NiP comes into this event as a heavy a favorite to win in many people’s minds. They will have a tough road to that victory and the road starts with EG. If this were any other event but the World Cyber Games, I would normally expect NiP to walk away with an easy victory against EG, but there is something about WCG that historically brings them out to play. The addition of shaGuar to the team seems to really help the overall chemistry that EG has and they just seem to gel and find the weaknesses of the opponent and really exploit those. The first map against NiP was no exception to this rule as EG was able to storm out to an early lead and never really let NiP get back into Nuke.

Nuke

EG started the map on the offensive side of the map and did a slow push of the ramp room where only one NiP member was waiting. EG caught the first frag as they entered the lower bombsite and planted the bomb. Even though NiP rotated quickly, it was too late, as EG already had the site locked down with their positioning and were able to pull out the first round. EG followed the pistol round win with two ECO wins to make the score 3-0 in their favor.

The first gun round saw EG hit the ramp room fast and hard. Zet was able to get one EG member before getting fragged himself. EG rapidly descended to the lower site and got the plant. Again EG’s positioning and good aim from Lin held the bombsite behind three Lin frags. NiP was faced with an ECO round yet again and tried to push outside, where the waiting EG members BlackPanther and shaGuar managed to frag all of NiP without losing a gun.

Round 6 saw EG on another fast offensive rush, this time of the upper bombsite. NiP is able to get the opening frag but the timing of EG overwhelmed the site and they were able to plant the bomb and frag all of NiP before the bomb could go off. This upper rush would become the staple of the EG offense for the rest of the half. The next round saw EG move away from their very successful fast tactics. They tried to play it slow sending two outside and the rest spamming the holding area and trying to pick-off at ramp. Both BlackPanther and shaGuar were picked-off early in the round which forced EG to make a quick rush while down two men. They tried to hit ramp room but the power play NiP had going was just too much to overcome and NiP was able to take their first round of the match.

EG went back to their upper rush but this time it seemed poorly executed and not timed correctly, as EG went into the site and got taken down one at a time, giving NiP another round. EG followed the next round with the exact same strat and this time they timed it right and executed it perfectly. They got the entry frags and planted the bomb and won the round. EG followed the next round with the same strat yet again. NiP seemed to have no solution to this. EG got two entry frags, planted and were able to frag the remaining NiP members before the bomb went off. This put NiP into money troubles again and they were forced to save the next round. NiP attempted to stack the upper site but EG played it very slow and spammed before eventually hitting the ramp room and fragging all of NiP without losing a gun. NiP was still in money troubles as they were forced to buy deagles the following round. This time EG rushed the upper site and found it completely empty. NiP had rushed the ramp room, but EG was ready by the time NiP arrived and again they eliminated all of NiP without losing a gun.

NiP was able to buy again next round and EG moved to another fast ramp rush. NiP was ready for them this time as they both traded fire, each fragging 3 members of the other team. shaGuar and Lin fell back from ramp to the upper bombsite and Lin caught a NiP player rotating leaving Walle in a 2 vs. 1 situation. EG planted the bomb in upper and Lin went after Walle. Walle was able to frag Lin and fell back and save his gun for the final round. The final round of the half saw EG go back to their staple upper rush, which rarely failed them. This time NiP gave the bombsite to them as they had three players playing outside. After the bomb was planted, EG set up in a very wide perimeter around the bomb. They were all so far off the bomb that NiP was able to come in and defuse the bomb while EG had three team members still alive. The half ended in an 11-4 lead for EG.

The entire half EG seemed to have NiP’s number. They had very well executed fast strats that NiP could never seem to find a way to recover from. NiP seemed to get many of the first frags of the round but when then quickly lose two players and fall behind. With the exception of one poorly executed fast rush, EG won every round where they did a quick hit of a bombsite. The final round was another exception, but that was more to bad placement by EG than a failed rush. Getting so far down in the first half can make it very difficult for a team to come back in the second, but NiP had not given up and would come out strong in the next half.