In a surprising turn of events, Cloud9 defeated G2 Esports 2-0 on Mirage 16:8 and on Overpass 16:7. They had a dominating performance on Mirage, but since it was their map pick, many had G2 turning it around. Cloud9 was having none of that. Cloud9 will advance to the semifinals and face either SK Gaming or Fnatic.





After the match, members of Cloud9 met with the assembled media. Highlights of the news conference are below:

Tarik "tarik" Celik on Cloud9’s first semifinal appearance on home soil:





Tarik: It’s a big deal that we are on home soil, it makes it so much bigger. We have so many Cloud9 fans here and I saw that the crowd was like 80% blue and white colors. I think if we win the Major, it will mean even more to us because it’s at home. I think our odds are much better here as well.





Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham on if they feel they are continuing the legacy of former teammates Michael "shroud" Grzesiek and Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert:





Skadoodle: I don’t have much to say. Let’s just say, we are in a new era.





Jake “Stewie2k” Yip on swapping the AWP between himself and Skadoodle:





Stewie2k: I think it’s just based on spawns. It depends on who is feeling it, but I think anyone can take the AWP. Rush doesn’t AWP that much, but he’s a pretty good AWPer actually. A lot of the time I like to take the AWP and get the first pick. I feel like the first pick is so easy to get, especially on Overpass. When it’s 4v5 for the T sided team, it’s really hard to play Overpass.





Will “RUSH” Wierzba on what Cloud9 has done to get them this far in the event:





RUSH: We practice a lot. The more you practice together and play against top European teams and teams like SK, it makes you better. Time helps, just putting the time in.





Soham “valens” Chowdhury on G2’s veto process:





Valens: I think they overthought the vetoes. The only map they have beaten us on is Cache, Overpass was always going to be a toss-up. I think they overthought it.





Valens on how well the team has come together since adding tarik and RUSH:





Valens: We were pleasantly surprised because we didn’t pick up tarik to be an in-game leader. We quickly learned that he had the demeanor and characteristics to become a good leader. All we had to do was explain to him how we like to play and made sure he was comfortable when calling. We knew what we were getting with RUSH, try to 1v1 him and see how it feels.

Photo Courtesy of ELEAGUE