Well everyone, NoA finally did it; they finally learned to adjust. This was a great match, as everyone knows. This match went 8-7 and then 7-8 to send it into overtime. It doesn't get any closer than that.

It started out with one of the closest rounds of the tournament so far.

The first round was a great pistol round that came down to a 2v1 with ShaGuar and Xeqtr against pava, with the bomb down. With some quick thinking, pava realized Shag was all the way on the other site and he knew exactly where Xeqtr was. Pava flashed Xeqtr and went for the defuse. Xeqtr managed to take down pava and NoA cheered until they realized that pava simultaneously defused. This sent NoA into a save round, but put them into an excellent surprised buy round.

In the 3rd round NoA managed to take down 3 mibr and plant the bomb in a 2 on 4 situation. Great, right? Well NoA got a little too confident and peeked on an mibr team that wasn't missing any shots at all and lost the round. This started some arguing with NoA, but the half wasn't over yet.

At the beginning of this half, NoA looked absolutely horrible in their gun rounds. They would call the same tactic over and over again and it was basically a big, unorganized runaround. Their entire tactic would be to pick one off and then go to the other side. Well mibr didn't budge and would hold their spots. NoA would fake right, come to left ramp, and as soon as they were spotted mibr would have HE's and flashes in their faces. One of the biggest flaws in NoA's tactic on this map would be they would actually get a pick, but they wouldn't act upon it. NoA would pick off a player, and then just sit there and not advance at all. So of course after NoA fakes, then picks off on the opposite side, mibr knows the fake is coming and has more than enough time to rotate.

After a couple bad rounds, NoA started to realize how pre-emptive mibr was with their nades. They continued to do the same tactic, but elemeNt would sell the fake on the left ramp a lot more. He started pushing up the ramp and throwing a lot more nades. This in turn drew mibr's nades in so when the team rotated, mibr was defenseless to all of the flashes NoA would return. If you can't return flashes; you will lose the round.

After an amazing showing of NoA finally breaking their largest weakness, NoA adjusted and came back to take the half 8-7. The next half was actually pretty comical once NoA realized what exactly mibr was doing.

I honestly can't explain how mibr pulled a 6-1 start on this half. They did EXACTLY what NoA did to them, but they started a lot sooner. Mibr would sell their fake just as NoA did. NoA would rotate way too early and leave So in the left bombsite all by himself with an AWP and he would get overwhelmed allowing mibr to take too many rounds.

Finally after losing so many rounds to this simple tactic, elemeNt said, "We have to return flashbangs". That is exactly what they did.

When mibr would fake a site, and then rotate to the other, NoA did a terrific job of keeping mibr blind to just mow them down while blind. NoA gave the effort, but it just wasn't enough and they lost the half 7-8.

This sent the match into overtime, and the down time between the match looked like an NFL half-time. I think I even saw Beyoncé Knowles dance somewhere in the tournament area.

Mibr managed to take the first two rounds of the first half with their amazing AWP skills. In the first attempt of NoA to go up the left ramp, cogu pulled an amazing double with an AWP and the rest of NoA fell like dominos.

In the second round NoA attempted a lack-luster rush to the right bombsite and eduzin picked one off immediately with an AWP and the rest of the team froze up. Eduzin was able to slow them down enough to pick off one more and have the rest of mibr rotate to back him up.

The third round was a revenge round. NoA pulled the same situation that happened in the 3rd round of the first half on their surprise buy, but didn't make the same mistakes. They took the right bombsite and set up cross-fires all over the bombsite. Mibr had amazing flashbangs and HE grenades upon re-entry and I thought NoA was done for. NoA and mibr traded kill for kill until it came down to a 1 on 1 that Naikon managed to clutch for the only round NoA had.

The next half of overtime, all I can say is Naikon. Naikon is one of the calmest players you will ever meet and it showed in these two rounds. Naikon pulled amazing kills for NoA in the first two rounds and it completely destroyed mibr and on the third round mibr had no momentum and no confidence at all. With some big kills by Xeqtr and elemeNt, the match was won in NoA's favor.

NoA has had slow first halves the past few weeks at the Lethal Gamers LAN and at this tournament as well. This proves that NoA has finally learned to adjust, and I can't be happier. This was a great showing about how much adjusting can help you edge out a match.

Good luck to NoA in their upcoming de_nuke match against CPL champions, EYE.

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