With a $300,000 prize pool the Starladder i-League (SL) finals are one of the most notable tournaments of 2017 so far. Some of the world’s best teams have gathered in Kiev to battle it out for the first place prize and the chance to be crowned Season 3 champions.

The SL format is different from the one adopted by the recent majors and ESL tournaments. This tournament sees opening matches where teams face off in a best of one to determine the initial standings with round win difference determining the difference between the winning teams. The loss difference also affects where teams place for those that have lost.

NORTH v IMMORTALS

The first match of the day saw North facing up against Immortals, with the most recent meeting being Immortals eliminating North at IEM Katowice. After map vetoes it was determined that Cobblestone would be played, a map that North have recently been strong on however also the same map that Immortals eliminated North from IEM Katowice on (16-6)

This time around however saw a completely different story as North roared into a 3-12 T side lead eventually seeing out the map with a 4-0 CT side to round out the game 16-3 in a particularly dominant performance.

MVP: aizy

This win is North’s first opening win of a tournament since October 2016, a curse they are glad to break:

First time in half a year, that we win first match. Proud of the team! Lets see who we face tmrw 🤗 — Mathias Lauridsen (@MSLcsgo) April 4, 2017

The curse is over! Ggwp @Immortals 16-3 — Kristian Wienecke (@k0nfigCS) April 4, 2017

VIRTUS PRO v MVP PROJECT

The second match of the day saw Virtus Pro up against MVP Project, the tournament’s only South Korean outfit.

The map choice ended up as Mirage, a map which has traditionally been a hit or a miss for VP in the past. After a three man stack it looked like it may have been another one to forget for VP as MVP picked up the pistol and the following two rounds however the Poles broke back and clinched two afterplant situations in what became a vintage Virtus Pro showing. The first half ended 11-4 in favour of VP and they then saw the map out 16-4.

This result won’t come as a surprise to many with Virtus Pro one of the biggest favourites for the tournament however one surprise was Snax unusually making use of the Bizon which he made work driving home the opening victory for Virtus Pro.

MVP: pashaBiceps

SK GAMING v TYLOO

Another favourite for this tournament has been SK Gaming, the Brazilians are always a name that’s in the mix whenever they’re involved in a tournament. They are one of the teams with the best firepower within CS:GO and that can never be underestimated. Their first match of the tournament was against China’s TyLoo with both facing off on Mirage.

Both teams most recently met at February’s Dreamhack Masters in Las Vegas with SK easing out a 16-5 on Cobblestone however it was TyLoo who took early control of this game winning out the first half 8-7. Despite TyLoo’s strong first half it was a catalogue of errors epitomised through the loss to a full eco which gave up ground to SK in the second half. Even though TyLoo looked the stronger team in the first half it seemed as though they could not regain focus after their errors and potentially tempers may have flared within the TyLoo camp as the game slipped away from them eventually losing 16-12.

MVP: felps

ASTRALIS v CLG

Astralis are without a doubt one of CS:GO’s biggest teams, they are also currently the major champions. Much the same as SK, you can never count Astralis out. They aren’t flashy but they do what they have to, they’re drilled and their communication is second to none. One thing often overlooked is the in game leading of ‘gla1ve’, this is what makes Astralis one of the world’s best and something that many feel North American CS lacks. CLG are one of NA’s most prominent teams alongside Cloud9 however no team from NA has really made the step up to the level of teams like Astralis or SK.

This match up on Train however saw a somewhat possessed CLG storm out the gates establishing a 6-0 lead. Astralis however managed to regain their calm and pull back six rounds in the first half whilst CLG closed out 9-6 in a dominant first half.

Astralis however fought back through an incensed hold of Ivy – very few times did CLG manage to break out Ivy onto the site – they were often held off and forced out to B site where Astralis were already waiting and rotated with a member in behind sealing off the exit. This boxing in tactic was completely regimental in its execution and was particularly useful when they had backed Rickeh into a corner and instead of going for the kill instantly they waited 11 seconds in order to fully kill the economy of the player.

Astralis eventually saw the game out 16-11 after CLG really struggled to fight back in the second half.

Shaky start but we pulled through 16-12 against @clgaming in the end! Ggwp! 1-0 in groups here at @cssltv — Peter Rothmann (@dupreehCSGO) April 4, 2017

Koosta in particular was on fire in this game, driving the team forward from the front. He dictated the pace of the game at times and nullified man advantages for Astralis, sometimes even turning a 3v4 into a 3v2 in a matter or seconds.

MVP: koosta



HELLRAISERS v FAZE

In recent memory, Hellraisers record against FaZe is not pretty. They have failed to win in any of their recent games against the team and are not considered by many to be favourites here again on Cache.

FaZe opened the game by unexpectedly losing the pistol round however they then lost to a Hellraisers eco. FaZe, however turned this around and stormed into a 6-2 lead 8 rounds into the game and looked in the driving seat with NiKo doing exactly what he does, dominate games.

Hellraisers however clawed themselves piece by piece back into the game with Zero slaying FaZe man by man as they came to the site. It was Deadfox however that inspired the comeback from Hellraisers as they pulled the half back to win it 9-6 after 7 rounds in a row.

Hellraisers continued this form into the second half and Deadfox with the AWP seemed to hit every shot. This pinpoint accuracy was intrinsic to Hellraisers as they marched dominantly on through FaZE, winning 13 rounds in a row taking the game all the way to at least 9 match points. The winning streak was halted by a NiKo 4k after the time ran out before DeadFox could plant.

It eventually took Hellraisers 4 to close out the game in what has been one of the biggest surprises of this tournament so far. It wasn’t without a fight as NiKo held tightly on to A site setting up as a turret like machine playing from both quad and site.

It ended with a 1v1 as Bondislav took Allu with the tec9 from quad with Hellraisers winning the game on an eco, with the game finishing 16-10.

Bad start bad start

Tomorrow a new day. Wpwp @HRcsgo

0-1 — NiKo (@FaZe_NiKoo) April 4, 2017

The biggest downfall of FaZe in this game was the unrelenting aggression which left them out of position and a lack of overall discipline which is no doubt coming with the bedding in of superstar NiKo to the team.

This game saw DeadFox put himself out there with a strong game as primary AWPer, something that teams will have to take note of in the second round of games.

MVP: DeadFox

GAMBIT V FNATIC

This is another matchup that was most recently seen at Dreamhack 2017 in Las Vegas, however this game is one of the most balanced today. This game is one that many feel could really go either way, both teams feature experienced pros and new upcoming stars.

At Dreamhack Gambit fought off Fnatic 16-8 on Inferno with Dosia as MVP for the game, something that could be revisited today.

This game takes place on the newly added (to the competitive map pool) Inferno. Gambit opened up with a pistol win buy a KRIMZ quad kill on the force allowed for Fnatic to take the second round. Fnatic then went on to take control of the first half with 4 consecutive rounds before Gambit fought back from B site’s coffins.

This was then returned with an Olofmeister push through Banana, after an A fake, taking the single player holding B to open up the site.

Fnatic saw out the first half with a 10-5 advantage. The second half wasn’t at all much different with Gambit winning the first three rounds of the new half but the following 6 rounds fell to Fnatic as they sealed out a 16-8 win.

Terrible start from us, ggwp @FNATIC — Daniil Teslenko (@ZeusCS_GO) April 4, 2017

This game really showed examples of the Fnatic of old, with Olof really stepping up. Olof in this game moved himself into positions often taking sites 1v1 or 1v2 often simply through smart play.

MVP: Olofmeister



NIP v G2

NiP have been on fire since benching Pyth and picking up dedicated AWPer ‘Draken’. Prior to this they couldn’t string two wins together at all but since the addition of Draken they have lost only one game, winning nine in the ESL Pro-League.

G2 on the other hand have been busy rebuilding an entire roster, picking up KennyS, NBK, Shox, Apex and Bodyy. All of these players have shown to have great synergy and KennyS is renowned for being one of the worlds best AWPers so it will be interesting to see how he and Draken shape up against each other in what could be the pivotal battle in this matchup. NiP’s resurgence means that they enter this matchup high on confidence and should see G2 off on Inferno.

G2 however came into the game strong winning the pistol round and the following 7 rounds. One particular moment of pain for NiP fans was at 5-0, as NiP push onto A site with 3 members left, they still also had the AWP up. As they push with 10 seconds remaining F0rest pushes with the bomb to site to plant however Draken backs off and saves his AWP and the other two members fall due to the lack of support.

NiP’s first round came with a new take on things, sticking in twos and playing for picks. G2’s money however meant that they could buy straight back up into a double AWP set up which meant that two early picks from Shox and Bodyy led to another G2 win.

G2 fought through the first half with a 13-2 win against a toothless NiP who look like the same team that was struggling with Pyth.

NiP did however win out the pistol round on the second half allowing for their economy to begin to flourish and bring the score back to 6-13 before Draken’s missed AWP shot allowed Kenny and Shox to swarm A site and lock GeT_RiGhT out post-plant.

G2, from there, took the game straight to map point and also took the game 16-6.



Tuff start, can't really put to much focus on that lost. 0-1 as start of the Swiss system here.. I guess we can say the super team is ready? — Christopher Alesund (@GeT_RiGhTcs) April 4, 2017

NiP seem to be unable to break out from this overall poor form, something that they’ve apparently tried everything to shake. They shook up their roster a little, went to bootcamps and moved players around into different positions. The only thing possibly left is to break up the core of the roster that has stuck with the team for many years.

MVP: aPex

NA’VI v UYA

Na’Vi are a team that is always there or there about. A team that has shown glimpses of pure skill and raw power but never made the full step up to one of the world’s best teams. 5Power Club (recently acquired by and now named, UYA) on the other hand come into this tournament as unknown entities. Not many people are familiar with them which may pay off in their favour – as unlikely as it may be.

UYA acquired 5Power Club too late for even the name on the graphics and content to be updated – something which caused ambiguity among casters and crew. However prior to the match they ditched their UYA jerseys to don the 5Power jerseys again in what has become a running joke.

Na’Vi will still remain overwhelming favourites for this match on home turf but if they do not fix their notorious temper issues then it could become a harder matchup than it should be.

Inferno made its third appearance of the day with Na’Vi starting on T side. UYA/5P however, lost a somewhat confusing pistol round with Na’Vi two whilst pushing B site through Banana. The following round saw Stevie jump into Edward mid smoke further epitomising the scatty opening to the game as Na’Vi took the second round.

The fourth round saw UYA/5P win their first round with Shuadapai holding A site down with an M4 pulling out a 4k with his back to the wall. The Chinese outfit then went on to take the following round with Stevie making use of a Famas to cut down Na’Vi’s numbers.

Na’Vi then looked set to put their mark on the game moving 6-2 into the lead when UYA/5P broke back from Na’Vi defending A site with Stevie’s position in pit proving an anchor for the team to play around.

Na’Vi did see out the half without much more of an issue though with the half scoring coming in at 12-3.

UYA/5P took the pistol round in the start of the following half and also winning the follow up. They then went on a run of five consecutive rounds pulling the score to 13-9. Na’Vi however pulled a round back after Not7 couldn’t win out a 1v3 clutch and Na’Vi again won the following round to bring the game to match point.

The game was finally sealed without Na’Vi losing a member as a spirited UYA/5P went down with 9 rounds to their name in a 16-9 loss.

MVP: GuardiaN



DAY 2 MATCHES:

Loss Bracket:

NiP v MVP Project

5Power/UYA v CLG

FaZE v Immortals

Gambit v TyLoo

Win Bracket:

Virtus Pro v SK Gaming

Fnatic v Na’Vi

G2 v HellRaisers

North v Astralis