The Roar
The Roar

Esports
Advertisement

Gfinity Elite Series; CS:GO grand final as it happened
The Roar
13th July, 2018
0
Join the conversation
Advertisement
Write for The Roar

Anyone can contribute to The Roar and have their work featured alongside some of Australia’s most prominent sports journalists.

Melbourne Order's top team returned and conquered. (Photo: Gfinity Australia)
The Roar
13th July, 2018
0

The first grand final of the Australian Gfinity Elite Series took place today, with the CS:GO decider entertaining a big crowd at the Hoyts Gfinity Esports Arena at 3pm (AEST).

Melbourne Order entered the decider in a very rich vein of form. Since their starters returned from overseas competition, the Melburnians had won all four of their individual matches (including the two they won in the best-of-three against the Roar last week).

Their overall round record during that stretch was a frightening 67-38.

They came up against the Sydney Chiefs, who overcame a rough start to the season – and some spirited resistance from Melbourne Avant last week – to make it to the decider.

Tipped at the start of the playoffs to have the best chance of claiming all three Elite Series, a horror semifinal weekend saw their Rocket League and Street Fighter teams knocked out. If any Elite Series glory was going to stay in Sydney, it was going to be up to these Chiefs.

Our esports editor Stirling Coates predicted in a preview article that we’d see a tight gripping affair that may go into overtime in every match.

In the end, he gave the edge to Melbourne Order, 3-1.

It looked like we’d be in for a very short afternoon on Train, the first map, with Order ripping the Chiefs to shreds on their own map 16-3. The simply dominant display had the vocal contingent of away fans up and about, and the Sydney team on the back foot.

Advertisement

Going onto the second map – Melbourne’s choice Cache – Sydney were able to hold their own in a spirited revival. They got out to a 7-1 lead at one point, but had to settle for a 9-6 halftime lead after a late Order flurry. They once again got out to a strong lead, 13-10, but Melbourne were able to reel them in again and claim the 16-14 win.

Throughout the first two maps, Order were able to disrupt the Chiefs’ team strategy enough over the course of the game and turn each round into five individual one-on-ones – with the visitors’ superior indiviaul talent shining through and allowing them to claim round wins.

Nuke, the third map, saw some outrageous flashes of individual brilliance and, while the Chiefs had their fair share of them, most went the way of Melbourne as they closed out the 16-10 win.

CS:GO – Grand Final
Date Teams Time
Sat Jul 14 Melbourne Order vs Sydney Chiefs 3:00 PM

Watch the Gfinity Elite Series LIVE on The Roar.

6:25pm: And there you have it! Ladies and gentlemen, your 2018 Season 1 CS:GO Champions are the Melbourne Order. The Chiefs can hold their heads high – especially for their performance on Cache – but Order were clearly the best team all season.

Advertisement

6:20pm: Melbourne Order can taste it now. They’re starting to find their rhythm in this second half and now lead 13-10.

Can the Chiefs get themselves back in it?

6:10pm: What a game we have on our hands! The crowd are simply in raptures with the sheer skill we’re seeing on the stage so far.

Melbourne Order hold the narrow 8-7 lead on the third – and potentially final – map.

Advertisement

6:00pm: Again it’s the Chiefs getting off to the hot start – leading 3-0 early – but again it’s Order reeling them in and getting ahead.

This time, however, the Chiefs are able to stop the wininng streak from getting as long. They claim Round 8 thanks to a crazy late comeback and knot it at 4-4.

5:45pm: Map 3 – Nuke – is underway. Order can wrap up the inaugural Elite Series CS:GO championship with a map win here. Chiefs need the win to stay alive.

Advertisement

5:25pm: What a match! Sydney Chiefs were very impressive holding their own on such a pro-Order map, but eventually the individual brilliance of the Melbourne players shone through.

Order win Map 2 16-14 and take a commanding 2-0 lead in this best-of-five.

5:10pm: Order came out hot after the halftime break and actually levelled the scores, but the Chiefs have found their rhythm again and now lead 12-10 on Cache.

Advertisement

Just four more wins and they level the series 1-1.

4:55pm: What an intriguing first half that was. The Chiefs were set to run away with it, leading 7-1 at one point, but Order have managed to reel them in to an extent. Sydney up 9-6 at the break in Map 2.

4:35pm: We’re gonna have a technical pause here – but it’s been the Sydney Chiefs defying all expectations to race to a 6-1 lead early on the T-Side on Cache.

Advertisement

4:20pm: Map 2 is about to get underway. Both analysts agree this is definitely Order’s map – this could get ugly early.

4:05pm: Well how about that for a start?!

Melbourne Order have well and truly put the Chiefs to the sword in Map 1 with a dominant 16-3 victory on Train.

The scary part? We now move to a map Order picked in Cache.

Advertisement

4:00pm: A scintillating first-half effort from Melbourne Order on the T-side. They won 12 rounds in a row at one point, with the Sydney Chiefs finally stopping the rot in the final round of the half.

12-3 Order at the break – they’ll fancy themselves to wrap up Map 1 quickly.

3:50pm: Melbourne Order have started the better of the two sides early – on what was supposed to be a Chiefs map. They dropped the first two rounds, but have won the last six to lead 6-2 – much to the delight of the vocal away supporters.

Advertisement

3:35pm: We are officially underway. The analysts are split on this one – Kevin Zhu has gone 3-0 Sydney, Sean Carlson has picked Order 3-1.

3:25pm: The map picks are in for this best-of-five decider. The Chiefs have, as predicted, banned Order’s favourite map in Inferno, with Order banning Dust 2 in turn.

We’ll be headed to Train first, with Cache, Nuke, Mirage and Overpass to follow.

Despite us being in Sydney – there are a lot of Melbourne fans in the venue today.

Advertisement
0
Join the conversation
close