SK go up 1-0 in Atlanta after a 16-13 win over Space Soldiers on Mirage.

Starting off the game by losing the CT pistol round meant Space Soldiers had to wait until the fourth round to afford equipment that would allow them to challenge SK. Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli got a good bang for his buck, as his $4,750 AWP investment yielded him three kills that stopped the Brazilians' B site offensive and got his side on the board.

Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga's relentless aggression paid off in the followup, as he found a gap in the CT defenses to flank the B site and make the score 4-1. SK couldn't break the bank of their opponents, though, as Buğra "⁠Calyx⁠" Arkın and Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş picked up doubles to start a streak of rounds going the way of the Turkish side.

Things were looking good for Space Soldiers to get their ninth round as they had a 5v2 situation going their favor, but fer's sneaky play paid off again as he picked up three kills that allowed Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo to clutch out.

fer single-handedly won rounds for SK, which ended up mattering a lot

After the switch, SK won the second pistol round as well, which made bringing back a 9-6 halftime deficit to a tied 9-9 score much easier. A few rounds later, Calyx pulled his side back into the lead by clutching a 1v2 against João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos and Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David on A. (11-10) 

coldzera, who was struggling early on, finally came to life towards the end of the game, playing key parts in SK getting back into the lead. (13-12)

After another back and forth round went SK's way, Space Soldiers decided to go for a fast-paced, mixed buy B site attack that worked out. The Turkish side wasn't able to take advantage of the equipment advantage in the followup, though, and that allowed FalleN and co. to close out the game 16-13.

ELEAGUE Major 2018Best of 1 SKMatchpage 16 13 20th January 2018 Space Soldiers 16Mirage 13

SK	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFalleN	28 - 18	+10	86.0	1.42
João 'felps' Vasconcellosfelps	23 - 18	+5	81.1	1.19
Fernando 'fer' Alvarengafer	20 - 20	0	84.9	1.07
Epitacio 'TACO' de MeloTACO	16 - 19	-3	67.5	0.95
Marcelo 'coldzera' Davidcoldzera	16 - 20	-4	70.1	0.94

Space Soldiers	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Buğra 'Calyx' ArkınCalyx	25 - 19	+6	90.5	1.24
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşXANTARES	23 - 22	+1	83.2	1.05
Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliMAJ3R	19 - 24	-5	79.4	0.98
Engin 'ngiN' KorngiN	15 - 19	-4	59.7	0.75
Ahmet 'paz' Karahocapaz	13 - 20	-7	53.7	0.72