Holo claim victory at NCS Academy - GEX CS:GO Showcase
The recently formed Holo CS:GO team, who are currently competing in ESEA Advanced, have claimed the first place prize at the GEX CS:GO Showcase event after overcoming Aug Squad in the grand finals. The one-day event was held at the RISE Convention Center in Washington, D.C. and featured sixteen teams including Jasper "sfX" Ko's x1 Mob, who are a regular fixture at East Coast LAN events.
In the semi-finals, Holo faced off against the Team Name who they were able to dispatch of in two maps. On the other side of the bracket, x1 Mob were upset by Nolan "Temperature" Pepper's Aug Squad, who after winning both maps also proceeded to the grand finals.
The first map of the grand finals series was played on Nuke, and was a close map at the half, with Aug Squad holding a slight 8-7 lead on their CT. However, once Holo started their CT, they only allowed Aug Squad to gain one more round, finishing off map one with a 16-9 scoreline. During Nuke Jazzy "Ematics" Kruczynski managed a 1.45 rating with 103.7 ADR.
Moving onto Cache, Holo started out strong on thier CT side, winning pistol and eventually claiming 11-4 rounds. After winning their T side pistol and the resulting anti-ecos as well, Aug Squad started to mount a comeback against Holo by going on a six round run before Holo were able to halt their momentum and eventually close out the map 16-11, thus taking the series in a 2-0 victory.
The top four for the second GEX CS:GO Showcase tournament are as follows:
1. Holo (Ematics, 4pack, ALEKSANDAR, Lenon, ReckMONSTER) - $2,240
2. Aug Squad (EverJ, boomy, Temperature, TiCx, Saosin) - $960
3. Team Name (nitsuA, farg, Bau3r, sceebo, honey)
4. x1 Mob (sfX, agony, conan-kun, dolphy, Asuna)
The full brackets from the event are available here.
The next event in the NCS season will be the Wichita Esports Convention which will feature a $5,000 prize pool. It is set to begin in less than a week on February 2nd, and is at this time expected to feature eleven teams.