This article is part of our CS:GO Recap series.
With Day 1 of Group A in the books and one team through to the playoffs, it was time for the remaining three teams of the group to face-off to determine who would be the second team to advance into the playoffs.
mousesports picked up a convincing 16-9 win over Immortals before taking down Cloud9 in a much closer 19-16 overtime win. The win over Cloud9 moved mousesports right into the ELEAGUE Season 2 playoffs, whereas Cloud9's loss sent them down to the lower bracket to fight for its spot in the playoffs.
Since both Immortals and FaZe Clan lost their initial Group A matches, they were forced to go head-to-head for the chance to take on Cloud9 for the last spot in the playoffs. Coming out of the gate, FaZe Clan had its game face on in Game 1 on Mirage. It grabbed a huge 13-2 lead at the half before finishing things up with three straight second half wins to take the map 16-2. Finn "karrigan" Andersen bounced back from his lackluster 8/19 performance on Day 1 with a big 18/9 KD to go along with a monster 108.9 ADR.
Game 2 shifted in dramatic way, as Immortals was able to grab a critical 19-17 overtime win. The game was a real tug-of-war, with neither team really getting much of an advantage until Immortals finished things up in the end. Joao "felps" Vasconcellos' stellar 38/26 KD and 114.8 ADR certainly played a role in the win. Not content to end its run this season so soon, Håvard "rain" Nygaard put FaZe Clan on his back with a huge 34/15 KD on Overpass in Game 3 to shut down Immortals and make a reservation for a date with Cloud9 in the Group A decider match.
The final match of Group A certainly lived up to the hype and did not disappoint. Game 1 was as closely contested as it could be, with both teams posting 8-7 halves against each other to travel into overtime on Mirage. Karrigan once again came up big in the last few rounds of the second half to force overtime after being down 12-15. FaZe Clan ended up just holding on for the 22-20 win. Game 2 on Train ended up going the distance as well, even if the journey was a bit different. Cloud9 got out a strong 10-5 lead at the half before FaZe Clan stormed back with a 10-5 half of their own to force overtime. This time it was Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert that willed Cloud9 to victory with his 8/1 KD in overtime to snag the 19-17 win.
With the series all tied up, it came down to a final tussle on Overpass to decide the final Group A team to make their way into the playoffs. Despite the close games during Game 1 and 2, the final match of the series ended with a bit of a whimper. FaZe Clan rode a big 12-3 halftime lead to a fairly breezy 16-9 win.
The early exit for Cloud9 will no doubt be a bit of a disappointment to both the team and its fans after it dominated the North American region in Season 4 of the ESL Pro League. Cloud9 only dropped one map out of 26 in the Pro League. The team will certainly need to make some adjustments before it heads to Brazil for the Finals on October 26.
mousesports and FaZe Clan will be the two representatives moving on to the Finals this December. Fans will have to wait a bit longer to see who will represent Group B in the Finals as ELEAGUE play won't start up again until November 4 at 6:00PM EST.
