The playoffs of Stage 1: NA Challengers heated up as Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #9 Xeppaa Erick Bach runi Dylan Cade moose Kaleb Jayne vanity Anthony Malaspina OXY Francis Hoang and The Guard The Guard Inactive JonahP Jonah Pulice trent Trent Cairns neT Michael Bernet valyn Jacob Batio tex Ian Botsch fought for the last remaining North American slot at Masters: Reykjavik.

Despite a loss to Cloud9 in the group stage, The Guard bounced back to defeat their opponents in a convincing three-map series, securing their place at Reykjavik alongside OpTic Gaming OpTic Gaming Inactive .

The Guard vs Cloud9 (3-0 TGRD)

The series kicked off on Icebox, a map that The Guard had boasted a 100% winrate on since the start of Challengers. Cloud9 had a tough task ahead of them as this was the first time they played Icebox since Week 2.

The Guard started off well, winning the pistol and the anti-eco. However, Cloud9 rallied back with three rounds, two of which were flawless wins. The Guard responded with two more rounds of their own. Both fought hard, especially in the 11th round where Jonah "JonahP" Pulice created a great opportunity to allow The Guard to be up 7-5 at the end of the first half.

The second half went in favor of Cloud9, as they won four consecutive rounds. The Guard stabilized afterwards, winning five of the next six rounds. Cloud 9 managed to bring the match to overtime, after Erick "Xeppaa" Bach clutched a 1v1 against Trent "trent" Cairns in the last round of regulation.

Following a prolonged back-and-forth, The Guard managed to turn the tide on round 30, winning the round and the next two to claim the map 17-15.

With the The Guard ahead one map, Cloud9 hoped to rebound on their map pick of Haven. In their previous encounter, Cloud9 demolished The Guard in a landslide 13-2 win with Nathan "leaf" Orf dropping an astonishing 30 kills in 15 rounds.

While Cloud9 won the pistol and anti-eco rounds, The Guard countered with four rounds of their own on the back of clever retakes and individual skill. Cloud9 managed to win the seventh round on the back of heroics from Mitch "mitch" Semago with the Tour de Force. Unfazed, The Guard remained strong and won the next three rounds, while Cloud9 won an eco on the 11th round. The last round of the half featured The Guard's retake acumen; sentinel player Michael "neT" Bernet scored three kills in the round, with the final one being a fearless charge into a smoke to kill the last remaining Cloud9 member. neT's heroics allowed The Guard to solidify a comfortable 8-4 lead at the half.

The Guard maintained their momentum on the side switch, winning the pistol round in near-flawless fashion as the Korean superstar Ha "Sayaplayer" Jeong-woo (하정우) scored four kills. With a fire lit under them, Sayaplayer and The Guard won three consecutive rounds to bring them to match point. Cloud9 were able to win back round 17, but were ultimately stopped by an incredible quadruple killstreak by trent on round 18, thus losing the map 13-5.

The Guard looked to bring this intense series to a close on their map pick of Split. Backs against the wall, Cloud9 needed to pull off a miraculous reverse sweep.

The Guard continued their streak of winning the pistol and anti-eco rounds, but Cloud9 came back with six consecutive round wins with incredible plays coming from leaf and xeppaa. Cloud9 looked like they were going to their seventh consecutive round after in-game leader Anthony "vanity" Malaspina opened up with two quick kills and the KAY/O ultimate from xeppaa. However, neT and in-game leader Jacob "valyn" Batio stayed strong in the face of Cloud9's aggression, winning the round for The Guard. Although they lost the round after, the heroics of neT and Sayaplayer once again allowed The Guard to win another round on attack, ending the half at a deficit of four rounds to Cloud9's eight.

The Guard's defense looked near impenetrable as they started off with three consecutive rounds. However, Cloud9 was able to stop the bleeding after a hiding leaf caught The Guard rotating, putting them at a significant numbers advantage and prompting The Guard to call a timeout.

This timeout proved to be beneficial, as The Guard won four straight rounds afterwards thanks largely to valyn, who racked up 11 kills in three rounds. With two more rounds between them and Reykjavik, The Guard looked to wrap up the series, but Cloud9 had other plans: one of them being a heavy B Heaven push onto site, winning a 3v2 postplant. With some momentum to work off of, Cloud9 called a timeout at the end of round 21.

Round 22 looked like another Cloud9 win, but once again, valyn anchored down the A site and came up with three kills to get The Guard to match point. Cloud9 attempted a slow push from mid to A Heaven. With 40 seconds remaining, Cloud9 attempted their burst on to A, but met their demise at the hands of Sayaplayer's Operator and valyn's Vandal, allowing The Guard to win 13-10.

After a long and incredible match, The Guard booked their ticket to Masters Reykjavik in dominant fashion.

Looking Ahead

The Guard will face OpTic in the Challengers 1 grand final to determine the North American first and second seeds at Reykjavik.

The two teams met recently in the upper bracket final, where OpTic bested The Guard in a decisive 2-0 series.