StarSeries i-League season 5 put a surprising teams on the spot light

The fifth season of CSS: GO StarSeries i-League began on 28 May and will continue with us during the next month of June 2018.

NiP defeated North 2-0 (Nuke 16-9, Overpass 16-13) to secure their place in the quarter-finals with an overall 3-1 score, while Renegades eliminated Virtus.pro after a three-map battle (2-1; Train 16-7, Inferno 8-16, Cache 16-12).

The second round of matches of day four saw North and NiPfight for a spot in the playoffs in the 2-1 pool. Nuke was set to be the first map as the Danes’ pick, but it was NiP who showed up in great form after trading blows with their opponents at the beginning of the match.

At 3-3, the Swedes went on a nine-round streak as Counter-Terrorists on the back of crucial plays from Fredrik “REZ”Sterner, who bagged four multi-kills on the way to a dominant, 12-3 scoreline. North attempted a comeback with a pistol round win, but it didn’t take long for NiP to take over again, as they rallied to a 16-9 victory.

The Swedish team continued to assert dominance on the CT side of Overpass, getting a massive 8-0 lead without breaking much of a sweat, as none of North’s slow approaches yielded successful results.

Switching up the pace, the Danes finally broke through the defense with an execute towards B, where they would shortly afterward add more rounds to their tally, exploiting NiP’s weakness on the bombsite. North were able to lower the deficit to 6-9, as Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg ended the half in style – a quick quad-kill with an AWP.

The Swedish side powered to 13-6 after REZ clutched a 1v1 in the pistol round, but they couldn’t close things out quickly. North put up a wall, stringing six rounds together before NiPfound their way through, winning three out of the next four rounds for a 16-13, 2-0 victory and a spot in the quarter-finals.

In the last elimination match of the fourth round, Renegadestook on Virtus.pro, who picked Train to kick off the series. After Noah “Nifty” Francis’s team secured the first four rounds, the first half went back-and-forth and Renegades picked up a 9-6 lead on the offense.

The second half was a quick affair, as the Australian side mounted a fantastic defense and only let go of one round, clinching the lead in the series at 16-7.

Renegades looked to make the series a quick 2-0, as they racked up a 6-1 lead early on as Terrorists on the second map, Inferno, but the tide then turned as Virtus.pro got up on their feet. With a flawless defense from there on, the Poles switched over to Terrorists at 9-6.

Winning the second pistol round, Renegades reached their eighth round, but they soon found themselves unable to defend either of the sites, as VP went on a huge streak again to equalize the series at 16-8.

For the first time in the series, Virtus.pro got off to the better start on Cache after responding to Renegades’ pistol round win with a forcebuy, which led to a 5-1 scoreline in favor of Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski & co, who started the map on the CT side. However, they found themselves on the back foot soon enough, as their opponents recovered and won eight out of the remaining nine rounds.

VP quickly equalized things again with their first pistol round victory in the series, courtesy of Michał “MICHU” Müller’s fantastic ace. The two teams then traded a few rounds there and back until it was 12-10 for the Polish side, when Renegadespulled off another streak on the back of an eco round win, sending Virtus.pro home at 16-12, 2-1.