Offtopic/fun » will travel to Atlanta one more time for ELeague,

While many thought that IEM Oakland would be SK Gamings time to get back in the spotlight, Ninjas in Pyjamas shocked the world with a big win in the grand finals.Despite their struggles lately, Ninjas in Pyjamas showed they are very much alive in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competitive scene with the IEM win, picking up a cool $128,000 for their troubles. Meanwhile the loss Sunday marks the second time in as many tournaments that SK have fallen just short. While they may be earning finals appearances, its clear SK Gaming have some work to do if it hopes to regain its swagger from last year, when they dominated the competitive scene.SK takes down AstralisSK Gaming and Astralis opened up the final day of IEM Oakland with fireworks, as the two teams battled it out for a spot in the grand finals. SK got off to a quick 5-0 lead before faltering quite a bit into the second half. Astralis surged all the way to a 14-9 lead before SK finally found its groove once again. Fernando fer Alvarenga was a big part of that comeback, going 12/2 in the final seven rounds that SK won to take the first map 16-14. With the win, SK are now an outstanding 26-2 on Train in LAN matches. SKs unbelievable amount of success on Train may force opposing teams to ban the map immediately if they hope to have any easier shot at winning a respective series.The series transitioned to Mirage -- Astralis pick for the series -- for the second game, and it was just as closely contested as Game 1. SK once again got off to a quick lead, this time 4-0, before going into the half up 11-4. The Brazilian squad wasnt able to pull away once the second half started, though. Astralis made it interesting, rallying back to within one round, staring at a 13-12 deficit. From there, SK stabilized and won three straight rounds to take the series. It was Epitacio TACO de Melos big 1 vs. 2 clutch to win the final round that propelled SK to the grand finals to face Ninjas in Pyjamas.Ninjas in Pyjamas take down FaZe ClanThis hotly contested series started off with Ninjas in Pyjamas map pick of Nuke, which would have made you think that they would take the series pretty easily. That couldnt have been further from the truth. While they did get off to a great start with a 10-5 lead at the half, their CT-side faltered in a big way as FaZe forced overtime. Patrik f0rest Lindberg came up big for the pajama-clad ninjas in overtime, going 6/0 in the four consecutive round wins to take the first map by a score of 19-15.While the Ninjas seemed to struggle a bit on its map choice in Game 1, FaZe Clan made sure to dominate while on its pick of Train in Game 2. It also took a 10-5 lead into the half, but managed to hold on in a big way to easily wrap up the 16-6 win and force a decisive Game 3. While Game 3 didnt go into overtime, the final match in the series was just as close as the first. Ninjas in Pyjamas took a 9-6 lead into the half before the teams both won seven rounds in the second half. Thankfully for Ninjas, that halftime lead proved to be the difference and netted them a 16-13 win that put them on a collision course to meet SK in the grand finals of IEM Oakland.Ninjas in Pyjamas upset SK GamingRight from the start, Ninjas in Pyjamas made a curious decision opting to allow SK Gaming to select the map Train for Game 1, especially given their success on the map as of late (26-2 in LAN matches on the map). This odd move inevitably led to SK gaining a quick 1-0 lead after taking Game 1 by a score of 16-4. Lincoln fnx Lau led the way with his 18/11 KD and 106.4 ADR as SK improved to 27-2 on Train at LAN events.Despite all of SKs success on Train in Game 1, it all came crashing down in Game 2 on Ninjas pick of Cache. SK didnt go away quietly, though. The Swedish squad got out to a 12-5 lead before SK came roaring back, nearly forcing overtime. Waiting with bated breath to shut the door on SKs comeback was none other than f0rest, who dropped 30 kills on SK to take the map 16-14 and send the grand finals to a Game 3.In a somewhat surprising result, with the game on the line, it was Ninjas in Pyjamas who would come out on top. They took a big 10-5 lead into the half, but SK once again came back to make things interesting. The Brazilian juggernauts would actually take a 13-11 lead before the Ninjas would band together to win five of the next six rounds and take the IEM title home. Adam friberg Friberg may have been at the bottom of the scoreboard for Ninjas in Pyjamas overall in the series, but he came to play during Game 3 with a 27/21 KD and 94.8 ADR.Dakota Hudson Jersey . I cant pinpoint a date, but I do remember a player from my youth. 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They were putting most of their energy into a record-setting offensive display.NEW YORK -- I cant ... it feels so f---ing, so good, Natus Vincere (Na`Vi) AWPer Ladislav GuardiaN Kovács, one of the best players in the world, tells host Paul Redeye Chaloner as tears roll down his face.Na`Vi just won $125,000 and a giant trophy after being down 0-1 against their eastern European rivals, Virtus.Pro, in the grand finals of ESL One New York.Im feeling pretty emotional, its something huge for us, GuardiaN told ESPN.com after the big win. We lost five at least $250,000 events in a row in the finals or the semifinals. Finally, we got it after a huge dedication to the viewers and everything. Its still emotional; I was even crying after the game. It feels very good.Another storybook moment in the history of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has been written in front of 8,500 people at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Na`Vi, which has been considered one of the best teams in the world for quite some time -- but have never closed it out with a major tournament victory -- has finally gotten what they came for.The feeling of winning between the last win and now has been a long time, so of course it feels good. And it felt very bad to lose in the finals so many times. I think it was six or seven times, even more maybe, GuardiaN exclaims. Of course it feels nice, were all happy.Earlier this year in April, Na`Vi lost in the grand final of North Americas largest Counter-Strike tournament, the Major League Gaming 2016 Columbus major, to the best team in the world, SK Gaming, which was known as Luminosity at the time. Several weeks later, the team lost to Ninjas in Pyjamas in Malm?, Sweden.The rough year was a catalyst for change. In July, the team decided it was time to move on without former in-game leader Danylo Zeus Teslenko. That decision caused them another loss, GuardiaN said, as the teams mentality was in the dumps at Zeuss final tournament with them, ELeague Season 1 Playoffs.At the first ELeague, we were first in the group. We passed the group stage and lost in the semifinals against Fnatic, I think, GuardiaN says. But that was already after we told Zeus that we were changing the team [and removing him], so the mentality of the team wasnt so good. We just tried to win but with that mood, you just cant do it.In Zeuss place, Na`Vi added former Team Liquid AWPer Oleksander s1mple Kostyliev. While he was considered one of the most talented Counter-Strike athletes in the world, he has struggled to stick with a team because of his abrasive personality, as well as struggling to fit in other in-game roles. S1mple, for his part however, said on Twitter that Na`Vi was his dream team prior to being added to the lineup.From the beginning, s1mple was just a rifler, seized was the secondary AWPer, but still after some games and events, we had to change because s1mple is s1mple, GuardiaN explains. S1mple is just awesome with every gun. Hes just an all-arounder, so we gave him the secondary AWP.For s1mple, ESL One New York, his offline debut with Na`Vi, goes down in history as one of his best performances, alongside his time in ESL One Cologne 2016 with Team Liquid, where he led the North Americans to a second-place finish.Prior to the final, s1mple made a highlight play on his former teammate Nicholas nitr0 Cannella, as he threw his gun (the AWP) over a wall near the B-site on Dust 2. This distracted nitr0, allowing S1mple to go through the outlet on the wall and shoot nitr0 in the head to clutch the round.I thought that he was going to think,, for one second his mind is going to be confused, distracted and thats one second for me to kill him, s1mple told ESPN.dddddddddddd I heard he planted the bomb by the window, somewhere near it so I moved my crosshair on his head. It worked.After originally leaving Liquid in April after Malm?, s1mple returned home to Ukraine. He expressed, on his Twitch stream, his loneliness in Los Angeles, where he lived during his time on the North American squad. Now with Na`Vi, hes back home in Kiev.Its very comfortable [playing on Na`Vi], he says. Its very easy for me to travel to the office and go back home. Its very nice to practice and play official matches from home so I can meet my friends, talk to my parents and my family. Its better than it was in Los Angeles.S1mple says he has a hard-earned respect for his current teammates, especially GuardiaN, who is among the best in the world according to most analysts and experts of the game. Following a disappointing online Starladder finish, where Na`Vi took 13-16th, the team made in-game role changes. Former secondary AWPer Denis seized Kostin relinquished his role to s1mple and moved to in-game leader, something s1mple says hes happy about.Guardian was always the best, the MVP player for me, every time, s1mple exclaims. Its obvious that hes the main AWP player. Then Valve made the new [coaching] rule and me and Seized changed roles because Seized became in-game leader and its very hard to play with the AWP and coordinate the team; thats why he gave me the secondary AWP role. We may need a little bit more time because we have new roles, new in-game leader and we need more time to practice.Looking forward, Na`Vi has three large events in sight. First, the team will travel to Moscow, not far from their home in the Ukraine, to compete in the Epicenter tournament, where theyll face Fnatic, G2 Esports, Ninjas in Pyjamas, SK Gaming, Virtus.Pro and Team Dignitas.We can say that Moscow will be the homesoil for us, kind of, GuardiaN says. Everybody can beat everybody, itll be hard. I think its 50-50 and we are not overconfident, we are confident in our game, but we will see.After, the team will then travel back to Atlanta for the second season of ELeague, where theyll face Astralis, SK Gaming and Alternate aTTaX, arguably the hardest group in the entire event.Now with the new season, first, were looking forward to it because ELeague is something awesome. Its probably the best event weve been to in terms of organization and everything, so hey, we are looking forward and will practice a lot, GuardiaN says.And to end the winter, the team will travel to Atlanta one more time for ELeague, but not just the normal season. In January, ELeague will play host to the first Valve-supported major tournament of the year at the Fox Theatre. Na`Vi, because of their top-8 finish in Cologne, will automatically receive a berth and a high seed at that event.GuardiaN says theyll wait and see how the winter pans out before concerning themselves with the major, but s1mple says he expects a lot out of his team.First of all, we expect to get out of the group [at the major], s1mple explains. We need more practice so well have a good time practicing before the major because every team is gonna play the major qualifier and were gonna practice a lot. Im pretty sure were gonna prepare for this major and try to win. ' ' '