On the very last day of the 2015 IEM Expo in Katowice, we got the chance to see four of the world’s best female CS:GO teams gather in Poland to determine the winner of the US$15,000 first prize as well as setting themselves above the rest. Local heroes ALSEN were joined by CM Storm from Germany, Bad Monkey Gaming from Sweden as well as UBINITED from the United States of America, but who came out on top?
SEMIFINAL ONE: ALSEN vs. CM Storm
The first semi final saw the Polish team of ALSEN taking on CM Storm, formerly qualified as TBA. The Germans took the game on Mirage in hands pretty quick after winning the pistol round and only leaving four CT rounds to ALSEN. With the 11-4 scoreline at half, CM Storm won the pistol round to extend the lead and only leave one more round to the Polish side before taking the map by 16-5.
CM Storm took the swing from Mirage to Overpass, winning the T pistol and starting a streak from here ending the first half by a strong 10-5 T scoreline. ALSEN were able to come back from this, even though losing the pistol round again, but couldn’t hinder the Germans to take the game to 16-10, advancing to the grand final with this. ALSEN had problems finding into the game but have shown on Overpass, why they clearly deserved to be part of this four teams at Intel Challenge Katowice.
SEMIFINAL TWO: UBINITED vs. Bad Monkey Gaming
The intercontinental clash of Bad Monkey Gaming and UBINITED saw the European mix starting strong on Mirage, taking the CT pistol for them and letting slip only one round to the Americans in the first half. Ubinited didn’t back down in the second half, winning the crucial pistol round but were not able to stop zAAz and her mates from scoring the two needed rounds to take the map home by 16-8.
On Cache UBINITED had the better start as T and were able to shut Bad Monkey Gaming down time and time again and extending their lead to six rounds early on. BMG scored their first round, but only to see UBI regaining the upper hand. Three more round went to BMG in the process, but UBI secured a 11-4 lead. After winning the CT pistol round, UBINITED saw BMG finding back into the game and taking five rounds in a row before the Americans struck back. It was no more chance to score for BMG as UBINITED took the game to their hands again, bringing the game to the third map by 16-8.
Scoring the pistol and the following three rounds saw Bad Monkey Gaming recover from losing Cache. From here on UBI started catching up with three consecutive rounds, before both teams started trading rounds. BMG recovered once again and managed to take the first half to a 10-5 scoreline. With these strong rounds on their backs, zAAz and her mates were able to start their T half winning the pistol round. With the two follow up rounds going to the Europeans, UBI came back with a solid defense and able to close the gap to BMG to 13-10. From here BMG found back their strength and were able to bring the game to match point and advance to the grand final against CM Storm.
GRAND FINAL: CM Storm vs. Bad Monkey Gaming
Bad Monkey Gaming were the one team to start up Cache in style. Starting as CT zAAz and her team were able to take the pistol round build a five round lead from here, before CM Storm were able to kick back, taking seven rounds on their own. Rounds were traded, before they switched sides at an 8-7 scoreline to CM Storm. It was again BMG to pick up the pistol round and the following two. The Germans interrupted their streak for one round, but only to see BMG continuing to score round after round. CM Storm could still score rounds, but not stop Bad Monkey Gaming from taking Cache by a 16-12 scoreline.
On Nuke CM Storm got to start as CT and were able to score the pistol round as well as the follow up round. BMG were able to pick up a couple of rounds early on, bringing the score to an equal three rounds each. The teams were trading rounds for two, before CM Storm started falling behind while BMG extended a comfortable lead. Just one more round went to the Germans, as zAAz and her team switched sides with a 10-5 lead to their own. With the pistol round going the way of BMG they were able to extend their lead onward.
A Champion has been crowned
Bad Monkey Gaming are the winners of Intel Challenge Katowice. Throughout both of their matches they have showed a lot of great plays and really earned their US15,000 prize! CM Storm were able to take down one of the favorites, as they took on UBINITED in the semis. The 3rd place decider saw UBINITED beating ALSEN 2-0, even though the Polish fans on site heavily supported their team in the competition.
We hoped you enjoyed the live coverage of the 2015 Intel Challenge in Katowice. Check out the VODs on our YouTube channel and follow ESL Counter-Strike on Twitter and Facebook for coverage on all of our CS:GO tournaments and events.
