After reaching the Grand Final of the Inferno Online League (IOL) and then discovering their opponents were crystal , a name which will not ring any bells outside of Sweden, many would have considered SK Gaming an enormous overmatch in the final.

In fact crystal were a single round away from winning the title themselves, had the second map of followed the exact same path following their 15:14 lead on dust2. SK Gaming dominated nuke in a fashion which didn't even let their less well known Swedish compatriots find a single an opening. SK Gaming are the champions of IOL.

SK Gaming 19:15 crystal (dust2 - 10:5 5:10, OT - 3:0 1:0)

First half

The series began with SK looking like the professional side and cRYSTAL the amateurs in their first final as SK swept to a 6:0 lead. On the 4th round two kills from walle and two from RobbaN crushed the cRYSTAL gun round and then on the 6th a 2v4 for SK turned into a 2v2 which was won without an SK man dying. kHRYSTAL's three kills being a big part of that turnaround.

cRYSTAL got the ball rolling with two consecutive rounds as three kills from hyvlarn on a round they were famas heavy was also followed by two kills from him in the next. SK answered with a three round run to go up 9:2. On the 10th face delivered three kills and on the 11th two walle and two RobbaN kills, again, were just the ticket for the big Swedish team.

The next two rounds were split, cRYSTAL winning the first but then face delivering three kills in a situation which saw SK 2v3. The last two went the smaller side's way and they left the half facing a 10:5 SK lead.


Second half

A good start for cRYSTAL came on their terrorist pistol round as two kills from marvel and two from hyvlarn secured it. At 3:0 up the team lost a round back to SK, as SK got their first kills of the half, but the next three would belong to cRYSTAL and they went up 6:1. Again face impressed in a low numbers situation as he killed both in a 2v2 scenario to take the 8th. Back came the cRYSTAL run though and they stuck four in a row on SK to reach 10:2 and map point with 3 rounds remaining.

With SK needing all those rounds out came the firepower and it was two kills from kHRYSTAL in the 13th, two from alleN in the 14th and three from face in the 15th which sent the game to overtime. In overtime cRYSTAL fell apart completely and SK rolled to a 3:0 win and then took the needed four to secure dust2.


SK Gaming 14:16 crystal (inferno - 8:7, 6:9)

First half

Putting dust2 behind them cRYSTAL started out as CTs on inferno and won the first four. On the 3rd round, facing SK's guns, they got four kills out of hyvlarn. On the 4th manne was 1v2 against a planted bomb in A and got it to a 1v1 and then defused with walle still alive and holding an AWP in the balcony area.

SK responded with three rounds, but cRYSTAL took another two to reach 6:3 overall. The 8th had pinne killing three in quick succession, all with headshots. Three kills from RobbaN put SK within 2 rounds of being tied up and two from hyvlarn and two from hUGGAn put the lead back to three at 7:4 for cRYSTAL. The half slipped from the smaller fish at that point as SK took all the remaining rounds.

On the 13th two kills a piece from RobbaN and face were key. SK Gaming went into the half with the slight lead at 8:7.


Second half

cRYSTAL won another pistol round and took a 3:0 lead. By 9 rounds had been played in the half SK were only sitting on 2 and facing a 14:9 deficit. When map point was reached on the next round it seemed as though cRYSTAL would move swiftly to the third map. In fact something awoke in SK or clicked in their offensive strategy as they put together a run.

Four kills from RobbaN on the 11th kept them alive and he would be the hero again on the 14th as he killed three and helped win a 2v2 situation at A. The last round could have sent the series to its second overtime but face got a 1v3 to 1v1 and could do no more, giving cRYSTAL the map.


SK Gaming 16:2 crystal (nuke - 13:2, 3:0)

First half

For a series which had been very competitive the first half of the deciding map was anything but. Four kHRYSTAL kills at upper set the tone on the pistol round and SK never looked back. Two from kHRYSTAL and two from RobbaN in the 4th denied cRYSTAL a chance to get back in on their gun round and SK was 4:0 up. That lead would continue to be pushed until SK reached 11:0.

RobbaN, walle and face were the men doing the decisive damage. RobbaN killed two on the 6th round and then two more on the 9th, which went with two from face. Three kills from face the next round saw his contributions continuing to matter. walle killed two on the 8th and won a 1v1 at lower on the 11th, forcing the CT to try and defuse so he could calmly kill him.

cRYSTAL took the 12th to get on the board thanks to two from pinne and hUGGAn but the fact no cRYSTAL player had reached 10 on the scoreboard showed the kind of imbalance in performance between the sides. Three more from RobbaN on the 13th and that was another SK round, as was the 14th, where cRYSTAL had some players with deagles and some with colts. The amateurs did manage to take the last round of the half but an SK led scoreline of 13:2 was not looking like being turned around.


Second half

Any comeback hopes were dashed as SK took the pistol round off four RobbaN USP kills, as he continued to play huge for his team. The next two went to SK to secure the map and series as cRYSTAL couldn't even afford to get weapons on either.