After some very hard-fought semifinals matches, the top two teams from the regular season have earned the right to face off in the Season 8 finals. Team Itsky/Hazy will race Team Elvis/Booyah for the Season 8 championship this coming weekend.
Both semifinal matchups were won in two straight matches by scores of 5-2 in the first match and 5-3 in the second but were more hotly contested than those scores might indicate.
The Itsky/Hazy seminfinal win came despite spirited comebacks by Team Panoze/DeathDealer. In the first match, Itsky's team won the first two maps convincingly and looked to have a lot of momentum but Panoze's team was unfazed, taking the next two to tie it up before Itsky's team reignited and swept the next three. The second match went the same only this time it was a 3-0 Itsky lead that was erased by a three-map run by Panoze's team before Itsky won two straight to clinch the spot in the finals. The streaks go to show that you can never count out any of the teams until the final map is won. Participants from both teams say the matches were very intense and hard-fought.
The other semifinal featured a lot of close finishes, with maps often turning on a single event or mishap. My team (Team Mr. Do/BluAdpt) felt like we gave away a map or two with mistakes in the first scrim and saw a couple more slip away with just plain close finishes. Team Elvis/Booyah seemed more composed and simply kept finding ways to win maps. My team felt like we were going to play much better in the second match and we did, pulling out to a 3-1 lead. But Elvis's team gutted out one hard-fought win after another to sweep the rest of the maps. Both teams agreed it was some of the most intense action we have experienced.
Competition in the finals promises to be at the highest possible level with those two teams going at it. Big congrats to the members of both teams. It should be a great experience for all of you.