At the beginning of day two of CS:GO here at epic.EIGHTEEN, we have already seen some controversy early on in the day with Molotovs and Marshmallows and the Playhackz side being drawn against each other. In the second round of the elimination bracket, the two teams facing off against each other has been met with one slight issue, that the two sides are sat alongside each other. With the two squads having issues prior to the event starting on Thursday, the seating plan is such that maxyB from MnM is sat directly next to the playhackz line-up. The main issue being, the left-handed MnM player is sat alongside a right handed player of playhackz, causing the occasional clashing of hands and an inability to position a physical barrier between the two teams.
The bracket had already been predetermined in the previous round, leaving a shuffle in fixtures firmly out of the question despite the request of both teams asking to play against a different opponent, this request simply could not be fulfilled. With the news that the fixture must stand, the next request from the competitors was to move their entire team to a different row. However, with the event being sold out and at full capacity, it is easy to see that this could not be done in any easy manner.
Despite a small delay to the start of the day, the issue was finally resolved with shuffling a little further down on the desk to allow for the erection of a make-shift barrier to shield the view of the screens for either team. With the game being so important, it is clear why both teams had the comfort of their players in their interest.
The great divide.
Despite this, the game eventually got underway on the opening map of de_dust2, an arena known for its ability to grant opportunities to underdogs, an opportunity that would have once been granted to the MnM team who have only in recent months managed to make a solid name for themselves. For playhackz however, it doesn’t appear that this was necessarily the case, as they were met with a solid defence that were not in any mood to let the hopeful side make a name for themselves. The Molotovs and Marshmallows side clearly had no intention to let the minor controversies prior to the game throw them off, letting only a handful of rounds slip on their way to a very convincing victory on map one.
The second map of the encounter was a lot less one sided than the first, on a map known for allowing promising scorelines from both attacking and defending sides, de_cache. The Marshmallow side saw themselves trailing in the game early on, with playhackz starting out strong on the T side with a 3 – 0 lead. Once a full buy was on the cards however, their opponents began to step back in to the game, evening up the scoreline and eventually surpassing them.
Despite this, the underdogs were not deterred and continued to put in a good showing. Before long the scoreline was closing in once again, at one point almost seeing the two teams tied in the double digits of the game. However, in this instance experience prevailed and the hardened MnM roster managed to bolster their attacks with a bit more co-ordination, putting them ahead 16 – 12.
