After going 3-2 in the group stage of IEM Oakland, SK Gaming won their first playoff match of the $300,000 event earlier today against mixed European team OpTic Gaming.
The Brazilian side swept OpTic on both Overpass and Inferno, winning one map with almost no contest and going deep into the second map. They ultimately ended OpTic’s tournament run at IEM Oakland with a 2-0 series score.
OpTic didn’t put up much of a fight on Overpass, as they won only two defensive rounds against the explosive SK offense. Fernando “fer” Alvarenga had a monstrous performance at 26 frags and a 151.5 average damage per round in SK’s 16-2 win over the Green Wall.
Map two Inferno, however, was a much closer competition, with OpTic coming better prepared on both sides. Despite OpTic having an early lead in both halves, SK managed to recover their economy and crush their opposition, successfully defusing in four of their five retakes and overwhelming the stacked OpTic defense. Inferno ended in favor of SK with a 16-12 scoreline.
SK’s win in the quarterfinals puts them in the semifinals on Saturday, Nov. 18 against Ninjas in Pyjamas, who performed the best in their group at 4-1 above teams such as Cloud9, SK, Astralis, and Team Envy. That match will take place in the Oracle Arena at 4pm ET.
