A thriller of a match between the Danish upstarts Heroic take on a feisty G2 in a thriller 3 map series for the spot at the grand finals of PGL Major Stockholm.
Heroic came in with Nuke as their comfort pick, with G2 heading towards Mirage with Inferno left as the decider. With a spot in the Grand Finals on the line, the pressure was unimaginable on both teams, but the French powerhouse was the clear favorite given the inexperience of the Heroic players.
Nuke(Heroic 16-12 G2 Esports)
Nuke started with a good pistol round victory for G2 but, Heroic quickly found themselves back on the board with a gun round conversion. Nuke has produced disappointing results for G2 previously was an ideal punish pick for Danes which they capitalized on. Casper ‘cadiaN‘ Møller called an incredible T-side which highlighted G2’s lack of preparation on this map. 8-7 finish on the T-side of Nuke, a map that is heavily considered as a CT-sided map, helped establish their dominance early in the series. Moving over to the CT-side, Heroic read G2 like a book to reach 16 rounds when they could only manage 12.
Mirage(Heroic 10-16 G2 Esports)
Rasmus ‘sjuush‘ Beck’s impressive USP taps netted a pistol round victory which his peers built a solid lead on. The Danes were running away with the game before G2 found themselves back on board. Heroic’s massive lead on the CT was cut to a single round by the end of the first half. They only managed two more rounds on the offense after G2 picked up momentum and wiped the floor with them. Nikola ‘NiKo‘ Kovač, yet again proved his worth in impact. Closing the map with a 1.57 rating and 24 frags to his name.
Inferno(Heroic 15-19 G2 Esports)
A map for epics, and it delivered in aces and spades. G2 started off cold despite a pistol round victory. It wasn’t until an eco conversion over Heroic that G2 got going on the CT side of Inferno, which saw pull off a perfect defence, without dropping a single round. 9-6 on their CT wasn’t enough of a comfortable cushion, evident from the second half. Nemanja ‘huNter-‘ Kovač’s pistol round clutch saw G2 almost run away with the map when Heroic got back on the board at 13-7.
With just 3 rounds away from a grand final spot, G2 let their lead slide. A phenomenal defense from the Danes saw them reach 15 rounds whereupon G2 cliched themselves back to push it to overtime. Nikola ‘NiKo‘ Kovač yet again proved to be of immense value which for G2, with 32 kills and a 1.35 IR, the Bosnian powered his team to a smooth overtime victory where Heroic did not stand a chance.
G2 Esports cut it close but they have made it to the Grand Finals of PGL Major Stockholm, where they will find themselves facing the winner of the match between Gambit and NAVI for a big prize.
