EPL S17: Cloud9 ends G2 Esports’ winning streak

The 2023 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive season continues, and now the teams are fighting to be crowned champions in the ESL Pro League S17. It will be several weeks of many emotions where we will be enjoying the best teams in the world trying to end the supremacy that G2 Esports has established in recent months.

The #1 team in the world ranking according to HLTV, G2 Esports, never ceases to amaze with its excellent level of play and is one of the favorites to lift the champion’s trophy in this ESL Pro League S17. However, G2’s path encountered the first obstacle to the trophy, Cloud9.

Cloud9 ends G2 winning streak

The spectacular winning streak that G2 Esports had since the end of 2022 and these almost two months of 2023 has ended, and their tormentor was Cloud9.

The match between G2 Esports and Cloud9 corresponded to the semifinals of the Upper Bracket of Group A of the ESL Pro League S17, where the North American team (of Russian players) ended the streak of 16 consecutive victories of G2 Esports. This streak included 13 LAN wins and two trophies at the highest competitive level: BLAST Premier World Finals 2022 and IEM Katowice 2023.

sh1ro dresses as a hero in Cloud9’s victory

The first map, Vertigo, threatened G2 Esports’ streak. Cloud9 prevailed with a categorical score of 16-9 with an impressive Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov, who finished with a K-D of 27-10, 119 ADR, and a rating of 1.99. The Russian AWPer played havoc with the G2 guys on both the T and TC sides with his AWP.

On the second map, Inferno, the story was the same or even worse for G2 Esports. Cloud9 could decipher each hint from the European team, and they neutralized the G2 stars, especially Nikola “NiKo” Kovač. As a result, NiKo was uncomfortable throughout the entire series and finished with a terrible rating of 0.69, according to HLTV.

Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov tried to lift his team’s spirits with spectacular plays, but this was not enough, as Cloud9 won with a very well-worked 16-12. Sh1ro was again the figurehead of C9, as he had a K-D of 30-9, 97.9 ADR, and a rating of 1.71.

G2 had been undefeated for the last two months

G2 Esports came into this match against C9 on a streak of 16 consecutive wins. Their most recent loss came in the first BLAST Premier World Final match against FaZe Clan on December 14. However, G2 won this tournament and included a spectacular rematch against FaZe Clan in the semifinals.

G2 began 2023 strong by winning both the IEM Katowice 2023 and the BLAST Premier Spring Groups without dropping a single series after winning the championship in December. The squad had only dropped one map against Heroic in the Katowice final over that period.

Now, G2 Esports has to face MIBR in the semifinals of the Mid Bracket today, February 24, to stay alive in this ESL Pro League and secure their place in the playoffs.

Header: ESL