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Four teams advanced from the group stages and made it through the playoff rounds to take part at the Intel Extreme Masters in Oakland, California. The semifinals are contested in a Best of three format with the winners facing each other tomorrow in a Best of five format.
In the first semifinal, Ninjas in Pyjamas faced SK Gaming. The Ninjas were looking to extract revenge following a group stage loss to SK Gaming earlier. In Game 1 on Overpass, SK Gaming won the first five games as the Counter-Terrorist side and seven of the first eight in total. Ninjas in Pyjamas came back by taking the last seven to take an 8-7 halftime lead as the Terrorists in Game 1 before the teams switch sides for the second half.
The Swedish side (NiP) finished off the game by winning 8-2 as the Counter-Terrorists to take the victory, 16-9. In Game 2 on Cache, SK Gaming took the early lead 8-7. The first half of that game was highlighted by a blunder by SK's fer, who mis-clicked while trying to defuse the bomb and ended up not defusing it in time, giving NiP the win for that round. SK Gaming continued their dominance with a 16-8 win, finishing with an 8-1 second-half run to force Game 3 on Inferno. In Game 3, the first half was a little more evenly contested with NiP taking an 8-7 lead heading into their roles in the final half of the series as the Terrorists. NiP dominated the second half as the Terrorists, the only half where the scoring wasn't started by SK Gaming. NiP won the series 2-1 after winning the 3rd game 16-11 on Inferno.
In the second semifinal, Cloud 9 took on Faze Clan. Faze Clan took Game 1 on Train 16-8. Faze Clan had a great run by winning nine rounds in a row on the Counter Terrorist side before finishing off the game on the Terrorist side. In Game 2, Cloud 9 was unable to win consecutive rounds against Faze Clan, losing 16-6 on Overpass. Faze Clan won the series 2-0.
Sunday's final will pit Europe's Faze Clan against the defending champions Ninjas in Pyjamas.
