North overcome Heroic; advance to ICE Challenge grand final

North managed a 2-1 victory over HEROIC (8-16 Mirage, 16-11 Nuke, 16-8 Train) in the upper-bracket final of the GG.BET ICE Challenge, securing a place in the grand final of the $50,000 tournament.

The upper-bracket final of the GG.BET ICE Challenge started off on Mirage, North's map pick, but it was HEROIC that took the early lead in the Danish derby, helped by a CT pistol lockdown. HEROIC powered on in the first buy, pushing into the T territory to catch their opponents off guard, adding to their lead.

HEROIC was soon 7-0 up, with their perfect team score accompanied by Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen's 12K-0D individual statistics. In the following round, a well-thought-out B contact play worked perfectly for North and saw them finally get on the board, but two successful retakes from HEROIC allowed them take the reins of the match back and finish the CT half dominantly, 13-2.

Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup and Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye combined in an afterplant situation in the second half pistol round to give North a chance in the game, Nicklas "⁠gade⁠" Gade shut down Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer's 1v3 attempt and Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller did work in a 2v2 to get the score to 13-7. North was trying their best to make a comeback, but at 15-8, blameF got a quick double entry in mid and his side quickly tied up Mirage, 16-8.

aizy had a great showing on the second map, Nuke

North were off to a much better start on Nuke, grabbing the T pistol and surviving a scary anti-eco to go 5-0 up. blameF's triple got HEROIC on the board and his side managed a crucial B site retake in the following one to avoid a reset early into the half, as well as force their opposition on an eco.

After that, HEROIC managed to stabilize and tied a total of five rounds together, equalizing the score at 5-5, but catching Daniel "⁠mertz⁠" Mertz off guard on the lower bombsite allowed North to take back the lead despite investing just in kevlar and pistols in the eleventh round. Finishing off the half on a high note, es3tag locked down the outside area with a beautiful 4K to make the score 9-6 in favor of his team.

Another pistol round went North's way after the sides switched, and with the first rifle round going their way as well, they quickly got back into the lead with a six-round winning streak, 12-9. Some great trades allowed HEROIC to get into a B site afterplant on the lower bombsite to stop the rot, but Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså and aizy combined in a crucial round to keep North ahead (13-11). After HEROIC's force-buy attempt didn't work out, cadiaN and co. cruised to a victory on Nuke, 16-11.

Heroic couldn't close out the series after a dominant Mirage

Despite winning the second round force buy on the Terrorist side of Train, HEROIC wasn't able to build any momentum early on as aizy and valde struck back in North's following force buy. The higher-ranked Danish team took the lead off the back of that, 5-1, when mertz managed to clutch out a 1v1 after being set up by Asger "⁠AcilioN⁠" Larsen. Unfortunately for HEROIC, they lost the next round, leaving their economy in shambles, and seeing North run away with the lead (12-3).

Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg's double kill on the pistol swung the much-needed second pistol round HEROIC's way, who followed it up with a shutdown in the first rifle round (12-7). That is where the comeback was stopped, gade came up big in back-to-back round and propelled North to a 16-8 victory on Train, 2-1 for the series.

GG.BET ICE Challenge 2019Best of 3 HEROICMatchpage 1 2 6th February 2019 North 16Mirage 8 11Nuke 16 8Train 16

HEROIC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Patrick 'es3tag' Hansenes3tag	65 - 52	+13	90.7	1.21
Benjamin 'blameF' BremerblameF	54 - 46	+8	69.1	1.02
Daniel 'mertz' Mertzmertz	50 - 52	-2	73.5	1.02
Adam 'friberg' Fribergfriberg	42 - 49	-7	67.9	0.94
Asger 'AcilioN' LarsenAcilioN	32 - 51	-19	54.7	0.74

North	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nicklas 'gade' Gadegade	58 - 47	+11	79.1	1.25
Philip 'aizy' Aistrupaizy	54 - 48	+6	75.0	1.12
Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangsåvalde	52 - 48	+4	84.3	1.12
Markus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeKjaerbye	51 - 57	-6	75.8	0.96
Casper 'cadiaN' MøllercadiaN	35 - 43	-8	49.2	0.86

Patrick 'es3tag' Hansen Age: 23 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 771 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.68 Asger 'AcilioN' Larsen Age: 22 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 1050 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.68 Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangså Age: 23 Team: North Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 729 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.66 Daniel 'mertz' Mertz Age: 20 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 573 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.65 Markus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye Age: 20 Team: North Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1189 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.66 Nicklas 'gade' Gade Age: 24 Team: North Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 505 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.67 Adam 'friberg' Friberg Age: 27 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 1385 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.67 Casper 'cadiaN' Møller Age: 23 Team: North Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 866 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.65 Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer Age: 21 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 1.21 Maps played: 173 KPR: 0.82 DPR: 0.62 HEROIC #37 Adam 'friberg' FribergAsger 'AcilioN' LarsenPatrick 'es3tag' HansenDaniel 'mertz' MertzBenjamin 'blameF' Bremer North #11 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerPhilip 'aizy' AistrupMarkus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeNicklas 'gade' GadeValdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangså Philip 'aizy' Aistrup Age: 22 Team: North Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 1174 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.67