Stake Pulse Beat II brought us to Stockholm, Sweden, for a strong 16-team Tier 2 event featuring four groups and plenty of tough opposition.
Drawn into Group D, we began our campaign against Polish side Betclic Apogee in what quickly turned into a closely fought opening series.
Opening Series vs Betclic Apogee
Our first map was Nuke, our own pick.
It stayed close throughout, but Betclic managed to edge us out 13–10 and take the early lead in the series.
From there, we moved onto Ancient – their map pick – where things became even tighter.
Double Overtime on Ancient
Ancient turned into a long back-and-forth battle, with neither team able to create a decisive gap.
The map eventually went into double overtime, where we managed to find the crucial rounds and close it out 19–15.
It was the response we needed after dropping Nuke and sent the series to a deciding third map.
Mirage Decider
Mirage was another close affair.
Both teams stayed within reach throughout the map, but a few crucial rounds ended up making the difference.
Betclic eventually secured the map 13–10 and took the series 2–1, sending us into the elimination side of Group D.
Elimination Match vs Eternal Fire
Our next challenge came against Eternal Fire, with our tournament run now on the line.
The series opened on Inferno, where Eternal Fire managed to take control and close the map 13–6.
We then moved onto Dust2 and put together a much closer performance.
The map remained competitive into the later stages, but we were unable to find the final rounds we needed. Eternal Fire closed it out 13–10 and took the series 2–0.
End of Our Stockholm Run
That result brought our Stake Pulse Beat II run to an end.
It was not the result we came to Stockholm for, but the tournament gave us another valuable opportunity to compete against strong international opposition on LAN and test ourselves in a high-level environment.
There were still positives to take away, especially the response against Betclic and the double-overtime victory on Ancient after losing our own map pick.
Stockholm is done.
We take the lessons, get back to work, and move on to the next one ⭐