Cloud9 knocked Method out of Game Show Global eSports Cup 2016 Finals, getting the victory 2-0 in close maps (16-14 on de_cache, 16-11 on de dust2).

Coming into the match with their tournament lives on the line were the American-Canadians Cloud9 who lost to G2, and the Russian-Estonians Method who were not able to make the smallest of impacts in their match against Astralis. The best-of-three series began with de_cache which has been a good map for C9 in the past.

Cloud9 started the match with quick round wins in a comfortable fashion and clinched a 3-0 advantage. The first gun round came down to a 1v2 with only Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham alive for C9 who managed to kill both of his opponents and defused the bomb in the last second. The fifth round saw Hendrik "⁠cheti⁠" Vallimägi winning the 1v1 against Ryan "⁠freakazoid⁠" Abadir as they put a round on the scoreboard (4-1).

Close rounds continued with Mike "⁠shroud⁠" Grzesiek coming on top of a 1v2 situation and C9 extended their lead to 8-1 but the Russian team had a successful end to the half when their stand-in Estonian players stepped it up and secured five rounds in a row, finishing the half 6-9 behind.

Skadoodle didn't let his team down as he carried the load 

Method’s vigorous start in the second half put them 11-9 ahead, dazzling the C9 players and forcing them to take a tactical timeout. The opening kill by shroud in the subsequent round proved to be important as they picked up the round without losing a player.

The American team’s three round streak was almost kept alive by Skadoodle in a 1v3 but Savelii "⁠jmqa⁠" Bragin prevailed, tying the game at 12-12. Jordan "⁠n0thing⁠" Gilbert & co once again got three rounds in a row to gain two map points which they could not capitalize the first time around but closed it out 16-14.

C9 transferred their solid start from de_cache to de_dust2, snatching the first three rounds, this time on the T-side. Unlike the first map, the Americans also grabbed the first gun round(4-0). Nikita "⁠waterfaLLZ⁠" Matveyev’s efficient AWPing with three kills in each of the fifth and sixth rounds and Alexey "⁠ub1que⁠" Polivanov’s 1v2 in the sixth one generated two rounds for them.

waterfaLLZ kept his team in the game with his AWP performance

shroud, accompanied by Skadoodle succeed in a 2v5 situation, followed by a 1v2 from ub1que, bringing the score to 8-4 in favor of C9. Just like on de_cache, the Americans were leading 9-6 at halftime on de_cache. The ace in the pistol round by the Estonian stand-in cheti meant the scenario of de_cache kept reoccuring.

freakazoid wreaked havoc with a Deagle in the second round, gaining a big advantage for his team to stay in front (10-7). Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip and Skadoodle came out on top of a 2v3 clutch and secured seven series points. They were able to finish it off 16-11 after a few tries and eliminated Method.

Game Show Global eSports Cup 2016 FinalsBest of 3 Cloud9Matchpage 2 0 5th February 2016 Method 16Cache 14 16Dust2 11

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Cloud9 will play the loser of G2 vs. Astralis later today. Tune into @HLTVorg for more coverage from Vilnius.

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Savelii 'jmqa' Bragin Age: 18 Team: Method Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 210 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.67 Ryan 'freakazoid' Abadir Age: 23 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 0.95 Maps played: 200 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.71 Tyler 'Skadoodle' Latham Age: 22 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 323 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.60 Nikita 'waterfaLLZ' Matveyev Age: 20 Team: Method Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 189 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.71 Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbert Age: 25 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 320 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.68 Hendrik 'cheti' Vallimägi Age: 21 Team: OnlineBOTS Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 98 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.74 Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip Age: 18 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 97 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.74 Alexey 'ub1que' Polivanov Age: 23 Team: Method Rating 1.0: 0.91 Maps played: 208 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.70 Mike 'shroud' Grzesiek Age: 21 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 261 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.66