Can Ninjas in Pyjamas win its second straight IEM Oakland title?
After one thrilling upset, and one complete mismatch, the Intel Extreme Masters Oakland Counter Strike: Global Offensive semifinals have come to a close. The winners, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Faze Clan, will meet in the Finals on Sunday for the tournament’s $125,000 grand prize.
The Finals kick off at 4:15 p.m. ET. You can watch the best-of-three series here, via Twitch.
Too often in CS:GO tournaments it’s easy to feel like the Finals weren’t between the two best teams in the competition. Fortunately, at this year’s IEM Oakland Finals, there’s no question these two teams are the best.
Faze Clan entered the tournament with high hopes. Ranked No. 2 in the world, Faze Clan had one brief misstep early in the tournament, against SK Gaming, but have seemed nearly untouchable in Oakland since. During the semifinals, Faze Clan took on North America’s hometown heroes, Cloud9, and looked absolutely dominant, sweeping C9 and making it look easy.
Meanwhile, Ninjas in Pyjamas may not have come into the tournament with the kind of expectations Faze did, but something about Oakland always seems to bring out the best in this team. Last year, the Ninjas won the tournament and this year, after bringing in some fresh talent to their roster, the team took down number one ranked SK Gaming in the semifinals and now looks to earn back to back IEM Oakland titles.
