An action-packed week full of Counter-Strike ended yesterday, as SK Gaming lifted their second ESL One Cologne trophy and took home around $100,000.
Now that SK are bringing home a title from Cologne, Germany for the second year in a row, they’re currently regarded as the best team in the world. They’ve won three straight championships and five total overall championships in 2017, making them a big target for other ambitious teams.
From SK’s trophy haul to the Cloud9/Natus Vincere storyline, these highlights will hold down your CS:GO cravings before the next event in Krakow, Poland, where the $1 million Major will be held from July 16 to 23.
Related: SK Gaming sweep Cloud9 to win their second straight ESL Cologne title
Sextuple overtime in Cloud9 versus Na`Vi
C9 and Na`Vi’s round two match turned out to be a CS:GO marathon. After trading 9-6 halves in regulation, the popular North American and CIS-region teams went the distance on Train with a total of six overtimes. The amount of overtime rounds played was the equivalent of playing the map twice, as there were 36 overtime rounds. Although Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham picked up a 3K, a 4K, and two aces, Cloud9 lost in the 66th round, which could’ve forced a seventh overtime. The Train marathon ended with a scoreline of 34-32, with Na`Vi on top.
Tarik put on a show
Tarik Celik recently took the reins as OpTic Gaming’s new in-game leader, and his efforts led to the Green Wall being the only team to take a map off SK all weekend. An exceptional Counter-Terrorist side on Mirage from OpTic gave them an early 13-2 lead before beating the Brazilians 16-10. Knowing his team had a comfortable lead at 14-6, Tarik threw away an AWP, bunny-hopped around A site with a 360 spin, and tried to knife three players before dying to a passively setup SK, who ironically expected him to actually try to clutch with an AWP.
Mike “shroud” Grzesiek and Jordan “n0thing” Gilbert’s pivotal clutches
Cloud9 would later get sweet revenge against Na`Vi in the semifinals, where they swept them 2-0 thanks to wins on Mirage and Overpass. Clutch plays from shroud changed the pace of the match on what is Na`Vi’s strongest map pick–Overpass. Na`Vi later tilted to the point of post-game desk-smashing, knowing that Overpass was their map to win. A one-on-one in round 30 ended with a one-tap from n0thing, who took off his shirt following the final blow to Na`Vi.
Tres “Stunna” Saranthus: The Bodyguard
Tres “stunna” Saranthus interviewed a vocal Brazilian fan following the SK Gaming vs. FaZe Clan semifinal. When a goofy fan tried to interrupt the interview with a body slam and a beach ball, stunna pushed him away with ease, saving the interviewee from a trip to the floor. Who knew being a former US Army infantry sergeant would be helpful in CS:GO?
Shoey2k?
Prior to the grand final between Cloud9 and SK Gaming, stunna interviewed a few mates from Australia who challenged Cloud9’s in-game leader Jake “Stewie2k” Yip to a “shoey.” A shoey involves chugging a beer out of a shoe. They went bottoms-up with a shoey of their own, on stream, in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers.
