The battle came down to three European and one North American team, and we saw three thrilling matchups filled with great plays. Although the crowd’s heart was with hometown favorites Team Liquid, it was Natus Vincere who proved to be the best team at the tournament and took home the trophy as well as the Intel Extreme Masters San Jose championship title.

The matches

Semifinal one: G2 Esports vs. Team SoloMid

Semifinal two: Natus Vincere vs. Team Liquid

Grand final: Team SoloMid vs. Natus Vincere

Thank you for an amazing event!

Intel Extreme Masters San Jose, with its great games and sky-high emotions, is now sadly behind us. Thank you to everyone who attended in person and tuned in online, thank you to the teams who gave us amazing matches and thank you to everyone who was involved in making Intel Extreme Masters San Jose an event to remember.

Our next stop is Intel Extreme Masters Cologne in December – see you then!

For all the latest updates about Intel Extreme Masters, be sure to follow the official IEM Facebook and Twitter accounts.

There were three North American teams in the running, all passionately cheered for by the huge San Jose crowd. Unfortunately, only one managed to prevail over their European opponent – Team Liquid, who now carries all of the North American hope in the tournament.

The matches

Counter Logic Gaming vs. G2 esports

Cloud9 vs. Team SoloMid

Natus Vincere vs. Luminosity Gaming

Team Liquid vs. Virtus.pro

The battle resumes today!

The battle for the Intel Extreme Masters trophy resumes today with only four teams remaining. The event will kick off with an European clash of Team SoloMid versus G2 Esports followed by home crowd favorites Team Liquid taking on Natus Vincere. The teams to emerge victorious from these matchups will face each other in the grand final. We also have a special treat for all fans in the form of a showmatch between European and North American talent, which will take place right before the final.

Be sure not to miss any of the great action ahead and tune in here from 20:00 CET! For all the important information about the event including brackets and schedule, visit the Intel Extreme Masters official website as well as follow Intel Extreme Masters on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates and highlights.

Steady improvement

As mentioned previously, for most of the last couple of months Team Liquid has been all over the place. As one of the premier teams in the North American scene, they had the name, the massive fanbase and the clout to get invites to both international as well as all the domestic competitions. In a similar way to the old iBUYPOWER roster, they showed two different faces in each region. While they were considered one of the strongest teams in North America, taking tournament wins and runner-up spots almost routinely, for some reason it never clicked offline in Europe.

Some might say the competition west of the Atlantic Ocean was just too much for Liquid, but it seemed to be more than that. In several offline European tournaments such as Gfinity, FACEIT or ESL’s, they seemed to be off their game in a big way.

At smaller events on their home turf like MLG Aspen or ClutchCon, they could at least win games, making them close and challenging their opponents. Once they traveled though, their opponents were basically beating a dead horse. The first time this phenomenon was discovered was at the ESL One Katowice LAN qualifiers, where Team Liquid went out against FlipSid3 Tactics (16-14) and Copenhagen Wolves (16-10). The results were close, but they were also not facing the best of the best Europe had to offer.

After missing that major, other EU LANs turned into a disaster as well. Team Liquid failed to win a single game at the FACEIT League 2015 Stage 1 finals in London, they failed to put something on the board at the Gfinity Masters Spring 2, followed by once more leaving a FACEIT League 2015 Stage 2 event with 0-2 back in Valencia.

It’s all changed since then, with some roster changes and big star Hiko switching his suit and microphone for a blue Team Liquid jersey. It wasn’t an immediate turnaround – Hiko didn’t just snap his finger and suddenly their opponents dropped dead – but something seemed to have changed. The team’s whole demeanor seemed different – another attitude was put forth. With that in mind, Team Liquid went on a tear in September and October. The squad won the group stage of the CS:GO Championship Series Season 1, earning them a spot in the top four bracket where they pushed Fnatic to three maps. Furthermore, the Fall 2015 iBUYPOWER Invitational also went their way, as well as the North American division of the CEVO Season 8 group stage. If only the major in Cluj hadn’t put a damper on the mood, Team Liquid would be heading into San Jose red hot and ready to take down some teams.

So close, yet so far

Throughout the summer the dream of the American people seemed to be so close. A bunch of times in a bunch of tournaments it was Cloud9 making a run, hitting their shots and lifting the spirits of the entire CS:GO nation. Unfortunately, they made it to several grand finals and into the “dark horse” discussion for majors, yet could never pull the trigger on the big success.

Ever since the Cloud9 organization took over the former compLexity Gaming squad, they have been on point and on top of the North American region – whatever that was worth at the time. Gradually the team around legendary NA captain sgares added and replaced pieces of the puzzle, to finally make a pretty picture with it. After being in a big slump and seeing the other NA teams pulling ahead, C9 finally found the parts they were looking for with Skadoodle and fREAKAZOiD. It went all up from there and a a summer of “almost titles” started for the Cloud9 roster.

First the domestic dominance was reestablished by winning the NA division of the first ever ESL ESEA Pro League season. With 19 wins and only three losses, Cloud9 asserted themselves as the clear cut top teams from the North American region, even beating out the South American hope in Luminosity Gaming. In another online tournament, the HTC Reborn Invitational, n0thing and company put another Size 9 boot on the regional competition by winning against the biggest NA rivals of CLG and Team Liquid in back-to-back games. The team was banging on all cylinders and finally seemed to have found a rhythm and capable players of executing sgares game plan. Solid aimers all around, Skadoodle sparking up the team by giving it a much needed AWP presence, superior tactics for the region – it all seemed to be going the way of Cloud9. It felt like this team could even make a run against European teams and maybe end the suffering of an entire continent clammering for that big CS title.

Unfortunately that was where it ended. The dream of hoisting that trophy was close, but the bubble bursted over and over again. First it took a beating at the ESL studios in Cologne, Germany. A win over EnVyUS in the group stage took C9 to the second place of Group A, a great performance in the quarterfinals against the French men sealed their ticket to the semis – with fellow NA hopefuls CLG waiting. The battle for NA bragging rights turned into a one-sided affair with C9 only allowing their NA rivals a total of 13 rounds. Cruising past the competition it was the all-mighty fnatic roster in the grand finals, a match that seemed to be manageable for C9 after what transpired over the weekend in Cologne. Sadly for all the fans sporting the baby blue shirt, it came crushing down on them. C9 even made everyone’s hopes even bigger by winning the first map of the best of five, only to then lose three straight to take home the silver medal – a resource they would get used to.

Only a week later, different location, different opponents, same story. ESWC 2015 in Montreal, Canada, Cloud9 making waves of euphoria happen throughout the local crowd – then the downer in the Grand Finals. That time it wasn’t fnatic playing gatekeeper to the North American triumph, but the Ukrainian organization of Na’Vi: literally being the Guardian.

From there on, it went downhill again for Cloud9. Two missed cuts at the most recent majors, twice not playing on the main stage or acquiring the Legend status – the juggernaut of North America is reeling and in disarray. Can the cheers and love from the San Jose crowd boost them past every challenge?

See Cloud9 live in San Jose

If you want to see whether Cloud9 will succeed on their home turf, be sure to secure your ticket while they are available. You also have the possibility to contribute to the Intel Extreme Masters San Jose prize poll with Amazon’s special offer on games and gaming hardware.

For all important information about the event, follow Intel Extreme Masters on Twitter and Facebook and visit the official website.

Consistently inconsistent

Inconsistency and results flip-flopping around the standings are the best way to describe the Na’Vi team from time to time. Most of the time bad results are followed up by strong outings and vice versa. Throughout a stretch earlier this year, they were regarded as one of the strongest contender to turn their luck around and finally become the dominant squad they aspire to be. Whenever the team is mentioned, the standout quality of the bunch is Guardian on the AWP. His insane reactions can turn a game single handedly – a quality he proved to be quite effective several times in the clutch already. That skill mixed with strong individual aimers like Edward, seized and flamie, while adding the veteran captain and shotcaller Zeus to the mix as well, Na’Vi has all the tools to become great.

So far that hasn’t happened yet on a consistent enough basis. During the Summer of 2015 it looked as though the team had finally found their rhythm and groove, clinching two big titles on the CSGO calendar. It all started at the beginning of June, the beginning of Na’Vi’s good summer. Traveling to Jönköping, Sweden for the DreamHack event, they came in as a contender, but not quite a favorite. The past couple of weeks they had good results in Gfinity and the FACEIT competitions, as well as the ESL Pro League Season 1 title from April. All those accolades still couldn’t measure up to the status that favorites Fnatic demanded. It all worked out according to rankings, projections and predictions – Natus Vincere was able to get through the group stage, get through the bracket and into the Grand Finals of a DreamHack event. That is where the journey ended, on Mirage and Train against hometown heroes Fnatic.

Fueled by that success though, Na’Vi ran hot and dangerous. Every member was firing on all cylinders, was hitting incredible shots and terrorizing opponents from “A short” to “B long” – left, right and center. After Sweden the squad went to the StarLadder XIII Grand Finals, this time without Fnatic playing gatekeeper from the championship. On their home turf the Ukrainian organization reigned supreme, edging out EnVyUs in the final game with 3-1. That roll continued for Guardian and his bunch, traveling from Kiev to Montreal to attend the ESWC World Cup 2015.

Different country, different tournament, but same results, Na’Vi took home the gold, this time against Cloud 9 in the Grand Finals – shattering all the hopes and dreams of the North American fan base to finally see a NA based Counter-Strike team to win an international competition. Zeus and Co. had other plans, continuing their strides in the summer of 2015.

Sadly for them, the summer major came too late. At some point it seemed like they may have peaked too early, because despite a runner-up spot at the CEVO Season 7 LAN or the title in the CS:GO Champions League, once the world was invited to ESL One Cologne to see the next major champion crowned, Na’Vi was nowhere near the podium, nowhere near the big prize! The loss to EnVyUs ended their run in the quarterfinals – continuing their trend to place just inside the “Legend” ranks at these events. A trend that was shattered only weeks later.

All statistics are based on HLTV.org play profiles from the last three months.

Can yellow be the new gold?

It was in Cluj, at the major stage for DreamHack, where the old Na’Vi from the early summer resurfaced. After early struggles in the group stage once more against EnVyUs, the yellow brand got to play “spoiler” for the North American fan base twice. First it was the Ukrainian organization that narrowly eliminated CLG from Group D – later it was Na’Vi to take out the last remaining “NA” hopefuls in Luminosity Gaming in the quarterfinals.

They had done it. For the first time since DreamHack Winter 2014 they had made it past the top 8, into the semifinals – and they weren’t done yet. The showdown against the Brazilian team of Luminosity Gaming was as close as a 2-0 in CS:GO could possibly get. Na’Vi only managed to outscore the fan favorites from South America by only five rounds – ultimately winning 16-14 and 16-13. From narrowly escaping the Brazilians, to demolishing the Swedes: Everything seemed possible for Na’Vi this major.  Against the popular Swedish team of NiP they put on a clinic, allowing the former ESL One Cologne 2014 champs to only walk away victorious from nine total rounds. The utter demonstration of force by Na’Vi was linked to Guardian and his AWP, top fragging in both games. NiP could do nothing against the Ukrainians, so it was down to EnVyUs once more to stop them.

At this point it might already be a rivalry between those two teams, denying each other big titles constantly. At StarLadder the Ukrainians had the last laugh, in Cologne and Cluj at the major stage it was the French winning.  

In San Jose it could happen again. The brackets would have that game as a worthy grand finals of IEM’s visit to SAP Arena, as Na’Vi and NV are seeded on opposite sites of the bracket. kicking off their San Jose adventure will be Luminosity Gaming. The South Americans living in California will have the capacity crowd cheering for them, but for Na’Vi this could be a good sign. In Cluj it was this quarterfinal to kick off their run, so why not repeat history and use LG as a jump start once more?

The momentum definitely seems to be on the site of Natus Vincere, who are not only coming off a big major performance, but also show their strong form in ESL ESEA Pro League Season 2 week in and week out. Sitting at the fourth position in the standings at the moment, Na’Vi is in prime position to make the LAN finals and therefore have this trip to San Jose not be the only Trans-Atlantic business trip to close out the year.

Now do they have it in them? Only time will tell. One thing is for sure though, if Guardian shows up to play, Na’Vi might just raise a banner right next to the pre-existing ones in the arena.

Join Natus Vincere in San Jose

Natus Vincere will perform live in SAP Center at North America’s biggest CS:GO event to date. If you want to see them and other top teams live, secure your ticket here and join us in person.

You can now also contribute to the Intel Extreme Masters prize pool by participating in Amazon’s great offer on gaming gear – head over here to see the full deal.

To stay updated with important information about the event, be sure to follow Intel Extreme Masters on Twitter and Facebook.