SK Gaming 2:1 Lions swe

- Loss on de_inferno (9:16) (T 9:6 CT, CT 0:10 T)

SK-Gaming began their campaign for a slot in the New York Global Challenge on the terrorist side of de_inferno against Lions swe. After taking the first three pistol rounds, SK were stopped dead in their tracks by Niklas 'niko' Johansson and his fierce AWPing skill. niko continued to flourish with his sniper for the next few rounds, however once SK regained their composure they went on to take round after round with their calculated pushes. By the end of the first half, SK managed to take 9 rounds while Lions trailed behind with 6.

When both teams swapped sides Lions began with strong terrorist opening, taking the first pistol round followed by the second. In the third round SK decided to take a risk and buy whatever they could afford, however their attempt to catch Lions off-guard was unsuccessful and as a result SK's economy was struck heavily. With Jim 'zneel' Andersson now controlling the game with his rifle and niko continuing play with a dominant stance SK failed to gain momentum and after ten solid rounds by Lions, SK had to concede the map after failing to take a single round in the second half.

- Win on de_nuke (16:4) (T 11:4 CT, CT 5:0 T)

After losing the knife round SK began de_nuke on the terrorist side and managed to take out four players in the first round, even though they lost it. As a result, SK armed up with their strong economy and flooded into the upper-site and won the round by eliminating all of the Lions. SK went on to take the next round and soon took control of the first half, using momentum to their advantage and taking 11 rounds to Lions 4.

To finish the second map, SK took the CT pistol round and continued to rack up round after round. Lions attempted to buy on the third round to prevent the map going onto match point, however their risk was unsuccessful and SK went on to take all the rounds they needed to win the map with little opposition.

- Win on de_dust2 (16:14) (T 10:5 CT, CT 6:9 T)

For the third and final time in the match SK started on the terrorist side and began by losing the first pistol round following an a bombsite plant. After losing the pistol rounds SK, just like the other two maps, went on to dominate the first half and in the end took 10 out of 15 rounds before going into the second half.

Once again SK took the pistol rounds, this time as CTs, however the Lions gave it their all to keep the match going. By the 13th round, Lions had made the score gap small and Frej 'kHRYSTAL' Sjöström was keen to make it smaller. On the 13th round kyrstal won a 1v1 against f0rest on the B bombsite which kept SK on match point and playing it safe SK decided to save on the 14th round so they could go all out on the final round. After saving the previous round, SK were all set to take the last round by storm and after a bitter gun fight SK managed to put the final point on the board to knock Lions out the qualifier.

SK Gaming will now face off against mTw for an IEM Global Challenge New York slot. The loser will have to fight the loser of the Moscow Five - Mousesports match were the final slot of the event awaits the winner.