After groups comes the double-elimination play-offs. There were upsets in groups, but this is where things get properly heated, as teams face the reality that a win could put them into the running for the title – and conversely, a defeat send them to the bar.
Friday evening – Linx secure their Legacy as Verdant stumble
The upper bracket got underway on Friday night and immediately gave us an upset as Linx Legacy took down the heavily-favoured Verdant 2-0. The group C runners-up emerged victorious after a 16-8 win on Overpass before edging overtime on Verdant’s pick Anubis. The runners-up were also victorious in two other matchups, as Next in Line beat Royals and The Neighbours defeated Al-Fatiaq in the hotly-anticipated battle between Owen “smooya” Butterfield and Rory “cryths” Ursell. The only group winner to maintain top dog status would be Team 7AM – Oscar “LVN” Levin’s team restricted Grouped One Last Time to just 9 rounds as they took down one of groups’ surprise packages and set up a grudge match with John “Dutchy” Holland’s Next in Line.
In the lower bracket, the highlight of the evening was The Lizards vs Sloppenheimers, the only game to go all three maps. The latter mix took the first map Inferno after going the distance 16-14, before The Lizards fought back by winning Overpass 16-7, and continued their momentum on decider map Mirage to reverse sweep the series, setting up a challenging elimination game against Verdant. The Binmen were consigned to their home territory of Inters as Binmen International and Bin Chilling lost to genetexe and 7PM respectively, while Welsh representatives Cardiff Pirates will play Al-Fatiaq after they took down Unscrew the Bleach in the other lower bracket round 1 match.
Saturday round 1 – Royals dethroned, Lizards boned
The upper bracket teams enjoyed a lie-in on Saturday morning while the lower bracket teams fought to decide the next four teams to be eliminated.
Kyle “Swaggy” Wilson’s last dance with Royals came to an end as they were defeated 2-0 by 7PM. While both maps went the distance, with the full 30 rounds played on Inferno and overtime needed to separate the teams on Mirage, Igor “Igorek” Kochany and company emerged as winners. They will play Ben “ghil” Nicholson’s genetexe after they dominated Grouped One Last Time 16-9 16-5. On the other side of the bracket, Verdant bounced back from their defeat in the upper bracket, conceding just 7 rounds to Joseph “godku” Fowkes’s The Lizards. Their opponents will be Al-Fatiaq, who eliminated Cardiff Pirates, setting up a match where either side will be disappointed should they lose.
Saturday round 2 – Al Fatiaq are silenced
Verdant continued their comeback through the lower bracket, defeating Al Fatiaq in two maps in a loud affair. The “Saudi” mix featuring cryths and Jack “JackB” Burton alongside the Raptors core are out of the tournament after the defeat while Fraser “frazehh” Sollom’s men march on as they look to press home their credentials.
In the other lower bracket game, genetexe took down Team 7PM despite a quadruple overtime on Mirage, the second map. A 16-10 Nuke win gave way to a cagey affair on the desert map, but Tristan “Stop_it” Ellis and his team squeaked out the victory after 54 rounds of play.
Owen “smooya” Butterfield’s mix The Neighbours were the first team confirmed for the upper bracket final after they took down Linx Legacy 2-0. The Danish organisation could not produce an even more famous upset having stunned Verdant in the upper quarters, and will now play genetexe for a top 4 spot with the losers eliminated.
They will face 7AM after the UK/Swedish combine overcame Next in Line Esports. The teams traded picks with 7AM grabbing Vertigo before NiL edged a close affair on Ancient that went all 30 rounds. After winning the knife round for the decider map, Nuke, 7AM were unstoppable, winning the first half 12-3 and not dropping a single round on the T-side to complete a statement win.
Saturday round 3 – 7AM send Neighbours to 9AM game
Team 7AM took the first spot in the grand final and consigned the Neighbours to the lower bracket. After establishing an early advantage on their pick of Ancient to lead 9-6 at the break, Adam “Adam9130” Ahmad’s mix fought back to level the scores at 9-9, 10-10 and 12-12 before losing a key swing round after which multi-kills from Zy “yz0″ Esponilla allowed 7AM to close out the map – 16-12. On Overpass 7AM stormed into a 12-3 lead on the CT side, but found T-side rounds far harder to come by. Just when it looked like the Neighbours might be able to force overtime, another 3k from yz0 and a closing 2k by Mason “Vacancy” Haines turned a 2v4 situation into a series win for 7AM. LVN‘s boys can now watch from the side-lines as their opponents play tomorrow’s consolidation final at a bright and breezy 9am. (At least it isn’t 7…)
Both the lower-bracket semi-finals went to the full three maps. Next in Line reverse swept Verdant, bouncing back from an 11-16 defeat on Inferno to win Ancient 16-8 and storming through Nuke 16-3 as Richard “zulu” Wood knocked his former team out of the competition before the HLTV games. On the other side of the bracket, Linx Legacy lost their first map 13-16 to genetexe, but then dropped just 5 rounds over the rest of the series. The team featuring Matthew “moz” Gelder and Jai “Poseidon” Taylor have been something of a revelation at this EPIC and fully deserve their place at this stage.
Lower final – Next in Line give Linx Legacy an early night
Linx Legacy’s run came to an end as they were taken down by Next in Line in the 9pm game. Dutchy‘s men wasted no time, taking their opponents’ pick 16-5 and did not relent on Ancient, closing out the series 2-0 and setting up a Sunday morning game against The Neighbours with plenty of time left to visit the bar. It’s an unfortunate end to a strong run by Linx Legacy, who few expected to trouble the top spots but have proven themselves worthy of their top 4 finish – not bad for a team with a LAN debutant in Arda Denis “dupl0″ Kilic.
Zulu and Andrew “Wolfie” Allan were the stars for NiL, combining for 87 kills across the two maps to stat-pad their HLTV rating.
Consolidation final – Neighbours survive scare to set up 7AM revenge fixture
Next in Line fought hard in the consolidation final, but the combined star wattage of their opponents proved too strong. They took the lead on their pick Vertigo twice, at 5-4 and 12-10, but The Neighbours found an extra gear in the closing stages, winning 6 rounds in a row to take the map 16-12.
On Overpass, Next in Line were in control throughout, taking a 10-4 lead on the defensive before Neighbours won the first three on their half to narrow the gap. Next in Line were poised to take the game with the score at 15-10, but some mistakes on the offensive and back-to-back clutches from Adam9130 and Matas “Extinct” Strumila combined to force overtime. Neighbours conceded just one round and closed out the map and series 16-19, with 36 kills from smooya (including 18-8 on the CT side) simply too much for their opponents to handle.
That sets up a grand final rematch of the initial upper bracket final. 7AM emerged victorious on that occasion, but it was a case of fine margins on Overpass on that occasion. Perhaps this time one side will throw a curveball in the veto, or a 1v1 will go the other way. The only thing for certain is that anything can happen in Counter-Strike – and that this is a matchup not to be missed.
