Counter Logic Gaming and Their Mistakes at DreamHack Valencia 2017

A couple of days ago, we saw an end to DreamHack Valencia 2017, a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament that offered an insight into the form of many teams that participated. One of the most striking stories of this tournament is the story of Counter Logic Gaming and their bad performance in crucial moments that led them to lose the match against Red Reserve and with that the place in the playoffs.

Counter Logic Gaming had everything set up for them to reach the final of the tournament. If they just had been more aware what was going on in the game they would reach the final. With an entirely rookie mistake, CLG allowed Red Reserve not only to win that round but also the match, in general.

The Curious Case of Counter Logic Gaming

CLG had everything going their way in the crucial match for the place in the playoffs. In the playoffs they played against Red Reserve. The match did go to the third and deciding map. CLG was up on that map all the time until the 28th round. In that round, Red Reserve planted a bomb and with five-second defuse available to CLG. Other way around they would have sailed to the semifinals without any problems.

In that round, CLG was dominant, but Red Reserve managed to plant a bomb. However, all players from Red Reserved were killed off in that round. Once that was completed, Kenneth ‘koosta’ Suen from CLG went on to defuse the bomb. However he did not have a kit. This would not be a problem if Punaj ‘FNS’ Mehta was not in possession of that kit. However when koosta went to defuse the bomb, FNS has already taken his headset off and stepped away from the computer.

Despite his best effort, koosta was not able to defuse the bomb. This happened since there was not enough time and the bomb exploded before he could do anything. While other players were celebrating their win against Red Reserve, koosta was aware that they have actually lost the round. To make it even worse, Maikelele from Red Reserve has thanked koosta for what he did in order to Red Reserve to win that match.

Pinning the Blame

However, the blame cannot be only pinned on koosta. He was the only player from the entire team that actually went to defuse the bomb. Even though without a defuse kit, he attempted to save his team while others were celebrating behind him. In this case, it seems that the biggest blame is on FNS. He was aware of the fact that he has the defuse kit.

Everything would be much different if FNS said that he has a kit and that he will be the one to defuse the bomb. However, for some unknown reason, FNS took his headphones off, stood up and started to celebrate the win which will not come. This just proves that the game is not over until the last aspect of the game has been completed. CLG was eliminated from the tournament in an early stage while Red Reserve managed to reach the final where they were swept away by Ninjas in Pyjamas.