CS:GO News Week in Review: May 15th





Richard "shox" Papillon and Kenny "KennyS" Schrub crowned Champions of HTC 2v2 Invitational

G2 Esports once again secure the HTC Invitational title, this time with the aid of Kenny "KennyS" Schrub. The talented AWPer was joined by last year's title holder, Richard "shox" Papillon and together the Frenchmen brought home yet another HTC title for the team. The duo was able to surpass the likes of FaZe Clan, Team EnVyUs, Heroic and finally, North. Following their grand final pairing against North, the G2 boys bagged a cool $20,000 in winnings, as well as a consecutive title for the team.

Cloud9 upset SK Gaming at Subaru Invitational 2017, secure first place

America's Cloud9 demonstrated a fantastic online performance against SK Gaming in the grand final of the Subaru Invitational 2017, securing first place, as well as $10,000 in prize money. The teams faced off on de_Cobblestone and de_Train, with SK Gaming considered to be the best team in the world on the prior map. Despite the aforementioned fact, Cloud9 brought the battle to the Brazilians, upsetting the favourites at 16:12. With de_Train being one of the lesser maps for SK, Cloud9 secured a victory, albeit an incredibly close one at 16:14.

PENTA Sports surpass BIG in grand final of ESEA Season 24 Global Challenge

The European mix of PENTA Sports secured $18,000 in prize money, the organisation's largest winning since it's inception. The team faced Fatih "gob b" Dayik's BIG in the grand final that saw a best-of-three series, one that unfortunately for the Germans, saw only two maps. The prior of the two was de_Cache, where PENTA managed a close 16:13 finish. The latter map was also incredibly close, however the victor, as we know, is always sole, with the European mix closing out the series on a 16:12 note.

OpTic Gaming finalise direct invites to ESL One: Cologne 2017

OpTic Gaming were announced as the final team to recieve a direct invite to the LAN Finals of ESL One: Cologne 2017. Remaining are four slots for teams hailing from the European, North American and Chinese closed qualifiers. The prior will offer two slots for victors of the semi-finals, whilst the North American and Chinese participants will need to defeat their respective opponents in a grand final. The decision to invite OpTic Gaming was met with criticism from both the professional scene, as well as CS:GO enthusiasts. Gambit Esports was cited as a team "more worthy" of the invite, based solely around their recent performances.

ESL Pro League Season 5 league play concluded

ESL Pro League Season 5 league play has concluded for both the European and North American regions, determining twelve teams to participate at the LAN finals in Dallas, Texas, United States. Aforementioned teams will meet at the Verizon Theatre on May 31st - June 4th. Split into two groups of six the teams will face one another according to the Swiss format, with the top three teams making it to the play-offs.

Image courtesy of G2shox Twitter