ECS S4 North America Week 6 Recap
As we are past the halfway point of the season now, each match gets more and more important for those teams who wish to qualify for the LAN Finals taking place in Cancun, Mexico this December, but also for the teams who wish to escape relegation. This weeks highlights include Ghost falling closer to relegation and OpTic creeping up on a top four spot.
CLG vs 
Luminosity (Inferno 16-13, Train 14-16)
What was expected to be a highly contested match between the CLG and Luminosity certainly delivered on its expectation. The first map went the way of CLG with huge performances from Kenneth "koosta" Suen and Ethan "nahtE" Arnold on the Terrorist side of Inferno. The second map Train barely went the way of Luminosity, and was a battleground for nahtE and Gustavo "SHOOWTiME" Gonçalves who had 28 and 29 kills, respectively, by the end of the game.
NRG vs Liquid (Mirage 16-14, Inferno 11-16)
As Damian "daps" Steele's first few matches back into the starting roster, this head to head went quite well for the underdogs in NRG. With a huge performance from Jacob "FugLy" Medina, and good support from Cvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov, NRG managed to steal away Mirage in close fashion. Liquid recovered well on Inferno however, and put up a large Counter-Terrorist side powered by Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken, despite another solid performance by CeRq.
CLG vs 
OpTic (Train 8-16, Inferno 16-7)
The Europeans in OpTic began Train with an enormous 13-2 T side led by Óscar "mixwell" Cañellas. CLG attempted a comeback in the second half, but eventually OpTic ground out enough wins to take the map 16-8. They couldn't carry their momentum to the following map, as CLG got a lead on their T side, albeit not as large as OpTic's. With huge performances by nahtE, Pujan "FNS" Mehta, and some help from Stephen "reltuC" Cutler, CLG easily closed out Inferno to trade maps.
Renegades vs Ghost (Mirage 16-13, Train 16-8)
Renegades were down early on Mirage, but managed to end the half with six rounds, which evidently was enough. Canadian Keith "NAF" Markovic and Australian Justin "jks" Savage aided in securing their team a victory despite the efforts of Ghost's Matthew "Wardell" Bowman. The second map wasn't as close as the previous one, as the Australians were in control on both sides, and again jks and NAF were the point men for Renegades, putting up 43 frags combined.
OpTic vs Luminosity (Nuke 11-16, Train 16-11)
To much surprise, the Brazilians in Luminosity racked up a huge first half against OpTic on Nuke. Newest member Marcelo "chelo" Cespedes and, interestingly, Vinicios "PKL" Coelho were the main duo, and even though Adam "friberg" Friberg had a noteworthy performance during OpTic's comeback attempt, Luminosity were able to close out the first map. PKL's squad didn't make it any easier for OpTic on Train, as they were able to grind out quite a few rounds, only to fall at the hands of Aleksi "allu" Jalli and mixwell.
Renegades vs OpTic (Mirage 12-16, Train 6-16)
While OpTic were the general favorites for this series, Renegades kept it quite close on Mirage. A heroic effort by NAF wasn't supported by his team and mixwell and company secured the required Terrorist rounds to take the first map 16-12. The second map was nowhere close to the first, as the quartet of friberg, mixwell, Kevin "HS" Tarn, and allu rained destruction upon the majority Australian team, taking both maps in the series. With these wins, the international team is hoping to recover from the dropped maps to Luminosity and CLG they suffered earlier.
CLG vs Renegades (Mirage 12-16, Cobblestone 3-16)
After the poor showing they showed against OpTic earlier in the day, Renegades came back reinvigorated for their match against CLG. They kept the first half under control, and with a rare good performance from Karlo "USTILO" Pivac, the Aussies prevailed on Mirage. They improved on their form on Cobblestone, and monster performances from NAF, jks, and USTILO destroyed CLG, allowing only three rounds the entire game. This was a key 2-0 for Renegades, expecially after their losses to OpTic, and will be important later down the line.
Here are the full standings after Week 6:
| Pos. | Team | Record | RD | Points |
| 1 | Cloud9 |
12-2 | +69 | 36 |
| 2 | SK |
11-7 | +23 | 33 |
| 3 | Liquid |
9-5 | +20 | 27 |
| 4 | Luminosity |
9-7 | +22 | 27 |
| 5 | OpTic |
8-6 | +12 | 24 |
| 6 | NRG |
7-9 | -2 | 21 |
| 7 | CLG |
7-11 | -22 | 21 |
| 8 | Renegades |
5-5 | +11 | 15 |
| 9 | Ghost |
3-11 | -50 | 9 |
| 10 | Immortals |
3-11 | -83 | 9 |
