Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca CS:GO Final day recap

Yesterday was the final day for Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca and for CS:GO’s latest Major championship. So many teams tried to be here, but only 4 were still around when the dust settled, G2, Na’Vi, Envyus, and Ninjas in Pajamas. Envyus vs G2 was the first match up, and it did not disappoint. There are not many who said G2 would still be around on the last day, but the team showed heart and determination, taking head on a team of Envyus’ class. G2’s map pick, Dust 2, did not disappoint. Jkaem picked up where he left off the day before, with the only difference being that this time he had Dennis helping him out and Envyus had no counter to that; even though KennyS went +1. It looked like he was just getting started. G2 took Dust 2 16-10 picking up the first game on Envyus and leaving everyone stunned and wondering if they could keep up the pressure.

Map 2 was played on Envyus’s choice of Inferno and G2 once again would not make the path to the finals easy for Envyus. This game would go into triple overtime, but Envyus’s players were just more locked, and loaded , and focused on the kill with Happy leading the charge while NBK and Kennys were close on his heels. The map score was 25-21 tying up the match at 1 of each and going into the random map choice of Cache. This map would prove to break the back of G2 ending 16-7 where even a 1v5 round win from Rain could not propel them forward; sadly G2 just ran out of gas on this map and it showed, and with this win Envyus was the first team in the Finals.

NIP vs. Na’Vi showed once again just like Envyus vs. G2. It takes more than a few strong performances and the will to win to make it to the finals at Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca, it takes all of that plus consistency. Map one was Train where Na’Vi decided to make an example out of NIP, and this map spoke volumes on what a Champion team looks like. The map score was 16-3. Guardian played a big role in this match up, and that was to bring NIP’s storybook run crashing down to reality, and he did just that by dropping 26 kills and only dying 7 times, making his score +19.

Map 2 would prove that Nip had some fight left, but they would go down without swinging. Dust 2 was the map with the score reading 16-6. Guardian once again was the gatekeeper to NIP, and nothing was getting past him finishing 23 kills. NIP could not buy a round on this map with both Allu and Forrest putting up 23 kills, which combined was less than Guardian’s 49, and just a few more than Flamie’s 40. This was a map where support players like Xizt needed to show up, but faltered, and one can say never showed up compared to Seized who was the bottom fragger, but still had more than the top fraggers from NIP. This sort of team play helped Na’Vi convincingly secure a spot in the final where Na’Vi was set to clash with Envyus for the title of champion.

Na’Vi vs Envyus was the final match for the championship at Cluj-Napoca. Not many saw this coming, but one thing’s for sure and that’s that a slugfest is what we got on the first map. Envyus on Train found themselves with a large lead to start before Na’Vi started knocking back showing us the play that got them here. Guardian was in a duel with Kennys and even in losing rounds Guardian would be picking off guys left and right with Zeus lurking and picking off late rotations and stragglers. Envyus would go on to win off the back of their star awper Kennys, showing us why he is the best awper in the world getting double kills, and triples with ease. Who else but Kennys would get the last kill to clinch the map, and take them one more step closer to the promise land only needing a win on Cobblestone to take it all home?

The second Map on Cobblestone Kennys continues where he left off picking apart Na’Vi, with the large assist from NBK showing why he is on this team of elite class players going for a championship. Na’Vi can’t round up enough rounds to have the money to give Guardian an awp, thus neutralizing Na’Vi’s star awper. Slowly but surely Envyus would wind down Na’Vi till they found themselves too far out to make it a fight. Envyus showed us this weekend why this team is on another level, and adding KennyS made them peerless on the world stage winning Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca. This marks the first win for the world class awper who had 0 majors under his belt despite being heralded by most as the world’s best. Some saw that he had yet to win a major and came to the conclusion that he is not clutch in the moments that he needs to be, but after a win like that the doubters will be fewer, and much quieter for now.