Gale Force move past SoaR; to CEVO Main Grand Finals
Cobblestone began with a flurry of trade frags between the two teams, working it's way into a two-on-two post-plant. Additional trading from here saw SoaR take the round, with Jack "xCeeD" Holiman netting three frags for himself. The standard three round lead followed for SoaR, but Gale Force replied back once they had weapons to take a round of their own. SoaR took advantage of the situation and immediately reset the CT economy, giving the North Americans the opportunity to build up a bank for themselves. Despite flawlessly surviving against Gale Force's force-buy in the ensuing round, five deagles during the Argentinians' save round took down four SoaR players to keep pressure on their economy. This gave Gale Force the opening they needed to pick up five additional rounds for themselves, with SoaR taking the remaining three to close out the half 9-6.
Gale Force went on to take their T side pistol with ease, although a second round scare saw them survive with a single player alive. SoaR made a crucial economical decision on their CT side here, force buying once again in an attempt to surprise Gale Force and keep the economy of the Argentinians in check; however, their buy saw no success as Guillermo "guishorro" Areco dropped three of the North American players to help his team take the lead. The half was firmly in control of Gale Force from here as they kept SoaR's economy in check for the half, granting Matthew "mCe" Elmore and co. just three rounds before closing out the map 16-12.
The pressure from Gale Force didn't let up as they kicked off Mirage with another pistol round win. Once again a scare in the second round almost saw SoaR reply back, but another three kills from guishorro kept his side in the lead. SoaR's CT half looked grim as they were immediately reset after winning the first gun round, but a saved AK gave Michael "Grim" Wince the opportunity to take down three players and keep their economy balanced. Gale Force wasn't to be stopped as they took another round for themselves, and four frags from guishorro ensured that SoaR wouldn't be able to save their rifles this time around. Despite having their economy reset once again, SoaR shut down Gale Force's aggression to take the next five rounds, putting an end to the back-and-forth trading of rounds. The Argentinians fought back for two more rounds on their T side, but SoaR was able to close the half with a final round of their own.
SoaR picked up their second pistol round of the series as Ryan "Snakes" Amann and Logan "Voltage" Long split the five pistol round kills among themselves. The standard three rounds followed as SoaR attempted to push the series to a third map, but guishorro had other ideas in mind. Multi-frag rounds from the player gave Gale Force every advantage on their CT side as they locked SoaR out from bombsites, only relenting late into the half when Snakes won a one-on-three. This swung the momentum back into the favor of the North Americans as they pressed forward, and the efforts of xCeeD in the ensuing rounds saw SoaR move their way swiftly to sixteen to close out the second map.
SoaR swept up their T side pistol to take the lead on Train, but an equally dominant force-buy round from Gale Force immediately tied the scores. From here it was all Gale Force as the Argentinian squad demolished SoaR's offense, working their way up to nine rounds before the North Americans finally took one for themselves. Gale Force had no intention of letting their lead slip away as they took the ensuing round with little difficulty, leading to them closing the half out 13-2.
SoaR, seemingly down for the count, had to replicate Gale Force's CT side performance if they were to make a comeback. At first it seemed as if they'd succeed - a pistol round win was followed by a seven round spree, with Gale Force taking a single round of their own in between. Just when it seemed like SoaR could pull off a CT side lockdown of their own, two opening deagle frags from Gale Force saw SoaR suffer a loss to pistols — granting Gale Force match point. An opening finally in their hands, the Argentinians closed out the map in the following round to shut down SoaR's comeback attempt, crushing the North Americans' hopes of making the Grand Finals.
Gale ForceSoaR| Gale Force |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jonathan 'JonY BoY' Muñoz |
72 - 52 | +20 | 91.5 | 75.9% | 1.36 |
| Guillermo 'guishorro' Areco |
73 - 56 | +17 | 83.4 | 73.5% | 1.25 |
 Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado |
66 - 63 | +3 | 90.8 | 71.1% | 1.20 |
| Tomás 'tomi' Guardia |
53 - 50 | +3 | 66.3 | 67.5% | 0.98 |
| Matias 'tutehen' Canale |
40 - 56 | -16 | 60.7 | 66.3% | 0.82 |
| SoaR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ryan 'Snakes' Amann |
65 - 56 | +9 | 84.9 | 68.7% | 1.21 |
| Jack 'xCeeD' Holiman |
65 - 61 | +4 | 84.3 | 68.7% | 1.13 |
| Michael 'Grim' Wince |
57 - 61 | -4 | 71.5 | 71.1% | 0.99 |
| Logan 'Voltage' Long |
44 - 59 | -15 | 59.6 | 67.5% | 0.84 |
| Matthew 'mCe' Elmore |
46 - 67 | -21 | 69.2 | 53.0% | 0.78 |
Gale Force will next face Rise Nation in the CEVO Main Grand Finals on Thursday, where Rise will have a best-of-three upper bracket advantage. This means that Gale Force will have to win two best-of-three series to claim victory, whereas Rise will only need a single series win of their own.
