Summer CPL: In matches like these, with players of such high caliber and so much on the line, the winners are not necessarily determined by who plays the best. Instead, the match is determined by which team plays the least perfect. There are, of course, times when the skill of one individual can swing the balance in favor of one team, but at an event like the CPL, cases like those become rarer as you get further into the tournament and have high quality players across the board. This article will attempt to understand how and why 3D was eliminated by SK. Was it solely due to SK outskilling 3D, or were their strategies more efficient? Was it just one individual that eliminated 3D? Read on to find out. Please see this map overview to understand the areas I will talk about throughout the article.

3D's positioning, while dangerous, turns out to be worth the risk. Bullseye holds middle by himself.

Round 1: The Upper-bracket finals on de_inferno begin with 3D on counter-terrorist. They start with a seemingly normal strategy, sending Rambo and Steel to bombsite B and the rest to A; Ksharp goes to balcony, Moto guards middle from the right, and Bullseye takes middle from the left. However, as soon as its clear SK isn't rushing middle, they make a risky move as Moto moves over to the balcony side, leaving the middle-right area relatively unguarded. Bullseye and Moto move up, with Moto taking the small ramp into the perch, and Bullseye covering middle from an aggressive position (see picture). This could have been devastating to 3D had SK exploited it, but the gamble turns out to be good as four SK advance slowly on the left side thru the tunnels, all wielding glocks except for Ahl with a USP.

SK preps for a rush, lining up 4 on the stairs in front of the grate, all hugging the right side. Heaton jumps out towards the grate, forcing Ksharp, who is playing at the opposite end of the hall, to fall back to safety. Now we see the effectiveness of 3D's strategy, as Moto strafes up the ramp into the perch and picks off Heaton thru the grate hole. He then retreats, but not before taking severe damage from Ahl's glock (in addition to the shots Heaton got off before dying). Moto finally settles in the back of the balcony pit, playing under Ksharp. Bullseye falls back with Moto, and then circles around the bombsite to cover the right side.

After Heaton is killed, SK retreats for a short time to recoup, allowing Ksharp to return to his position in the upper halls looking towards T stairs. SK begins to advance again, jumping into the halls and exchanging fire with Ksharp, who is forced to retreat once more. This time SK accomplishes what they must have been trying to do with Heaton, as Potti jumps through the small hole into the perch and waits for his team to get in position for a rush.

Ksharp kills Ahl through the crack before dying to Fisker.

At this point, Ahl and Fisker are walking up the halls, as Potti gets ready to peak out of the perch towards the balcony pit. Element is ready to rush middle. Ksharp spots the two Ts advancing in upper halls, falls back, and then a moment later jumps out onto the crate shooting at them through a small opening (see pic). At this same time, Potti peaks out, and barely taps moto (playing in the pit) to kill him. Potti also sees ksharp jumping out onto the crate, and this is where he makes a huge mistake. Ksharp is not even looking at potti, and when watching the round from Ksharps perspective, he most likely never even saw Potti (he is visible on the top right of Ksharps screen for no more than a second or two). Instead of continuing to fire at Ksharp, who is distracted by the Ts rushing halls, Potti falls back into the perch. Only two seconds after Potti retreats, Ksharp kills Ahl in a frenzy of bullets (pictured), before he is finished off by Fisker. That time span was certainly long enough for Potti to pick Ksharp off, as his side was to Potti, or at least damage/distract him enough to prevent him from killing Ahl. If this had been the scenario, all the resistance in A would be dead and SK could have easily planted the bomb. Even if the rest of the round proceeded the same, it would have been a 2on2 with the bomb down. It's impossible to play the what-if game for every situation, but it is my opinion that SK would have won this round if Potti had killed Ksharp.

Instead, Potti peaks out of the perch to the left (towards Bullseye) as Element is simultaneously rushing middle. However, a good flank by Steel prevents the double team on Bullseye, and although Steel misses what should be an easy kill on Element in the back, it is enough of a distraction for Bullseye to hammer Potti with his deagle. Now Bullseye and Steel have Element pinned down, and although Element is able to kill Bullseye, Steel finishes him off a fraction of a second afterward. Fisker camps the rest of the round out, denying 3D money (this is very important and will come into play later).

Round 2 is a very successful save round for SK, which ends with an important 1v1 between Ksharp and Heaton, both wielding pistols. 3Ds plays a strat almost identical to round 1, with all 3 at A on the left side. Rambo and Steel are playing B again with one deagle and one USP, which I think is a bit risky. This time they start off aggressively and are able to pick off Element at the beginning before falling back into the bombsite.

SK makes it into B on their save round, but this is as far as they'll get.

SK looked like they were going to repeat their round 1 strategy of sending 4 halls and Element middle, but after his death they fall back, and begin to advance towards B. I am assuming that Element told his team that the two defenders at B only had pistols, so that is why they shifted their offense. Now SK is fighting a pistol vs. pistol battle, and because of the aggressive play of Steel and Rambo, Potti and Fisker are able to make two great headshots on them. At this time, only Bullseye is near the site, while Ksharp and Moto are on the other side of CT spawn. SK had a 4 on 3 at this point (4 on 1 at the bombsite), but instead of rushing it, they get tied up at the crowded entrance to bombsite B. Ksharp and Moto clean up with a combination of HE, MP5 and deagle damage, ending in a 1v1 through-the-wall deagle kill by Ksharp as I mentioned before.

Round 3 is another save round for SK. They start off by boosting Fisker at T spawn, in order to camp out the round. The rest of the team takes up defensive positions, with Potti and Heaton camping in the house, guarding the stairs, and the other two camping the long inclined path on the right. 3D decides to rush them with MP5s and pistols, except for Ksharp who has a colt. Two amazing headshots by Potti on Steel and Moto, who were rushing up the stairs, will end up putting 3D in a difficult situation next round, as Ksharp and Rambo are the only two who end up surviving. Fisker camps out the round, denying 3D money once again.

SK storms the bombsite. Click for larger image.

Round 4: It is now 3Ds turn to save, as their deaths in rounds 2 and 3, along with the money tactics of SK, deny them guns. Ksharp still has his colt from the round prior, and Rambo an MP5. 3D does probably the best thing possible given their gun situation, and stacks 4 at bombsite A. Ksharp guards balcony with his M4A1, Moto plays in the pit below him, and Steel and Bullseye are camping behind crates in the bombsite. Rambo is quick to move over towards bombsite A, but remains hidden for the duration of the round. This is where we first get a taste of SK's explosive offense, which begins with a flashbang thrown from the middle at the balcony that completely blinds Ksharp. Then with perfect timing, 2 SK rush out from the halls onto the balcony, while 2 others hit the middle and rush up the right side. With Ksharp blinded (and dead quickly thereafter), there is nothing to stop SK as they take down the pistol-wielding team 3D with their AKs and then plant the bomb. Interestingly, all of SK abandons the site in hunt of Rambo, who is able to sneak in and begin defusing the bomb without a kit. However he is too late, as the bomb explodes and he loses his MP5.

Round 5 we see 3D saving once again, for reasons I can't understand. They didn't buy the round before, and everyone else only bought MP5 or kept their pistols on rounds 2 and 3. They decide to all move up the middle towards the T ladder in a group, while SK moves up on the opposite side. SK makes rather quick work of them, and 3D is only able to take out two of them. Moto takes out Ahl on the forward roof; both of them had been boosted up. The other kill came from Bullseye as he and Steel had rushed under the ladder and around the T spawn area for the flank.