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Russian CS:GO team Cloud9 have been crowned the winner of Brazy Party after defeating Astralis in the grand final on Wednesday.
It was Cloud9’s second tournament win this year and secured $133,000 in cash prize in the process, with another $200,000 shared between the losing teams.
Cloud9 and Astralis faced off in a three-map series, which the Russian lineup won 2-1. After losing Overpass (5-16), Cloud9 levelled up on Vertigo (16-7) before securing their series win on Inferno (16-12).
The series kicked off on Overpass, which Astralis has a 89% win rate in the last three months, and they soon reached a 5-0 lead on the T side.
Cloud9 attempted to keep up with their opponents in round six via a triple kill by Abay “HObbit” Khassenov but ultimately failed to close the gap. Astralis, led by Benjamin “blameF” Bremer’s 17-kill performance, widened the gap by five rounds before the side swap.
The Danish line-up were able to win their second pistol round on Overpass via the efforts of Nicolai “device” Reedtz, and it was downhill for Cloud9 from there. The squad won the map 16-5, even successfully carrying out a 3vs5 in the 20th round.
Cloud9’s map pick, Vertigo, was an entirely different situation, with the Russians lineup moving up to a 4-1 lead early in the map. Astralis did not let up despite the early lead and managed to reach a 5-4 score over Cloud9.
Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov eventually pushed Cloud9 to win five out of the last six rounds on the T-side and reached the halfway point with a 9-6 scoreboard. The next half of Vertigo saw Astralis win only one round, while Cloud9 closed the map with a 16-7 score, pushing an Inferno decider.
Cloud9 started Inferno in top form, winning round three after losing the first two to Astralis. The squad won five more rounds, reaching a 6-2 head start during their T-side campaign. Astralis tried to keep up with Cloud9 via the efforts of device, who recorded 17 kills; however, the Russian team ended the map half at 9-6.
The Danish esports lineup seemed to get back in the game on the T-side, tying with Cloud9 after adding three round wins to their score. The Russian squad, however, rushed ahead to secure six rounds to reach the map and series point. The map ended with a 16-12 scoreboard while the series and tournament came to a close with Cloud9 as the winner.
Prior to their win, Cloud9 failed to secure a chance to compete in the upcoming BLAST.tv Paris Major after being eliminated from the RMR qualifier. The win will help in stabilizing the team and hopefully build up their confidence.
The team are set to participate in the IEM Dallas, which will kick off on May 29 until June 4. Cloud9 were the winner of the 2022 iteration of the tournament, which will make this event if they win, their second consecutive victory.
