One of America’s top teams has triumphed over Brazil’s best in Counter-Strike.
Counter Logic Gaming defeated Luminosity Gaming in the grand final of the WinOut CS:GO Championships in Philadelphia by a margin of two games to one. The win netted CLG the lion’s share of a $20,000 prize pool.
It was the second win for Counter Logic Gaming over Luminosity during the event, with the first coming by the same margin in the upper bracket. While the matches were back and forth, none of the individual games were close. The losing team never managed more than six rounds.
James “Hazed” Cobb and sniper Josh “jdm64” Marzano were the premier performers for CLG in the final.
Luminosity were one of two Brazilian teams in attendance. The second, Games Academy, won a stay in the United States as part of the Golden Chance program, which is designed to give more Brazilian teams a chance to compete outside their home country.
The team produced middling results in their first performance since the move. Games Academy proved no challenge to Counter Logic Gaming, who cleanly swept them in the upper bracket semifinals. They were eventually bested by American team 3sUP, who themselves narrowly lost to Luminosity in the consolidation match.
It was a disappointing performance for both Brazilian teams. Luminosity had designs on being the best in North America, and the losses to CLG only added to their recent struggles versus Cloud9.
Games Academy came into the event with high praise from many Brazilian fans, but their inability to make the top three in a tournament featuring only two other internationally established squads raises questions about how competitive they’ll be.
