It all comes down to this, 24 teams battled it out over a course of three weeks as only two of those teams earned their rights in the grand finals of the Major, which has a purse for $1,000,000 up for grabs.
Matchup: FaZe Clan vs. Cloud9
Winners: FaZe Clan by a hair (Editor's Note: I actually think Cloud9 pulls it off!)
The stage is now set as the North Americans of Cloud9 will have home field advantage over the ruthless mixed Europeans of FaZe Clan. FaZe Clan have been expected to reach the grand finals, although they did have a shaky New Challenger stage with a few matches that could have gone either way as FaZe showed some weakness. However, through the New Legends stage, the dominant force came out on top with a 3-0 record to advance to Boston, joining the likes of G2 Esports. Once in Boston, FaZe did what they do best and eliminated their opponents without losing a single map in the quarterfinal and the semifinal, proving that FaZe Clan is still the biggest threat to any team that stand in their way.
The North Americans of Cloud9 almost didn't make it to the major as the core group sat at 0-2 at the New Legends stage. Although with momentum and the ability to overcome all odds, Cloud9 came back-to-back-to-back wins to advance to Boston.
For Cloud9 the entire roster and organization has never experienced the playoffs of a Major, especially for Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham, who finally reached the playoffs after eight unsuccessful tries. The biggest match for them going into the playoffs were going head-to-head against the French of G2. Cloud9 made it look easy as their fast-paced aggression proved to be the kryptonite for G2 as they could not handle the pressure and fell 2-0. The next match up came down to SK Gaming where Cloud9 has had success in the past and their success continued with a huge upset over the Brazilians with a grand final appearance in the 2-1 series win.
Coming down to the wire, this grand final matchup will be exciting nonetheless as FaZe have more experience than Cloud9 with the likes of Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovacs and Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer. While this might be Nikola "NiKo" Kovac's first ever Major playoff and grand final appearance, he hasn't balked a bit with a stout performance. The overall advantage favors FaZe Clan with the deep map pool and experienced players, but Cloud9 has the upper advantage with thousands of fans supporting their every move. The stadium will be loud and full of excitement as everyone hopes to see a third map but ultimately, FaZe Clan have the edge to take the Major. (Editor's Note: With the fans and a strong head of stem, Cloud9 will take this one 2-1.)
