After a intense Saturday of CS:GO action the group stage of the Steelseries GO challenge was completed with no bigger surprises. With the group matchups completed, the battles for the next stage were drawn. It is worth recalling that this first stage of the cup was played on a best-of-one map format.

Opening the event, Ninjas in Pyjamas showed a devastating performance over E-Srael . The match was played on de_dust2_se with the brand new NiP's squad starting as CT. The domination of the Ninjas in Pyjamas started from the first pistol round. They managed to extend the strong team play for the rest of the rounds to finish with a score of 15-0 before the side change. At the second half they took the first round, closing the match with a flawless score of 16-0.
The other two teams on the first group had their match simultaneously, and we saw Lemondogs clashing VBY on de_dust2_se. The match was dominated from the beginning for the squad that had 'niwen' as most valious player. Lemondogs applied to strong strategy to close the match with a twelve rounds advantage, 16-4 in the overall score.

At the second round of matches for the group A, NiP kept the overwhelming game play this time over VBY. The CS 1.6 and CS:S mixteam showed the same strength as was in the first match, and had Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg as most valious player for second consecutive match. Once again, they took the lead from the beginning to close the match with a 16-2 score at de_nuke_se.
Also was time for the second match for Lemondogs and Esrael that showed the most close result on the second turn. It was played on de_nuke_se and at the end, Lemondogs managed to take it in their favor, with a overall score of 16-8 to secure their second victory and three points.

The third and last series of matches for the first group kept on the trend of the previous battles. Lemondogs failed on their attempt to stop Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund's squad winning streak. The Ninjas kept on the good shape to allow the rival team to take only eight rounds on the final scoreboard, ending 16-8 at de_inferno_se. With this victory NiP got the access to the next stage, with the perfect effectivity of 3 wins over three matches and with only ten rounds lost.


f0rest showed great performance at the group stage finishing as mvp in two matches

With the first group defined, the stage continued later with the opening of the second group. On the first series we saw BuggIT securing their first victory over Visby with the final score showing 16-4.
Simultaneously, we saw the clash between madzone and Ljushuvud , this last team playing as replacement of the french team BuyKey that did not make it to the swedish capital city. The battle was played on de_dust2_se and showed steady team play from both sides at the beginning. Madzone made the final difference on the game after switching sides, to incline the overall score on their favor 16-7.

The action on the group B continued, as well as the BuggIT's winning streak. This time, Ljushuvud had no chance as they faced a really strong rivals that did not allow them to get a single round. As BuggIT ended the match with the flawless score of 16-0, they secured three more points to get on top of the group.
Also Madzone kept intact their winning streak, when managed to defeat Visby at de_nuke_se. This match was not so different as the previous as Madzone took the lead quickly and did not allow the opposite team to make a comeback, and only allowing them to get five rounds on the final score. With this victory, Madzone climbed to the top of the group sharing it with BuggIT, both with six points.

The third and last series of the group B, showed the battle between the two leaders of the group as the most important match. BuggIT faced Madzone at de_inferno_se to define which team would qualify to the semifinals as the best of the group. The match started and BuggIT wasted no time to show their supremacy taking the lead on the scoreboard quickly. Madzone was not able to put ressistance and at the end of the match the score table showed them 13 rounds down, 3-16.


The Steelseries GO action will continue on Sunday at Inferno Online

With both groups finished, the semifinals are now drawn. The top team of the group A, NiP will face Madzone, that qualified as second of group B. On the second semifinal, we will see the second leader of the group stage BuggIT, battling against Lemondogs to get a spot on the grand final of the Steelseries GO challenge. It is worth recalling that the semifinals and grand final will be played on a best-of-three system.

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The full schedule and statistics of the tournament can be found here.