Cloud9 becomes the first NA team to win a global CS tournament at ESL Pro League S4 finals

A major win for Cloud9 yesterday broke the curse of global Counter-Strike competitions for North American teams, as the blue team emerged victorious after a final showdown with SK Gaming at ESL Pro League Season 4 finals.

ESL Pro League Season 4 brought together the European and North American Pro League’s for an epic showdown in São Paulo fighting for the biggest share of the $600,000 prize pool. Despite the impressive size of the event, there were a number of missing teams including Virtus Pro, Fnatic and NAVI, all who had decided to not attend due to busy schedules.

The North American team had already lost to SK in the group stage but proved themselves later on to get to the final. After going 13-2 up on Overpass on the first map and eventually losing 17-19 in overtime, many suspected that C9 it was the same old story. Launching into Mirage, Cloud9 defied the doubters took control of the map early on and with a comfortable 16-6 scoreline, forced the last map of Dust_2. Building on the momentum, they took a 13-2 lead whilst on the Terrorist side before winning the pistol and subsequent round on CT to make it 15-2. Despite a brief flutter of rounds by SK to make it 15-5, Cloud9 closed it out to break the home crowds heart.

The win is the first time a North American lineup has won a large scale international tournament on CS:GO and the first time since 2006 on any Counter Strike title. Cloud9 returned home with $200,000 and the first place title while SK Gaming settled for $90,000. Mousesports and NiP both got $45,000 as the third and fourth place and so on. Congratulations Cloud9!