maps: de_Train, de_Cobblestone
MVP: Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham
Two teams that had the second and third seed locked into the tournament faced off the day before the tournament began, as both would be looking to find strengths and weaknesses of the other, many said neither team would come out with their best CS. The first map played was Train, where Stewie2k almost won a 1 versus 4 in the pistol round, but was taken out by the last surviving Renegades player, but it was the rest of the team that made the difference in the next round, winning their eco buy and taking two more afterwards. The Australians refused to go down without a fight, however, and they took the next five rounds, breaking Cloud9’s economy twice during the process. The Americans came back from the 3-6 score line to be led by former SKDC teammates Slemmy and Stewie2k, both finishing the map at over 20 kills each. The Americans rolled over the Australian side and finished the half 9-6, winning out the rest of their CT rounds. After the side switch, Cloud9 won the T pistol and it looked clear as to who would win the map. After the C9 lead extended to 14-6, Renegades was able to put up their 7th round of the map, and it looked like a good ole’ NA choke could have been approaching, but Cloud9 did not live up to the rest of their country as they finished out the next two rounds to win the map, 16-7.
The second map between the two was de_Cobblestone, which is sometimes referred to as Shroud’s playground. Cloud9 took the pistol and the next two rounds, but a Renegades force-buy put the score at four to one. In the next round, however, it was Stewie2k that won a one versus one to put his team back in the driver’s seat and give them another three round lead. The Aussies then took it to Cloud9 and won eight more rounds, while C9 was able to pick up two of their own. The half finished with Renegades leading nine to six. The second half, started out with another pistol win from the Americans, the next two anti-ecos followed and Cloud9 tied the game. Slemmy then called for four Mac-10s to not upgrade into the first buy round. Renegades pushed the American’s light buy to the edge with Shroud being put into a one versus three, but he took two kills and brought himself into a 1v1 against Renegades’ USTILO. USTILO did, however, come out of the round with a 4k and 1v1 clutch bringing the score to 10-10. The Aussies picked up six more rounds while only losing one to Cloud9 bringing them a map win at sixteen to eleven.
Thursday, May 26th - Group Semi-Finals
Cloud9 vs. Renegades – 12:3, 4:0 (16:3); 10:5, 6:6 (16:11)
Winner: Cloud9
Maps: de_Cobblestone, de_Cache
MVP: Mike “shroud” Grzesiek
Cobblestone was the map pick of Renegades, as they had beat Cloud9 on the map the day before. The pistol round was exciting, as Renegades’ AZR almost won a 1v5, bringing it down to a 1v1 where he was denied a win by Shroud. Cloud9 took the second round, but the Australian side won a force buy in the third round to make the score 2-1, but the next round was all C9, forcing the Aussies to take two ecos before they could buy rifles again. Cloud9 continued this way, never letting the Australians take two rounds in a row and they finished the half 12:3. After Cloud9 took a quick pistol victory, things looked bleak for the Renegades side as they force bought into the third round, but Cloud9 won the round and set themselves up for match point against a very weak economy on the opponent’s side. The Americans closed the map out at a 16-3 score line and a 1 map advantage in the BO3.
Cache started with another pistol round win from Cloud9, following it up with the next two rounds to give themselves a 3-0 lead. The Australians came back and won the next four rifle rounds, but Cloud9 would not be beaten as they won a force buy after two openers from Stewie2k, which the Americans used to chain more rounds together and take a 10-5 lead going into halftime. In the second half, Cloud9 won their fourth pistol round of the series, but Renegades were able to win a second round force-buy and used the momentum to bring the Cloud9’s lead down to one. Cloud9’s newest addition, Slemmy, was the answer, however, as he won a one vs. two to give C9 another round. The game finished with the Americans sailing to a 16-11 finish and a spot in the Group A Finals.
Luminosity Gaming vs. Team Liquid – 10:5, 6:1 (16:6); 5:10, 11:2 (16:12)
Winner: Luminosity Gaming - 2:0
Maps: de_Mirage, de_Nuke
MVP: Lincoln “fnx” Lau
The second BO3 Semi-Final was between a team that had gone through the round robin without dropping a map, Luminosity, and Team Liquid, a team who had gone through the round robin without winning a map. LG picked de_Mirage, but Liquid came out of the gates with a pistol round win and the next round, but Luminosity won a third round force-buy and chained together the next five rounds to take a 6-2 lead. However, it was nitr0 and adreN who stole the show in the 9th round, the two of whom defeated all the LG players by themselves. However, the momentum swung back to LG as they won the next three rounds and took a 9-3 lead. Afterwards, the AWPers of koosta and FalleN both had triple kills in respective rounds to bring each of their teams one more round. Liquid was able to pull the last round of the half and the score line at halftime was 10-5 in favour of the Brazilian side. The pistol round of the second half, was dominated by fnx who took three headshots. Luminosity continued to roll over the American side in the second half with Liquid only taking one round due to a quad kill round from EliGE. The first map gave LG a 1-0 map lead after a 16-6 finish.
De_Nuke was the map pick of the Americans, and many called it a desperation pick as it looked like the team had very little strategies or setups. However, it was Liquid that won the first round due to a triple kill from Hiko’s CZ-75, but after Liquid took a 3-0 lead it was LG that struck back and tied the map at three. adreN was then forced into a one versus one, but he took the round and Liquid beat a few unsuccessful force-buys of LG to take a seven to three lead. The half ended 10-5 in favour of the American side, but the Brazilian CT side was too much for Liquid as LG won the first seven rounds of the second half due to great plays from fnx. Finally, the Americans took their first two rounds of the second half and brought the score line to 12-12, but Luminosity fired back again as they won the next four rounds and the map at sixteen to twelve.
Friday, May 27th - Grand Finals
Luminosity Gaming vs. Cloud9 – 6:9, 5:7 (11:16); 7:8, 8:7, 4:1 (19:16); 14:1, 2:8 (16:9)
Winner: Luminosity Gaming - 2:1
Maps: de_Mirage, de_Cobblestone, de_Dust2
MVP: Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo
The group A finals featured a clash of South America against North America, Luminosity has had the most kills over the week and were able to go 8-0 in the group stage, but Cloud9 went 5-3 and had the most grenade damage in the group also. At the start, Cloud9 came out with a pistol round win on LG’s pick of mirage, including a plant-stopping knife from Skadoodle. Skadoodle then continued with a M4 3k in the first anti-eco. The Americans followed it up with their second anti-eco win, creating a 3-0 lead. LG came back with the next three rounds, taking away C9’s lead. Skadoodle was able to save an AWP in all of the three rounds and bring it into Cloud9’s buy round. FalleN rang in with two AWP kills to bring the lead to LG, but Ska saved his AWP again. In the eighth round, Cloud9 had four pistols and one AWP, and Skadoodle was able to use his AWP for the first time and got a double kill that gave C9 the round and a tie. It was the Brazilian side that won a 2v4 in the next round and took back the one round lead. N0thing was able to get a 4k, but unable to beat fnx in the 1v1, bringing the score to 5-4 in favour of LG. The Americans, however, responded with a round of their own in order to tie the match. They then used the momentum to bring the score to 9-5 before the 15th round. The last round was all LG, and the half ended 9-6 in favour of Cloud9. Luminosity then responded with a pistol win and two anti-ecos off the back of coldzera’s B site holds. LG also took the first gun round, but n0thing and crew responded as n0thing got multiple kills in each of the two following rounds and gave Cloud9 a two round lead. The rest of the map was all Cloud9 and all n0thing, as Luminosity only picked up one more round and n0thing finished with a 33-18 score. The map finished at 16-11 for Cloud9 and gave them an early advantage in the BO3.
As the map switched to de_Cobblestone, n0thing and Slemmy won Cloud9 their second pistol round of the series. Cloud9 picked up the anti-ecos, but FalleN’s AWP in the fourth round helped secure LG their first round win. Luminosity took the next round also, but Cloud9’s Skadoodle responded with AWP kills of his own in the 8th round to bring the Americans to a 6-2 lead on their T side. However, Luminosity picked up their defence and were able to stop Cloud9’s pushes throughout the rest of the half and they were able to take a 8-7 lead going into the halftime break. Luminosity followed up the defence with a T side pistol win of their own. Cloud9 was able to pull out two rounds during a streak by LG to make the score 11-9. The rounds were close, but Skadoodle’s play was enough to keep C9 going as he picked up a remarkable 34 kills by the end of regulation, where the score was tied at 15. Thus pushing the map into OT. Luminosity was the better team under the pressure of overtime, as they won OT 4-1 and the map 19-16.
The decider map was de_Dust2, which is a map that LG recently added to their map pool since they can no longer pick Inferno. The first half of Dust2, was extremely uneventful as Luminosity’s T side slammed Cloud9’s defences and he Brazilians finished the half only surrendering one round to the Americans. Cloud9 was able to take a few rounds on their T side, however, including a pistol round and an anti-eco to put the score at 14-3. At this point, LG’s Coldzera grabbed a 3K to pull his team to match point and a 12 round lead. From there on, it was Stewie2k vs. the world, as he picked up multiple 3K’s to keep his team in the match, but after six rounds in a row it was LG that came out victorious with a 16-9.
Front page image courtesy of Robert Paul/MLG
