Beyond The Summit’s first-ever international Counter-Strike event concluded with SK Gaming taking home their first championship of 2017.
On their road to the championship, SK blew out Team EnVyUs on Cache and Mirage with 16-9 and 16-3 scorelines. Marcelo “coldzera” David totaled 24 kills on Cache and 26 on Mirage with an ADR of 107.3 split between the two maps.
Cloud9, however, proved to be more of a problem for the Brazilians in the semifinals. Braxton “swag” Pierce’s impact on Inferno almost gave Cloud9 the first map win, but a read on middle map late in the game by Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo solidified the win by a slight 16-14 margin.
Surprisingly, SK dropped Train to the North Americans 16-9. On Mirage, a strong Counter-Terrorist side from SK gave them the early lead, and an even better showing on their Terrorist side left Cloud9 dazed, leaving them with only two rounds on their Counter-Terrorist side. SK handed Cloud9 their first loss of the weekend once they closed out Mirage 16-8.
The winners bracket finals seemed to be a breeze for the Brazilians. SK topped Gambit Esports on their best map pick, Cobblestone, 16-4, and then later on Cache, 16-7. SK Gaming sent Gambit to the losers bracket finals, but the two teams met once again in the grand finals.
In their grand final rematch against Gambit, SK started off slow on Inferno, trailing Gambit until the final round of their Counter-Terrorist half. On their Terrorist side, SK struggled to kickstart momentum as Gambit shut down their late pushes towards the A site. Gambit ended Inferno in their favor at 16-10.
Cache was a different story for the CIS squad. SK steamrolled Gambit on Cache 16-2, with coldzera amassing 31 kills and a 157.2 ADR. On Train, SK started off at 8-0 on their Counter-Terrorist side, consistently stopping Gambit in their tracks on almost any push. Later in the first half, Gambit began to show signs of life by eliminating the Brazilians one by one without having to plant the bomb.
Gambit continued the uphill battle on their Terrorist side. They soon tied and led the game for a short period of time. Eventually, FalleN began to see the holes in their defense and capitalized on Gambit’s mistakes with mixed executes on the A site. This led to Gambit crumbling under pressure and SK ending the tournament with a championship win after a well-fought 16-13 victory on Train.
This victory at the cs_summit secured $63,750 for SK, as well as their first tournament win in 2017, tying them with Astralis, Virtus.pro, and FaZe Clan for championships this year.
