This article is part of our CS:GO Recap series.
Four teams faced off at the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Americas Minor Championship in Atlanta to determine which would represent the Americas at the ELeague Major Qualifier. Once the dust settled, Immortals and Cloud9 emerged victorious, with the former dominating the competition, while the latter fought tooth and nail to make it through.
Immortals go undefeated
Immortals didn't drop a map on either day of competition and will be one of the two teams making it to the offline qualifier on Dec. 15. The road there wasn't paved with rainbows and roses, though, with the first game against Team SoloMid going the distance. Early on in the first half, it looked like TSM was going to waltz to a win, sporting a 7-2 lead after nine rounds. But then Immortals came alive and closed the gap before kicking it into high gear in the second half, winning nine of the remaining 11 rounds to take the map by a score of 16-14. Joao "felps" Vasconcellos led Immortals with a strong 26/18 KD (kill/death ratio) and game-high 97.8 ADR (average damage per round).
Cloud9 moves forward
Cloud9 started its run at the Americas Qualifier against Muffin Lightning in a matchup of North American hopefuls. While the first half was a bit closer than would be expected (Cloud9 took a close 9-6 lead into the half), Muffin Lightning couldn't catch up in the second half. Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham came up huge with a 25/6 KD and a 110.6ADR. No member of Muffin had a positive KD, making the extreme mismatch all the more obvious.
Immortals were matched up with Cloud9 in the winners' final to see who would be first to make it out of the minor. Cloud9 got off to a quick 7-1 start and looked poised to easily take the first game on Cobblestone, but just like their previous match, Immortals geared up the pressure late. The second game, which was played on Dust 2, would see Immortals get off to a hot start, ending the first half with a 10-5 lead. Cloud9 tried to make it interesting late in the second half, working the deficit down to just three rounds, but Immortals stabilized and won the next two rounds to take the map and series. Henrique "hen1" Teles put up a strong 41/25 KD in the series to lead his team to the Major Qualifier.
Cloud9 had one last shot to make it when it took on TSM in the losers' final. Cloud9 showed no mercy in a 16-3 win on Train in Game 1. Manning the ship was autimatic, who put his poor series against Immortals out of his mind and tallied a strong 26/11 KD and ridiculous 117.2 ADR. Game 2 on Cache ended up being a bit closer than expected given how the first half went. TSM won the first three rounds, but then Cloud9 won 11 of the next 12 rounds to take an 11-4 lead into the half. TSM wouldn't go quietly into the night, however, as the team put together a nice 8-1 run of their own to tie things up at 12 rounds apiece. That solid run ended at the hands of Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert, who put together a brilliant performance in the final four rounds to help Cloud9 secure the win and their spot in the Major Qualifier.
