G2 choke a huge lead and blow playoffs chance - PGL Cluj-Napoca

If you don't laugh, G2 fans, you'll cry.

Them ending up going 2-3 from 0-2 was about as predictable as the sun rising and setting in the morning, but we're still somehow surprised they failed in such spectacular fashion, despite it being their modus operandi.

After battling back to a 2-2 scoreline, G2 were tasked with defeating a shaky looking NAVI who had just lost to The MongolZ. Normally, NAVI are a team you never want to play in an important game, but they have looked decidedly beatable for quite a while now, and yesterday proved it.

The warning signs were there when G2's map pick of Dust 2 became the iM and b1t show, who essentially beat G2 on their own. iM stampeded through G2's paper defence after b1t put up the iron curtain on the CT side, and our heroes (or villains) found themselves behind.

Thankfully, they flew out of the blocks on Ancient to rack up a 9-1 lead, and SunPayus - who had been frustrated on Dust 2 and found little joy - was cooking. HeavyGod was racking up kills, it was easy. Suspiciously easy.

Guess who didn't win another round?

NAVI coasted to the easiest win they'll ever get against another top 10 team. What are you doing, G2?

woxic mauled the Astralis offence time and time again to push Aurora through to playoffs.

This was a remarkably CT sided game (albeit one map was Overpass), with ryu, HooXi, Staehr (who went 31-10 on the CT side) and phzy combining for a 28-83 scoreline on the offence. Genuinely.

Only one Aurora player, woxic, went positive on their attack too.

woxic danced around the toilets and seemed to find the perfect timing every round on Overpass, catching players with nades out, peeking over smokes just as phzy was getting set, or just getting into the angle at the right time, and Astralis looked lost. Overpass T side is really easy to get stuck on, especially when the AWPer is playing like that, and it showed.

It's unusual for Dust 2 to be so CT sided, but Astralis racked up ten rounds on their defence and still lost in regulation.

Staehr picked up 21 kills on the defence, but soulfly and XANTARES combined for 30 of their own. MAJ3R had just two kills on the T side, but that's two more than ryu mustered up.

A miserable game of Counter-Strike.

Speaking of which...

FUT, man. We like you guys. You've been a breath of fresh air, gone toe-to-toe with experienced, dangerous, big teams and been damn close to beating them too.

But can you guys just hold your nerve?

Though they didn't have a monstrous choke like yesterday, there were enough situations like the above one that just make you want to tear your hair out. lauNX played his little heart out to get in front of his home crowd, but it was all for naught in the end.

PARIVISION won Dust 2 19-17 with half of the amount of opening kills FUT had. PV had 12 opening kills, lauNX had nine on his own. It was a gruelling, grindy game - the type you don't want to get into with a Jame team even if you don't have finishing issues (pause), and he was unsurprisingly great in this one - but it's nota with two clutches that should get a lot of credit, too.

FUT hit back on Mirage, but had their backs broken by that silly clutch on Ancient and never quite recovered.

Heartbreaking.