As Saturday, December 2nd, came to an end, Cloud9 faced Unemployed for Christmas (ex-CLG) in the final for the grand prize of $14,000. Eventually, Cloud9 were able to take a swift 2-0 victory against the ex-CLG squad and claim the top prize, with Unemployed for Christmas taking home a respectable $8,000.
First Round Matches
On Friday, the first round matches of the tournament were played with Cloud9 taking on TORQUED, Ghost against SoaR, Splyce versus Gale Force, and ex-CLG matched against GX. Every single one of the higher seeded team (The higher seeded teams are listed first in the matchup) except the Ghost vs SoaR match won their games. SoaR pulled off the only upset of the tournament, defeating the 4th seeded Ghost Gaming, 2-0.
Semifinals
In the semifinals, Cloud9 played against SoaR Gaming while ex-CLG took on Splyce. In the Cloud9 and SoaR match, Cloud9 started off with a roaring 14-1 lead on Mirage to take a comfortable win at 16-1 and a lead to the series. The second match was slightly closer, but Cloud9 showed why they were one of the top North American teams by taking down their opponents 16-9 to claim a 2-0 victory and move on to the finals.
The match between the ex-CLG team and Splyce was a nail-biter to watch and exciting throughout. Splyce kicked off with an 11-4 first half on Cache and were looking to run away with the game until ex-CLG pulled off their own 11-4 half to tie the game in Overtime. However, at that point, the momentum for ex-CLG was running too strong and they took a 3-0 lead in the first half of Overtime. Splyce made things interesting by taking the next 2 rounds, but ex-CLG closed it out 19-17 in the last round of Overtime. The next match was equally as tense as Splyce once again found themselves in a lead during the first half at 9-6. Again, ex-CLG managed to tie the score up in OT. This time, Splyce grabbed themselves a slender 2-1 lead in the first half of Overtime, but ex-CLG pulled off a flawless 3-0 half on the other side to secure themselves another 19-17 win and a spot in the finals.
Grand Finals
For the grand finals, Cloud9 kicked off strong taking a swift 16-5 victory over the ex-CLG team on Mirage to strike first blood in the series count. However, ex-CLG bounced back by taking a slim 8-7 lead on Inferno to keep the match interesting. In the end, Cloud9 managed to close out the second half 9-3 to take a 16-11 victory and the tournament. Congratulations to Cloud9 for winning our tournament.