Ghost beat Rogue to book ESL Pro League spot

Ghost have booked their place in the ESL Pro League Season 7 after defeating Rogue 2-0 (16-11 on Cobblestone, 16-7 on Overpass) in the upper bracket final of the North American Relegation stage.

The first series of the day kicked off on Ghost's map pick, Cobblestone. After securing the T-side pistol, Phong "⁠bee⁠" Nguyen's team followed that up with the next round, but could not prevail in the subsequent anti-eco. Still, after building up their economy, Ghost managed to regain control of the game, not letting their opponents take the lead.

Rogue would not let their opponents remain in the driving seat for long, and tightened up their defense in the following rounds, winning five in a row to secure the lead for the first time. In the next round, Sebastian "⁠seb⁠" Bucki denied Spencer "⁠Hiko⁠" Martin the chance to clutch 1v2, setting Ghost up to win the remaining rounds of the half.

Although Hiko's men began the second half with a successful pistol, Ghost responded in the next round with a CZ-buy win, which seb closed out with a 1v2 clutch. That was the start of a five-round streak from Ghost, who would only be stopped in the 22nd round.

Ghost were then set to immediately reset Rogue's economy, but Matthew "⁠WARDELL⁠" Yu could not win a 1v1 situation against Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller, with the North American falling for a fake plant with fewer than four seconds left on the clock. Still, Ghost would only lose one more round before locking down the map, 16-11.

Ghost have secured their place in the next ESL Pro League iteration

Next up was Overpass, Rogue's map pick. Playing on the Terrorist side, Daniel "⁠vice⁠" Kim and co. started it out on the right foot by winning the pistol round. However, bee came up huge in the next round after finding three opponents in a 2v3 post-plant situation.

The few rounds that Rogue edged out were few and far between, so they were kept off any economic development, with the half ending in a 10-5 scoreline in Ghost's favour. 

The second half began at a frantic pace as the teams traded round for round, but a victorious force-buy from Ghost in the 19th round sparked a great run from the Canadian side, who won five rounds in a row en-route to a 16-7 finish. 

ESL Pro League Season 6 North America RelegationBest of 3 RogueMatchpage 0 2 8th January 2018 Ghost 11Cobblestone 16 7Overpass 16

Rogue	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Casper 'cadiaN' MøllercadiaN	45 - 35	+10	92.6	1.30
Spencer 'Hiko' MartinHiko	30 - 37	-7	57.0	0.80
Michael 'Uber' StapellsUber	27 - 41	-14	64.2	0.78
Daniel 'vice' Kimvice	21 - 41	-20	63.4	0.73
Josh 'shinobi' Abastadoshinobi	24 - 36	-12	56.2	0.69

Ghost	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Matthew 'WARDELL' YuWARDELL	40 - 24	+16	88.5	1.45
Sebastian 'seb' Buckiseb	39 - 29	+10	79.3	1.29
Phong 'bee' Nguyenbee	39 - 33	+6	91.3	1.25
Dallas 'Dallas' MicksDallas	42 - 30	+12	79.1	1.20
Connor 'CONNOR93' GloverCONNOR93	30 - 33	-3	79.0	1.04

Matthew 'WARDELL' Yu Age: 19 Team: Ghost Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 238 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.64 Rogue #75 Spencer 'Hiko' MartinCasper 'cadiaN' MøllerJosh 'shinobi' AbastadoDaniel 'vice' Kim Spencer 'Hiko' Martin Age: 27 Team: Rogue Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 658 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.62 Phong 'bee' Nguyen Age: 27 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.95 Maps played: 138 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.68 Daniel 'vice' Kim Age: 22 Team: Rogue Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 192 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.68 Casper 'cadiaN' Møller Age: 22 Team: Rogue Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 595 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.66 Ghost #82 Sebastian 'seb' BuckiConnor 'CONNOR93' GloverMatthew 'WARDELL' Yu Sebastian 'seb' Bucki Age: 26 Team: Ghost Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 207 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.69