SK Gaming are through to the semi-finals at ESL One Cologne after defeating FlipSid3 Tactics on two maps (16-7 on Mirage and 19-17 on Nuke).

Mirage was SK Gaming's map pick, and the Brazilian team worked very hard from the start to make the most of it as they stormed to a 7-1 lead on the Terrorist side.

FlipSid3 Tactics then finally put their foot down to hold back the Brazilians as they picked up two rounds in a row. SK's economy was starting to decline, but the defending Major champions went on another great run to close out the half with a 12-3 lead.

Lincoln "⁠fnx⁠" Lau delivered four frags in the pistol round to give his team an even bigger lead, but then FlipSid3 replied on a force buy. The Ukrainian team put together a small run of rounds to keep themselves in the game, but there was no miraculous comeback as SK adjusted their defense and won three rounds in a row en route to a 16-7 finish.

SK advance to the last-four stage 

Nuke began with Yegor "⁠markeloff⁠" Markelov winning a 1vs2 clutch inside B to give FlipSid3 an early lead. The former Natus Vincere star continued picking up crucial kills in gun rounds, propelling FlipSid3 into a commanding 6-1 lead.

Things were looking bleak for SK, but then they seemed to have finally found their comfort zone, winning the final eight rounds of the half to take a small lead heading into the break.

SK further added to their advantage by winning the pistol round as Terrorists and the corresponding anti-ecos. That is when Georgi "⁠WorldEdit⁠" Yaskin came up huge, powering FlipSid3 to equalise the score at 15 rounds as they never gave SK any real chance to build on the few round wins they had in gun play.

The Brazilian team had a perfect 3-0 half on the Terrorist side to get within touching distance of victory. FlipSid3, too, came out strongly on the offensive side, only to collapse against SK's force buy as they were about to take the game to a second overtime.

ESL One Cologne 2016Best of 3 SKMatchpage 2 0 8th July 2016 FlipSid3 16Mirage 7 19Nuke 17

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Yegor 'markeloff' Markelov Age: 28 Team: FlipSid3 Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 822 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.65 Georgi 'WorldEdit' Yaskin Age: 24 Team: FlipSid3 Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 583 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.67 Lincoln 'fnx' Lau Age: 26 Team: SK Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 215 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.66