SK, Team One, and Muffin Lightning secure spots in WESG Americas Regional Finals
SK Gaming vs BootKamp (2-0)
The former major champions SK Gaming met their Brazilian counterparts BootKamp in the semi-finals of their respective WESG qualifier, knocking out Black Dragons and INTZ along the way.
The veto led to the match beginning on Cobblestone, a favorite of SK's. BootKamp was prepared, however, taking not only the first pistol round of the map on their T-side but carrying that momentum with them for six consecutive rounds before SK responded with four of their own. Once SK had stabilized, BootKamp only claimed one additional round before SK closed out the half with a close 8-7 in their favor. After the swapping sides and winning a pistol round of their own, SK ran away with the game ending it 16-9.
Mirage started off scrappy with SK taking the first round, only to be anti-eco'd by BootKamp, a round that ended in a bomb plant and explosion, netting them the extra money that would ensure the string of four rounds they accrued shortly after. After tightening up their defense on the Counter Terroist side SK won out the half with six straight rounds in a 9-6 scoreline. The second half of Mirage fell apart for SK despite being two rounds away from match point when BootKamp fought back to keep themselves in the game, bringing it to overtime. The high-pressure situation didn't faze the veterans of SK as they closed out the overtime 4-0 and the map 19-15.
BootKampSK| BootKamp |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jhonatan 'jnt' Silva |
49 - 42 | +7 | 83.9 | 67.8% | 1.07 |
| Thiago 'tifa' França |
36 - 44 | -8 | 74.0 | 55.9% | 0.93 |
| Leon 'ryotzz' Felipe |
31 - 46 | -15 | 67.8 | 64.4% | 0.83 |
| Rafael 'raafa' Lima |
28 - 44 | -16 | 45.7 | 57.6% | 0.71 |
| Lucas 'luk' Soares |
22 - 46 | -24 | 49.5 | 52.5% | 0.58 |
| SK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
53 - 33 | +20 | 89.2 | 74.6% | 1.40 |
| Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
48 - 30 | +18 | 83.8 | 74.6% | 1.33 |
| Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
48 - 34 | +14 | 85.5 | 71.2% | 1.22 |
| Marcelo 'coldzera' David |
37 - 32 | +5 | 78.5 | 76.3% | 1.19 |
| João 'felps' Vasconcellos |
36 - 37 | -1 | 68.2 | 81.4% | 1.01 |
Team One vs Immortals (2-1)
The unexpected finish of this series began with a map veto that resulted in a Train pick for Team One, Overpass for Immortals and a decider on the leftover Cache.
Going into Train, Immortals started off shaky with the first two rounds ending closely in their favor with bomb defusals and the rest of the half a series of two and three round trades leading to a 9-6 scoreline for Team One. Both teams had a long strings of rounds wins once they switched sides before Immortals brought it to overtime and ultimately closed the map out 19-16.
Overpass started out great for Immortals as they took the first six of seven rounds of their CT-side to kick map 2 off. Once Team One found their footing they took the following 7 consecutive rounds, ending the half 8-7. Immortals couldn't find much in the way of openings against the CT-defense of their opposition which lead to Team One's first victory in the series when they closed it out in a close 16-13.
The absence of any real CT-side from Immortals was their folly from the get-go as they went into map 3 on Cache. Team One was relentless with their offense, taking 11 of the first 12 rounds on T-side. Heading into the second half with a 9 round deficit proved to be too much of a hill to climb for Immortals. With the loss of the first 3 rounds, Team One was able to sit at a comfortable 12 match points, though it only took four before they closed it out 16-7, taking the series and LAN spot with them.
ImmortalsTeamOne| Immortals |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| João 'horvy' Horvath |
59 - 63 | -4 | 80.4 | 73.6% | 1.06 |
| Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
64 - 70 | -6 | 92.1 | 70.1% | 1.06 |
| Lucas 'destiny' Bullo |
60 - 67 | -7 | 74.0 | 71.3% | 0.97 |
| Caio 'zqkS' Fonseca |
54 - 57 | -3 | 59.6 | 64.4% | 0.91 |
| Bruno 'shz' Martinelli |
44 - 69 | -25 | 64.9 | 57.5% | 0.76 |
| TeamOne |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jean-Michel 'mch' D'Oliveira |
72 - 52 | +20 | 95.8 | 79.3% | 1.33 |
| Alencar 'trk' Rossato |
65 - 57 | +8 | 80.5 | 74.7% | 1.20 |
| Victor 'iDk' Torraca |
67 - 64 | +3 | 86.6 | 71.3% | 1.16 |
| Caike 'caike' Costa |
62 - 57 | +5 | 80.5 | 69.0% | 1.11 |
| Pedro 'Maluk3' Campos |
59 - 52 | +7 | 68.4 | 71.3% | 1.06 |
Muffin Lightning vs Bushido Boyz (2-0)
The decider match for the last US spot at the regional finals began on Train where Bushido Boyz hit the ground running by taking the pistol and five following rounds on their T-side. Muffin Lightning (with help from Dylan "RIKO" Sabin-Arnce) began to pick-up the slack in latter portion of the half bringing it to reasonable 8-7 scoreline for Bushido Boyz. The second half was a different story as Muffin Lightning kicked it into fifth gear and all but ran through their opponent, ending the map 16-10.
Not easily knocked off balance, Bushido Boyz charged into Inferno in the same fashion they did the first map, taking the first five rounds before Muffin Lightning could begin to chip away at their economy. Still, Josh "JoshRT" Lee and crew made waves as they closed out the half 10-5 in their favor. Aside from a few scattered rounds ending in defusals, Muffin Lightning dominated with their aggressive Terrorist offense and closed out the map and series 16-14, narrowly making it through to the American LAN finals.
Bushido BoyzMuffin Lightning| Bushido Boyz |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Blake 'Strings' Stringer |
42 - 43 | -1 | 74.0 | 64.3% | 0.99 |
| Campbell 'far' Walsh |
31 - 39 | -8 | 66.4 | 58.9% | 0.88 |
| Josh 'JoshRT' Lee |
30 - 47 | -17 | 71.1 | 64.3% | 0.84 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
30 - 41 | -11 | 60.1 | 55.4% | 0.77 |
| Eric 'Kwong' Kwong |
27 - 40 | -13 | 55.9 | 57.1% | 0.76 |
| Muffin Lightning |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan 'freakazoid' Abadir |
47 - 28 | +19 | 87.2 | 85.7% | 1.44 |
| Dylan 'RIKO' Sabin-Arnce |
45 - 34 | +11 | 82.9 | 75.0% | 1.24 |
| Jordan 'Zellsis' Montemurro |
36 - 35 | +1 | 84.6 | 80.4% | 1.20 |
| Samuel 'SileNt' Portillo |
40 - 32 | +8 | 77.1 | 82.1% | 1.20 |
| Austin 'Cooper' Abadir |
42 - 31 | +11 | 76.1 | 76.8% | 1.19 |
As of now, 5 of the 12 spots for the finals have been claimed. The current list of qualified attendees is as follows:
| One |
SK |
| Cloud9 |
Muffin Lightning |
| Mythic |
 TBA |
| TBA |
 TBA |
 TBA |
 TBA |
 N. South America |
S. South America |
The Canadian and Argentinian qualifiers for WESG 2017 will begin tonight, November 10th. Several pro mixes are set to attend in Canada, and Gale Force are undoubtedly the favorites in their country.
