fnatic swept Liquid away in their first match by winning 16-3 on de_inferno while CLG shocked the CS:GO world by winning 16-14 on de_dust2.

MLG X Games Aspen commenced with fnatic facing off against Liquid. The veto process already set the ground in fnatic's favour with de_inferno emerging as the chosen map.

fnatic established the pace of the game on their CT pistol by dismantling a lacklustre Liquid set-up without losing a single player. On the first gunround, fnatic were almost punished for their aggressive banana play until Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer stepped up with a 3K hold on B site.

Liquid's slow play kept them faltering until the seventh round, when a series of trades gave the North American side their first T round in the match. After another successful A take, fnatic rallied and put Liquid on the backfoot for the rest of the half.

It was not until the final round of the half that Liquid were able to punish fnatic for their brazen CT pushes, leaving the scoreline at 12-3 in the half.

On their CT pistol, Liquid seemed to have the advantage on pistol until a series of fnatic picks from within A pit gave the Swedes the round. 

The only time the game came close after that was on the eigtheenth round where an eco flank from Liquid left Markus "⁠pronax⁠" Wallsten in a 1-on-2 situation which he still won with cheeky Tec-9 play.

On the final round of the game, fnatic bulled their way onto A site with olofmeister and Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell taking solo AWP picks.

MLG X-Games Aspen 2015Best of 1 fnaticMatchpage 16 3 23rd January 2015 Liquid 16Inferno 3

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister	20 - 7	+13	-	1.79
Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW	21 - 9	+12	-	1.78
Markus 'pronax' Wallstenpronax	19 - 4	+15	-	1.75
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	19 - 5	+14	-	1.62
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	10 - 7	+3	-	1.02

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	10 - 18	-8	-	0.60
Damian 'daps' Steeledaps	8 - 18	-10	-	0.52
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	7 - 18	-11	-	0.35
Jacob 'FugLy' MedinaFugLy	4 - 17	-13	-	0.26
Eric 'adreN' HoagadreN	3 - 18	-15	-	0.17

The second match in Group B saw the Frenchmen of LDLC take on CLG. CLG were playing their first match in an offline tournament under their new organisation.

After the vetoes, de_dust2 emerged as the map of play.

On T pistol, LDLC seemed to carry forward with their post DreamHack Winter momentum with an easy B site take. However, the first gunround was already indicative of a closer game when CLG narrowly lost a 3-on-2 retake.

The next round, CLG almost won with a save, taking down four LDLC players. And on the sixth round, Peter "⁠ptr⁠" Gurney began what would amount to a legendary performance with 2 awp picks on mid.

LDLC continued favouring mid takes and A splits, however CLG were able to check their play on short A with ptr leading the way. On the ninth round however, Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer won a 1-on-2 with 6hp left.

The fourteenth round was the most memorable round of the late first half, with ptr scoring a series of quick AWP shots on short A to win the round. CLG finished their CT half leading 8-7.

On T pistol, CLG continued their momentum by winning an aggressive pistol round with a split A take. 

LDLC began their counter-attack in the next round on a scout buy with Edouard "⁠SmithZz⁠" Dubourdeaux picking up three kills. 

On the twenty-third round, CLG won a 2-on-3 to halt LDLC's momentum and bring the game to 12-11 for LDLC. The game after this point remained close, with Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon shining briefly on the twenty-sixth round with an AWP 4K.

ptr was by no means diminished on his T side, and brought CLG forward to a 14-13 score in the next round with smart play in a 2-on-2 situation. 

Finally, LDLC were desperately forced to buy on the twenty-ninth round and won by pincering the slow play of CLG on short A.

In the final deciding round, with the score 15-14 for CLG, ptr cemented his play in history by snagging three seemingly impossible AWP kills with low HP.

CLG took the win and walked away with an upset, 16-14 on de_dust2.

MLG X-Games Aspen 2015Best of 1 LDLCMatchpage 14 16 23rd January 2015 CLG 14Dust2 16

CLG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Peter 'ptr' Gurneyptr	32 - 18	+14	-	1.53
James 'hazed' Cobbhazed	20 - 21	-1	-	1.05
Stephen 'reltuC' CutlerreltuC	19 - 20	-1	-	0.96
Tarik 'tarik' Celiktarik	18 - 21	-3	-	0.82
Pujan 'FNS' MehtaFNS	18 - 24	-6	-	0.76

LDLC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Vincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerHappy	29 - 20	+9	-	1.37
Richard 'shox' Papillonshox	24 - 23	+1	-	1.15
Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittNBK-	21 - 22	-1	-	0.89
Edouard 'SmithZz' DubourdeauxSmithZz	13 - 19	-6	-	0.72
Fabien 'kioShiMa' FieykioShiMa	17 - 23	-6	-	0.70

Next up on the schedule, NiP will take on dignitas and later KaBuM.TD will face-off against Cloud9.

Edouard 'SmithZz' Dubourdeaux Age: 26 Team: LDLC Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 479 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.66 Peter 'ptr' Gurney Age: 24 Team: CLG Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 9 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.58 Vincent 'Happy' Schopenhauer Age: 23 Team: LDLC Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 335 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.64 Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer Age: 22 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 274 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.63 Richard 'shox' Papillon Age: 22 Team: LDLC Rating 1.0: 1.18 Maps played: 417 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.64 Jesper 'JW' Wecksell Age: 19 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 413 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.67 Markus 'pronax' Wallsten Age: 23 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 0.95 Maps played: 392 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.65