Cloud9 win iBUYPOWER Masters 2017

The Americans were pushed to the limit on Train by Renegades, but ultimately prevailed.

Cloud9 were victorious in Santa Ana

The grand finals kicked off on Mirage, where Renegades took the opening pistol. This momentum was short-lived, however, as Cloud9 were able to win the following round. Cloud9 began stringing rounds together, with Renegades only able to win isolated rounds off the backs of in-game leader Noah "Nifty" Francis and Keith "NAF" Markovic.

Renegades would not put consecutive rounds together until rounds 13 and 14, ultimately finishing the half down 10-5.

The second pistol round looked to be going Renegades way, as they had a 2v1 advantage against only Jake "Stewie2K" Yip. However, the man dubbed the "Smoke Criminal" was able to pull off a miraculous double knife clutch.

Despite the devastating circumstances under which they lost the previous round, Renegades were able to rally back and win the next round, thanks to a pair of Deagle kills from NAF and a matching pair of CZ frags from Justin "jks" Savage. The attempt at regathering was brief, as Cloud9 answered with four Deagle kills of their own, and took the map victory with an authoritative 16-6 score.

Cloud9 were able to take the first half pistol on Train, their map pick, and added two more rounds aftewards. Renegades then won eight of the next nine rounds, with the sole Cloud9 win coming from a detonated bomb. In fact, one of the lone bright spots of the half for Cloud9 would be an upgraded pistol buy that saw Stewie2K grab three Deagle kills, taking the round. Ultimately, the half would end 9-6 in the favor of the majority Australian side.

The Americans would win the second half pistol as well, and powered their way to a 14-11 lead. Renegades tightened up their offense at this point, winning five in a row and escaping from a scary situation where Tarik "tarik" Celik dealt heavy damage with a Scout.

With Renegades on match point, Cloud9 finally found their defensive form, recording a clean round to send the match to overtime. With confidence seemingly regained, Cloud9 surrendered only a single round in overtime, taking the second map 19-16, as well as the series and event.

Best of three maps iBUYPOWER Masters 2017 Renegades 0 - 2 Cloud9 de_mirage 6 - 16 de_mirage de_train 16 - 19 de_train de_cobblestone de_cobblestone

The final placings for iBUYPOWER Masters 2017 are:

1. Cloud9 - $50,000

2. Renegades - $25,000

3-4. Liquid - $8,750

3-4. OpTic - $8,750

5-6. NRG - $2,500

5-6. Misfits - $2,500

7-8. CLG - $1,250

7-8. Luminosity - $1,250