Cloud9 and Renegades live to fight another day at StarSeries i-League Season 4 after defeating Virtus.pro and TyLoo, respectively, by 2-0 scorelines.

The first big match of the day, featuring Cloud9 and Virtus.pro, began with a flying start from the Major champions, who jumped out to a 9-1 lead on the CT side of Mirage. It was only then that VP's offence finally came to life, but as the half came to an end they still found themselves down by five rounds.

Cloud9 continued where they had left off and further added to their lead by taking the pistol round with a simple A execution. The North Americans could not be stopped until they hit 15 rounds, when a 1v2 clutch from Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski kept Virtus.pro in the game. However, it was just too little, too late, as C9 would secure the following round to lock down the map, 16-6.

Cloud9 made light work of Virtus.pro

Train followed the same pattern as the first map as Cloud9 strolled to a 7-1 lead, this time on the Terrorist side. Virtus.pro then kept their hopes alive by winning two rounds in a row, the second courtesy of a quad-kill from Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski, but the North Americans quickly regained control of the game and closed out the half with a commanding 12-3 lead.

And more misery was to come for VP, who got destroyed in the second pistol as they attempted to enter the inner site. The Polish players were in a clear state of disarray and confusion, and they were simply helpless to prevent Cloud9 from running away with the victory.

StarSeries i-League Season 4Best of 3 Virtus.proMatchpage 0 2 20th February 2018 Cloud9 6Mirage 16 3Train 16

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	24 - 36	-12	70.7	0.82
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	18 - 34	-16	62.5	0.64
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	20 - 36	-16	56.2	0.56
Michał 'MICHU' MüllerMICHU	18 - 36	-18	49.2	0.53
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	19 - 35	-16	50.8	0.52

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Timothy 'autimatic' Taautimatic	43 - 19	+24	113.8	1.86
Jake 'Stewie2K' YipStewie2K	42 - 22	+20	109.3	1.66
Tyler 'Skadoodle' LathamSkadoodle	33 - 18	+15	80.7	1.37
Tarik 'tarik' Celiktarik	33 - 20	+13	78.3	1.36
William 'RUSH' WierzbaRUSH	26 - 20	+6	70.5	1.17

Meanwhile, Renegades and TYLOO faced off in a rematch of the last four Asia Minor finals. With a vintage performance from Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad, who was already on 20 frags by the 10th round, Renegades secured a three-round lead at the end of the first half, but they still must have been kicking themselves after allowing Hansel "⁠BnTeT⁠" Ferdinand and Kevin "⁠xccurate⁠" Susanto to pull off massive clutches during the early stages of the game.

The second half began with Renegades steamrolling their way to map point. The Chinese team then finally got their first round on the board as Terrorists, but there was nothing they could do to prevent the Australians from taking the map.

Renegades bested TyLoo on two maps

Cobblestone, the map that followed, began with TYLOO taking the pistol round and the subsequent anti-ecos. But the landscape of the game changed dramatically once Renegades bought up, with the Australians quickly taking the lead following back-to-back 1v2 clutches from Noah "⁠Nifty⁠" Francis and Karlo "⁠USTILO⁠" Pivac. 

For the rest of the half, Renegades were in cruise control, and they kept that momentum going after the break, winning the first three rounds to bring the scoreline to 14-4. TYLOO refused to throw in the towel, however, and made a significant climb back into the game, but the Australians kept their cool and locked down the map to move on in the Ukrainian tournament.

StarSeries i-League Season 4Best of 3 TYLOOMatchpage 0 2 20th February 2018 Renegades 7Mirage 16 13Cobblestone 16

TYLOO	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ke 'captainMo' LiucaptainMo	39 - 42	-3	86.3	1.14
Hansel 'BnTeT' FerdinandBnTeT	33 - 37	-4	73.7	1.00
Hui 'DD' WuDD	33 - 43	-10	70.9	0.90
Kevin 'xccurate' Susantoxccurate	31 - 38	-7	62.5	0.83
HaoWen 'somebody' Xusomebody	25 - 42	-17	57.3	0.73

Renegades	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Justin 'jks' Savagejks	44 - 30	+14	98.8	1.45
Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostadjkaem	46 - 31	+15	102.2	1.43
Noah 'Nifty' FrancisNifty	44 - 32	+12	79.7	1.26
Karlo 'USTILO' PivacUSTILO	33 - 35	-2	62.5	1.08
Aaron 'AZR' WardAZR	35 - 33	+2	68.1	1.06

With the first round of fixtures of the day now behind us, here is how the Swiss stage is currently looking:

3-0	2-1
G2	SK
FaZe	Astralis
	HEROIC
	Liquid
	MOUZ
	Natus Vincere
2-2	1-2
Renegades	Gambit
Cloud9	HellRaisers
Eliminated
fnatic
MVP PK
TYLOO
Virtus.pro

Virtus.pro #19 Filip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiJanusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiPaweł 'byali' BielińskiMichał 'MICHU' Müller fnatic #9 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonMaikil 'Golden' Selim Karlo 'USTILO' Pivac Age: 24 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 470 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.70 MVP PK #35 Keun-Chul 'solo' KangMin-Soo 'glow' KimMin-Seok 'zeff' ParkHyun-Pyo 'XigN' LeeHae-Sung 'HSK' Kim FaZe #1 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenOlof 'olofmeister' KajbjerLadislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' Nygaard Filip 'NEO' Kubski Age: 30 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 1372 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.67 HEROIC #12 Andreas 'MODDII' FridhMarco 'Snappi' PfeifferRuben 'RUBINO' VillarroelJakob 'JUGi' HansenNikolaj 'niko' Kristensen Astralis #5 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Noah 'Nifty' Francis Age: 20 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 483 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.66 Natus Vincere #7 Ioann 'Edward' SukharievDanylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoEgor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' Sharipov G2 #4 Richard 'shox' PapillonKenny 'kennyS' SchrubNathan 'NBK-' SchmittDan 'apEX' MadesclaireAlexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro Renegades #16 Justin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadKarlo 'USTILO' PivacNoah 'Nifty' Francis MOUZ #6 Tomáš 'oskar' ŠťastnýChris 'chrisJ' de JongMiikka 'suNny' KemppiMartin 'STYKO' StykRobin 'ropz' Kool SK #2 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaRicardo 'boltz' PrassMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de Melo HellRaisers #17 Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowVladyslav 'bondik' NechyporchukÖzgür 'woxic' EkerBence 'DeadFox' BöröczIssa 'ISSAA' Murad Gambit #11 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevMihail 'Dosia' StolyarovRustem 'mou' TelepovDenis 'seized' KostinAbay 'HObbit' Khassenov Liquid #8 Lucas 'steel' LopesNick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Kevin 'xccurate' Susanto Age: 20 Team: TYLOO Rating 1.0: 1.18 Maps played: 228 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.63 Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad Age: 23 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 535 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.70 Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski Age: 24 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1186 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.65 Hansel 'BnTeT' Ferdinand Age: 22 Team: TYLOO Rating 1.0: 1.29 Maps played: 290 KPR: 0.88 DPR: 0.62 TYLOO #24 Ke 'captainMo' LiuHui 'DD' WuHansel 'BnTeT' FerdinandHaoWen 'somebody' XuKevin 'xccurate' Susanto Cloud9 #3 Tyler 'Skadoodle' LathamWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaTarik 'tarik' CelikTimothy 'autimatic' TaJake 'Stewie2K' Yip