Grayhound live to fight another day at IEM Sydney 2018 after stunning SK 2-1 (16-13 on Mirage, 11-16 on Cache, 16-11 on Overpass).

The Group A lower bracket match kicked off on Grayhound's map pick, Mirage, with the Australians securing a quick 3-0 lead on the T-side. From that moment, SK appeared like they had control of the map after losing a single round of the next nine, but Grayhound still managed to string two rounds together to reduce the deficit to 6-9 by half-time.

SK further added to their lead in the second half, winning the pistol and the following anti-ecos. However, Grayhound astonished their opponents from there on with a very tight defence to win eight rounds in a row and secure a 14-12 lead. With their backs against the wall, SK still hit 13 rounds, but that was all they could do on the first map.

SK's map pick, Cache, began just like on Mirage with Grayhound bagging a 3-0 lead, this time around as CTs. Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo's men kept their opponents at bay throughout the half, losing just two rounds to switch sides with a 10-5 lead.

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A flawless round then saw the Brazilians pick up their second pistol of the series, which they followed up with the anti-ecos, 13-5. Although Grayhound did not want to back down, eventually hitting double-digits, SK remained calm and collected to take the series to a third map with a 16-11 win.

Starting out as Terrorists on the decider map, Overpass, Grayhound won the pistol round, but were immediately countered by a force-buy from SK. Liam "⁠malta⁠" Schembri and co. rallied themselves to a 5-2 lead after building up their economy, but then SK tightened up their defence to bag a narrow half-time lead, 8-7.

Grayhound came from the break hungry for the lead, and that was what they got following a five-round winning streak to grab a four-round advantage. SK still responded with two rounds of their own, but none of that would matter as Sean "⁠Gratisfaction⁠" Kaiwai and his teammates went on to finish things off after losing a single round, 16-11, to eliminate the IEM Sydney 2017 champions from the competition.

IEM Sydney 2018 Best of 3 Grayhound Matchpage 2 1 SK 16 Mirage 13 11 Cache 16 16 Overpass 11