This article is part of our CS:GO Recap series.
Eight teams met in Anaheim this past weekend to determine the last four teams who would book a trip to Oakland for Intel Extreme Masters XI. Cloud9 and Immortals secured spots by way of winning its groups, while TyLoo and FaZe Clan had to fight tooth and nail to lock up a spot in the tournament.
Cloud9 Dominates Once Again
Cloud9 continued to dominate, this time securing a handful of impressive wins to claim Group A. It began the day with a strong win over FlipSid3 Tactics, starting out with a 12-3 lead at halftime before finishing off the game in convincing fashion, 16-4.
Cloud9's second game against TyLoo was even more impressive. The game got off to a bit of a weird start when Cloud9 was docked a timeout and the choice to pick a side due to one of its players leaving his mouse in the hotel, which delayed the start of the match. The punishment seemed to actually invigorate Cloud9, as the North American juggernauts rattled off 16 straight wins to shutout TyLoo and lock up their spot at IEM Oakland. Cloud9 will be a team to look out for at the event next weekend.
Immortals Outlasts Opponents For IEM Berth
While Immortals did lock up a spot at IEM Oakland after winning Group B, the road to that point wasn't easy. Their match certainly became a nail-biter, as Immortals choked away a slight opening half lead, with FaZe Clan pushing the game into overtime. Henrique "hen1" Teles made sure that the overtime would go in his team's favor, however, as he finished up the win with a stellar 42/16 KD and 104.4 ADR.
Needing just one more win to make it to IEM Oakland, Immortals went up against Renegades. The game was just about as close as the first tilt for Immortals. They got off to a nice 9-6 lead at the half, but the second half was a bit of a struggle. Renegades would win six of the next seven rounds of the half to pull nearly even, but Immortals managed to find its groove and wrapped up the 16-12 win.
The Final Two Teams for IEM Oakland
TyLoo and FaZe Clan also locked up berths to IEM Oakland, albeit in much more strenuous ways. TyLoo started the weekend off with a close 16-13 win over Echo Fox before getting trounced by Cloud9 16-0. This sent the Chinese team into the Group A decider match where it would once again face Echo Fox. The series went the distance, with all three games being closely contested. TyLoo took Games 1 and 3 to secure its spot for Oakland, with both games ending in a 16-14 score line.
FaZe Clan's road to Oakland was even more rife with contention. They began the tournament with a close 19-17 overtime loss to Immortals, forcing them to qualify for the tournament by running through a gauntlet of contending teams. First up was Team SoloMid. The series was over almost as quickly as it started, as FaZe swept TSM quite handily. This set up one final best-of-three for the last spot in the IEM event, with FaZe taking on Renegades. FaZe Clan started the series well, earning a 16-7 win in Game 1 on Nuke before going the distance in Game 2 on Mirage. In that game, Renegades would end up coming out on top with a 22-19 win in double overtime. But FaZe Clan didn't let that get them down, which translated to a 16-10 win on Train to propel FaZe all the way up north to Oakland.
With all the teams now set, fans only have a few days to wait until IEM Oakland kicks off this Wednesday. Group A will consist of Team Liquid, Natus Vincere, G2 Esports, Astralis, Immortals and TyLoo, while Group B will hold SK Gaming, Ninjas in Pyjamas, mousesports, Heroic, Cloud9 and FaZe Clan. There is sure to be many great matches to be had, so this won't be one you want to miss.
