Cloud9 have advanced to the IEM Oakland semi-finals following a 2-1 win over Gambit (Overpass 16-19, Cobblestone 16-11, Mirage 16-11).

Cloud9 went ahead and picked up a 3-0 lead to start the series on Overpass as Counter-Terrorists, while Gambit grabbed up the first gunround. With a quick reply, the American squad broke their opponents' economy and did so once more, reaching their seventh round.

Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip's team's aggression in middle then backfired and allowed Gambit to start clawing back into the half with two of the next three rounds. Before the half ended, Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev & co. took two more to Cloud9's one, on the back of Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta's solo quad-kill on B, for a total of six rounds in the first half.

tarik's plays helped Cloud9 secure Cobblestone

Bektiyar "⁠fitch⁠" Bahytov stepped up to the plate with a quad-kill of his own in the second pistol round, but autimatic continued to wreak havoc with a crucial double in the following forcebuy, which sent Cloud9 to a 12-7 lead. Mihail "⁠Dosia⁠" Stolyarov's triple then set off a flurry of rounds going the way of Gambit, who shut down all attacks coming at them over and over until they reached match point.

Three slow B executes and one ace from William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba later, the first map went to overtime. Cloud9 started of well there with the first round, but Gambit then grabbed four in a row for 19-16, 1-0 in the series.

Cloud9 once again got off to the better start on Cobblestone, this time on the offense, as they went up 6-1. Gambit started pulling it back yet again with a forcebuy win on B, reaching their third round shortly after. After the next two went the Americans' way, the Kazakh squad put their foot down and closed out the half with four in a row, switching over to the Terrorists with seven rounds to their name.

HObbit topped the charts for Gambit on every map

In the second pistol round, autimatic stepped up to the plate with four USP-S headshots to send his team to 11-7. Cloud9 edged ever closer to map three on the back of Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik's heroics, including a quad-kill for 12-8 and a 1v2 clutch in the following round. Due to the close situations, a single round going the way of Gambit sent the American side on just pistols for two rounds in a row, but Cloud9 clinched match point on the back of Stewie2K sniping down four and secured map two at 16-11.

The deciding map, Mirage, started out with tarik grabbing four kills including a narrow 1v1. Abay "⁠Hobbit⁠" Khasenov clutched a 1v2 in return in the following forcebuy, and Gambit managed to survive the next two advantages for a 3-1 lead. The score was soon even before Gambit took control of four rounds in a row, when Cloud9 had to eco twice.

A forcebuy win then helped Cloud9 stabilize, as Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham and tarik topped it off with individual plays for 6-7. With a quad-kill, the American sniper sent Gambit on low economy in the last round as Cloud9 grabbed a good 8-7 half all things considered.

Gambit retook the lead on the back of a decisive pistol round, but the control of the match was back in Cloud9's hands once they won the first two gunrounds. An A execute then gave tarik's squad's their 14th round, while a CZ-75 buy allowed Gambit to avoid facing match point. However, Cloud9 reached it in the next round with a quick A split and secured the series at 16-11.

IEM Oakland 2017 Best of 3 Cloud9 Matchpage 2 1 Gambit 16 Overpass 19 16 Cobblestone 11 16 Mirage 11