Santa Ana in Southern California was the scene of the latest EsportsArena showdown over the weekend as 16 CS:GO teams battled it out for bragging rights and a $1700 first place prize. The SoCal Stars eventually walked away as champions of the EsportsArena Santa Ana Showdown V, putting in a dominant display throughout the competition.
SoCal Stars win their group
Opening up play in Group C, the SoCal Stars squared off against The Gold Novos. SCS made light work of TGN, taking them down 16-5 on Mirage.
Next up for SoCal Stars were PhenomZ, once again on Mirage. In another one-sided affair, SoCal cruised to a 16-7 victory, putting them at 2-0 with only one game to play. SoCal’s primary AWPer Hazardouz had a break out game with 24 kills, 3 assists and only 11 deaths (which represented the fewest on the team).
A new map heralded a new result for SoCal as they took on Tea Time, this time on Train, with the clash ending in a draw. With this SoCal qualified for the playoffs with an impressive 2-1-0 record.
SoCal Stars ease through
In the quarterfinals SoCal Stars faced off against Gunners N Chuggers, a team that had come second in Group D and only lost a single game in the Group Stage – to Counter Logic Gaming’s female team CLG Red.
Once again SoCal Stars dominated their opponents, this time on two maps they had not played thus far; Inferno and Cache. Showing off their diverse map pool, SoCal claimed 16-9 and 16-5 victories over GNC to win the clash 2-0 overall.
Top Gun no cruise
The toughest test for SoCal Stars came against Top Gun, the number one seed from Group B who had won all five games they had played up to this point.
The challenge posed by Top Gun was highlighted when, despite sweeping all before them previously, SoCal stumbled and lost their first game of the tournament; an incredibly close 16-14 affair on Overpass.
However, SCS fought back immediately, taking a convincing 16-8 win on Mirage off the back of an impeccably solid T side.
Top Gun had run out of gas by the time Cobblestone was played as SCS cruised to a 16-2 victory after a 13-round T side to qualify for the Finals.
This series truly showed how deep the map pool is for SCS as they played their 5th and 6th different map of the tournament, resulting in a narrow loss followed by a crushing victory to add to their previous strong record.
On to the Finals
In the Finals the SoCal Stars faced off against former Cloud9 and Echo Fox player fREAKAZOiD and his Swole Patrol team to see who would be crowned Esports Arena Santa Ana Showdown V champions.
The clash opened on the map upon which SoCal had dominated thus far; Mirage. SoCal Stars came out red hot on their T side as they picked up the first five rounds. They lost the sixth but won the next, completely breaking Swole Patrol’s economy. This allowed SCS to pick up the next two rounds with ease.
SoCal took four of the last seven rounds of the half to give themselves an 11-4 half-time lead and then only dropped the first gun round in the second half on their way to a 16-5 victory. Kiko and N0iZ (aka dENVER) led the way, sporting 29-1-10 and 22-4-11 kills/assists/deaths respectively. Kiko’s performance was particularly strong, with an HLTV rating of 2.02, which is incredibly impressive as a 1.0 rating is considered a solid showing.
Next up was another map upon which SoCal had performed well earlier in the tournament; Inferno. The newest in the pool, Inferno is a map many feel is incredibly risky as teams still struggle to find the correct way to play it.
SoCal Stars had no such issues as once again they came out of the gates firing, securing another 5-0 start. Coincidentally they lost the sixth round once again before resetting Swole Patrol’s economy for the second straight match. Swole Patrol recovered, however, to win five of the last eight rounds to pull the score back to a respectable 6-9 half-time deficit.
Once again SoCal Stars started a half on a roll, winning the first five rounds for the third time in four halves. While other members of the team struggled around a 1-1 K/D or worse, n2g and rik0k0 had a break out final map, boasting 1.40+ ratings each. Rik0k0 led the way with 26 kills, dominating in the highest pressure game of the tournament.
Despite losing the next three rounds, SoCal Stars pulled off two rounds in a row to take a 16-9 victory and with it the championship, deservedly so after their consistently strong play.
