Two American teams crossed over into the semi-finals as King Koosta led CLG over hometown favorites Fnatic and kNg carried Immortals over SK Gaming.

[zombify_post]

The Immortals welcome a king

Team Immortals has proved to be the most inconsistent Brazilian team to date. From the highs of Katowice and Dreamhack Austin to the lows of StarSeries Season 3 and the EPL Season 5 Finals, the team has proven to be either bang or bust in every outing they have attended so far. Recently the team acquired the services of Vito “kNg” Giuseppe to replace former SK Gaming player Lincoln “fnx” Tau and despite having a great LAN at the American Minor was not expected to perform in Sweden.

Boy did he prove everyone wrong. The first game against Mousesports started off as an exciting back and forth between the two similarly ranked teams, but once the guns started coming out it was an easy 16-6 for Immortals despite Lucas “steel” Teles saying the team, “struggled.” Kng led the team with a 26-9 KD and 97 damage per round. When SK Gaming beat a surprisingly good Team Singularity, a Brazilian showdown was initiated at DreamHack Summer. Despite being rivals it has been a mostly one-sided affair in favor of SK Gaming as the team has proven to normally be heads and shoulders above all others.

Vito “kNg” Giuseppe drops 30 kills and 104 damage per round while former Immortals standout Joao “felps” Vasconcellos goes 8-25 for SK Gaming on Cache. Immortals win against SK Gaming gave the team a free semi-finals bye and allowed kNg to prove his worth against two Top 15 ranked teams in an international setting. Is this pace sustainable for a dynamic AWPer such as kNg? Only time will tell. For now, enjoy what the new King of Brazil has to offer.

Clutch Logical Gaming

Looking at CLG’s group for DreamHack Summer you would be pressed to find anyone who is not a diehard CLG fan to expect the North American side to come out of a stacked group much less gain a semi-finals bye. In fact, we predicted that CLG would place 7th-8th with Team Singularity because of the level of teams they would face in their group not because the team has not shown promise.

A first matchup against Gambit Esports went to a single overtime as the Australian Ricardo “rickeh” Mulholland looked sharp in regulation and in game leader (IGL) Pujan “FNS” Mehta led the team to a flawless OT including a 1v1 clutch in the first round. The win was labeled an upset as Gambit sits comfortable in the Top 10 at #6 and the last time they were on LAN claimed the DreamHack Open Austin trophy.

CLG was surely happy to get a win, but were immediately thrown to the wolves against a strong Fnatic who had the immense support of the Swedish home stand. Was that a problem for CLG? Well on their CT half it certainly was, but despite Fnatic having a large lead going into the second half it all fell apart for the Swedes who allowed CLG to force Overtime. Surely Kenneth “koosta” Suen would not lead CLG to another OT win against a Top 15opponent. In one of the most evenly matched matches of 2017, CLG and Fnatic traded overtimes until CLG would break Fnatic mentally and win 31-28 in five overtimes.

The FNS powered CLG machine was extremely well oiled as the new top IGL talent has taken CLG from the ash heap of NA CS into the spotlight. The discipline and good executes proved wonders on Train against Fnatic even with a vintage Olof “Olofmeister” Kajbjer who went 54-38 and the roaring DreamHack Summer crowd.

It is very unfortunate that CLG will not be at the Major qualifier because this team performs at a high level against international competition.

Do you think that Immortals and CLG will advance to the Grand Final or will a challenger emerge from the group stage? Comment below your picks for DreamHack Summer 2017!