This article is part of our CS:GO Recap series.
Teams like OpTic Gaming and SK Gaming scrambled to stay alive in the best-of-three action on Day 2 of CS Summit on Friday while Ninjas in Pyjamas and Gambit had relatively easy days. Here's how the action at Summit House unfolded.
OpTic Gaming and EnVyUs kicked off Day 2 with a nail-biting best-of-three series that tipped toward OpTic's favor. In Map 1 on Mirage, EnVyUs took the first half by storm, breezing out to a 10-5 lead. The second half was all OpTic who won seven in a row to close out Map 1 16-11. EnVyUs once again made some noise in the first half of Map 2, Train, jumping out to an early 5-0 lead before finishing the first half up 11-4. OpTic managed to rally once again in the second half, tying the game at 13 apiece, but EnVyUs was able to respond, winning three of the final four rounds to claim a 16-14 Map 2 win. Much like it had done throughout the series, EnVyUs once again earned an impressive first-half lead to kick off Map 3, winning 11-4 at the break. But the Green Wall responded in turn, winning the second-half pistol round as well as the anti-eco rounds to eventually knot the score at 13-13. OpTic's Oscar "mixwell" Canellas finally put the topsy-turvy series away with his sniper rifle, helping the team earn a 16-14 Map 3 win, eliminating EnVyUs.
Ninjas in Pyjamas put together a dominating series over its fellow Swedish rivals GODSENT, winning the series 2-0 quite handily. NiP took control of Map 1, Train, right from the beginning to win the pistol and the anti-eco rounds to build an early 6-0 lead. That eventually snowballed into a 12-3 first-half lead for NiP, who were buoyed by an excellent performance by William "draken" Sundin. From there it was a quick three rounds for Pyjamas in the second half, picking up a laughable 16-3 Map 1 win. NiP didn't slow down in Map 2 either, cruising toward an 11-4 lead at the break. GODSENT won the first three rounds of the second half, but NiP responded by pushing the series to map point. GODSENT would go on to win just more round from there, as Ninjas in Pyjamas would claim a 16-8 Map 2 win, knocking its adversaries from the tournament.
SK Gaming joined the band of winners, but it certainly wasn't without a fight as Cloud9 gave the Brazilian team all it could muster. Cloud9 started the offensive side of its Map 1 pick, Inferno, with a quick three round lead. That would hold true all the way into the end of the first half, as Cloud9 held onto a 9-6 lead. SK Gaming quickly responded in the second half, winning the second pistol round and the anti-eco's to follow to tie the game at 9-9. The Brazilians appeared to have the series on lockdown after winning the ensuing five rounds, but Cloud9 charged back to trail just 14-13. That was as close as Cloud9 would get, however, as SK Gaming would win the final two rounds to earn the 16-14 Map 1 win. Map 2 saw Cloud9 jump ahead yet again for an early lead, parlaying the advantage into a 9-6 lead at the half. Unlike the first game however, Cloud9 took majority control of the second half as SK was only able to win three rounds in the Map 2 loss 16-9. Not content to see Cloud9 earn yet another early lead, SK Gaming flipped the switch in Map 3, earning a 9-6 lead of its own on Mirage to end the first half. Cloud9 looked to come back in the second, but the Brazilian team would win crucial reset rounds that allowed it to close the series 16-8 on Mirage.
The final series of the day came down to Gambit and Liquid to determine who would move through to the upper bracket finals. Gambit's first map pick, Train, was a complete blowout in its favor, taking a huge 8-0 lead early. After calling a timeout, Liquid finally picked up a round but Gambit hit right back to close out the first half 14-1. On the defensive side, Gambit blanked Liquid for two rounds to take Train 16-1. Next up was Nuke, as the North Americans put together a 5-1 lead to force a tactical pause for Gambit. The pause seemed to help Gambit regain composure, as it eventually trimmed the deficit, trailing just 8-7 at the half. Liquid added more rounds to its lead early in the second half, but it was Gambit who would storm right back, eventually forcing overtime. Liquid would win the first two rounds on the defense in overtime, but Gambit's expert decision making would eventually overwhelm Liquid en route to a 19-17 victory and series sweep.
The third day of competition resumes Saturday as four of the lower-bracket teams will look to advance into the final four.
