A brief weekend of Counter-Strike in Shanghai, China concluded earlier today, and an unexpected champion rose to the top.
Renegades won their first tournament of 2017 by defeating Virtus Pro in the grand finals of the StarLadder i-League Shanghai Invitational. The Australians swept them earlier today to conclude the three-day tournament.
Successful Terrorist sides from Renegades put them ahead of VP early on in map one Mirage, as well as in map two Train. Impressive clutches from Karlo “USTILO” Pivac and Noah “Nifty” Francis broke VP’s economy in the first half of Train, making it harder for VP to restabilize and start enough momentum for a comeback. Nifty also ended the final match of the weekend as the top fragger in the server, averaging 23 kills per map. Mirage (16-8) and Train (16-10) finished in Renegades’ favor, and the Australians finished the weekend with an 8-3 map record in five best-of-threes.
By beating VP in the grand finals, Renegades earned $75,000. They outlasted other reputable teams, such as HellRaisers, Heroic, and TyLoo, in the Shanghai Invitational.
This event allowed Renegades to prove that they’re still a force to be reckoned with in professional CS:GO, even though they outperformed an inconsistent Virtus Pro lineup. If they continue to perform well in offline and online play, they could definitely upset top teams at the Boston Major Qualifier from Jan. 12 to 15, which is their next big event.
