NA CS at the Majors: ELEAGUE Major Atlanta 2017

As we near closer and closer to the BLAST.tv Paris Major, the final CS:GO Major Championship, Dust2.us is walking down memory lane to relive North America’s Counter-Strike history at the Majors. With only one Legends team coming in from ESL One Cologne 2016, which we covered yesterday, ELEAGUE Major Atlanta 2017 was not set to favor the hometown teams.

The biggest change coming into ELEAGUE’s first Major Championship was the introduction of the Swiss System as the format for the main group stage, replacing the GSL-style groups from Cologne. Teams now had three chances to reach the playoffs, as opposed to two at Cologne, however, all matches were now BO1.

With OpTic and CLG placing joint-last in Cologne, they would both be relegated to the offline qualifier for the Atlanta Major. Played out entirely at Turner Studios, they were joined by Cloud9 who placed second at the Americas Minor. OpTic would go on to qualify for the main stage, with a 3-1 record and a loss only to FaZe Clan, but Cloud9 and CLG would both be eliminated with 2-3 and 1-3 records, respectively.

After losing their star player Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev, Liquid were now playing with Dane Jacob "Pimp" Winneche as well as former SK coach Wilton "zews" Prado. On the other side of the Swiss table, OpTic made a single change in the replacement of Damian "daps" Steele with Tarik "tarik" Celik from CLG. With the new format, all teams were essentially playing in the same group, however, they were seeded into four opening draw pools based on their placement from Cologne or the offline qualifier.

Coming in from the top pool, Liquid drew the Frenchmen of Envy as their first opponents. In a barn-burning triple overtime match on Cache, EliGE was able to hold both teams equal until a 21-21 scoreline with a 1.54 rating. Unfortunately, a step-up from Envy saw them claim four consecutive rounds in the third overtiming, taking the map 25-21 and sending Liquid to the 0-1 Swiss pool.

Drawing from the top pool for their own opponent, OpTic were faced against Virtus.pro on Cobblestone. Another reasonably close game with 1.33 and 1.29 ratings from NAF and RUSH, respectively, but not enough to overcome the Polish plow end eventual finalist Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski’s 1.64 rating.

The second Swiss round saw Liquid take a close 16-14 Overpass map off FlipSid3 Tactics to even their Swiss score to 1-1, however, OpTic would end up drawing eventual winners Astralis on Train where they were bested 12-16. Dropping to the 0-2 pool, they were also able overcome the FlipSid3 sent their way by Liquid with a 16-13 win on Train.

Moving onto their third-round match, Liquid were then faced with FaZe Clan on Nuke. Another overtime for the Americans, after equal 7-8 regulation T-sides for both teams, saw each take a single T-side round and even out at 18-18. Unfortunately, a repeat of the Envy game overtime saw Liquid unable to continue their momentum and lose four consecutive rounds, this time in the second overtime, and fall to FaZe 18-22.

With OpTic and Liquid now both in the 1-2 Swiss pool, there was a chance they would be draw up against each other, however, this did not end up being the case – for better or worse. Facing mousesports, Liquid had a breeze of a game this time on Nuke, taking a 16-4 victory. In a drastic mirroring, OpTic ended up being thrashed by their opponent GODSENT 16-8 on Cache – sending the American-Canadian team home.

In the final round of Swiss where each team would either qualify to the playoffs or be send home, Liquid ended up being drawn versus the eventual winners, Astralis. With the match being only a BO1 unlike in modern Majors where elimination games are BO3, Liquid would only have single chance on Mirage to make Legends status again.

Disappointingly, the American side were able to put up any form of attack to Astralis’ strong CT-side, only taking four rounds to their name at the half. With a stellar 2.41 rating, Nicolai "device” Reedtz was able to continue Liquid’s dismantling on the brief T-side as they stomped four quick rounds out, taking the game 16-4 overall. With that, Liquid’s run and all of America’s dreams were ended for a Major win on hometown soil.

With unfortunate opponent draws for OpTic in the first two Swiss rounds and a similar draw for Liquid in the final round, both teams would be unable to take full advantage of the new triple-elimination format and qualify to the playoffs despite having more chances than previous Majors.

With the PGL Kraków Major coming up next, Liquid and OpTic would be sent to the offline qualifier in Romania for a chance to qualify to Poland, along side potentially two more American teams from the Americas Minor. We continue our coverage tomorrow with the Kraków Major.