North overcome Gambit in Vegas
North have advanced to the semi-finals after beating Gambit 2-0 in DreamHack Masters Las Vegas' first quarter-final (16-11 Nuke, 22-20 Inferno).
After demolishing OpTic on Nuke, the Danish team picked it again. In their pistol as Terrorists, although René "cajunb" Borg and Philip "aizy" Aistrup were left alone against three opponents, the first was able to secure all kills and the round. In the following round, North couldn't secure their anti-eco as Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev made an amazing 1v3 CZ clutch with only 14 hp. In the 4th round, Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko almost clutched against five with a triple kill, but in the next one cajunb and Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen won another 2v3 for the 3-2 lead.
It was cajunb's turn to shine for North on Nuke.
In the 7th round, North didn't succeed in their A execution, although they won the next one with a B play that broke Gambit's economy for two rounds. From that point, MSL's team had a four round advantage. With their fast attacking style, they increased it to a six round margin even though Rustem "mou" Telepov opened up round 12th and Zeus had a triple kill in their following semi-buy – Emil "Magisk" Reif actually won it with a quad kill and a 1v2 clutch.
The scoreline was 11-4 for the Danish team as Gambit won first half last round, and they continued to win rounds as Counter-Terrorists. Mihail "Dosia" Stolyarov finished the pistol round with a 1v2 clutch despite Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke's double kill. In their force buy, North bought three scouts and almost secured the round, but Abay "HObbit" Khassenov's play versus MSL and k0nfig's deagles allowed them to secure a five round streak. However, in the 21st round, the Danish captain secured the A site with a triple kill and his team continued to win until the scoreline was 15-9. The CIS squad won two more rounds, including the 26th with AdreN's quad kill, but MSL's triple kill and 1v2 clutch in a match-point semi-buy had assured them a 16-11 victory.
Despite Inferno's struggle, North's mindset was enough to prevail in the series.
Gambit started second map as Terrorists. Although they executed and planted at B, the Danish had a flawless retake and got the pistol. In the 5th round, Zeus's team made their second buy but failed to win it. Magisk clutched 1v2 against a semi-buy in the 6th round, but the CIS team got back to the game in the following one as they won four in a row. After that streak, MSL had a triple kill with the Deagle in a semi-buy that allowed his team to secure a 7-4 scoreline and buy in the next round. However, after a triple kill by Magisk, AdreN won the 12th round with an AWP 1v3 clutch to win his team's last round in the first half.
Zeus opened up Inferno's second pistol with a triple kill at A site as his team secured the round. The Danish didn't back off as they held their opponents' retake in their force buy at B and continued to win rounds. It seemed like Gambit had lost their hope in the 20th round after three alive CIS players couldn't defuse the bomb despite one of them having a kit. Instead of that, they won nine rounds in a row and tied the game with some great multi-kills and defense plays.
cajunb did the opening kills with the AWP in the first two rounds, although his team only managed to win the second one with aizy's triple kill. In their last round as Terrorists, the Danish team was able to pull out a 3v5 and get the advantage as they switch sides. In a back and forth game, Gambit got to match point but their adversaries could tie it 18-18.
When it came to defending in the second overtime, North were overtaken by a Zeus's flank in the first round and were only able to win one round with a triple kill by MSL. Although they lost CT-side, and AdreN almost got a 1v2 clutch as they switched sides, it was Magisk that secured a versus two clutch that helped his team guarantee the lead. In match point, a succeeded 2v3 by cajunb and k0nfig had guaranteed the Danish presence at the semi-finals after winning the second map for 22-20.
Key moment: In the last round of the series, after Emil "Magisk" Reif clutched an amazing 1v3 on the previous one, North were Terrorists and had only two men alive versus three. In a post-plant situation, René "cajunb" Borg, with only 2 hp, managed to kill one and Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke the other two to win the map and the match-up.
PotM: Emil "Magisk" Reif had a good first map and he was the player that had the biggest impact during the series (59 kills, a 94.0 ADR and a 1.24 rating). He outdueled four out of five Gambit players throughout the maps, and won four different 1vsX situations as he persisted to help his team win the game – including the 1v3 he clutched in the penultimate round of Inferno.
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