Half of the group stage is now over, which means we know the fourth team that secured its spot in the playoffs. Russian team 1win, which replaced Winstrike a day before the competition, managed to win both elimination and decider match.
1win is a team currently placed at 65th position in the HLTV ranking, which is not far from their peak. They tried their chances in the Wildcard tournament, but didn’t manage to overcome Skade which was on an incredible win streak at that time. 1win is representing incredibly strong CIS region, and proved that they definitely belong in the main phase. On their way to the playoff stage they kicked off the tournament with a loss against Spirit Academy, but then won an elimination match against Young Ninjas, and finished it off with a revenge on team Spirit Academy. Their most experienced player is Vadim ‘DavCost’ Vasilyev who has been out there for many years now, but everyone on the team seems to be in a very good shape. Denis ‘deko’ Zhukov and Aleksandr ‘TRAVIS’ Timkiv got the MVP titles today and showed us some incredible individual plays.
Now they are going to play in the quarter finals which are scheduled for April 29-30. Their opponent is soon to be determined, just as the rest of the groups will end. Group stage will be back on April 14th and will last until April 17th.
