Space Soldiers pick up their first win in the New Legends Stage by securing a win over Cloud9 on Cobblestone (16-13).

After a back and forth start to the game, which saw Cloud9 start on the CT side of Cobblestone and pick up the pistol, Space Soldiers was the team to claim the early lead.

As the score was 7-2, both teams were on full buys and the Turkish side went for an all-out B attack. The early trades went well for Cloud9, but Ahmet "⁠paz⁠" Karahoca and Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli managed to bring back a 2v4 and force the North Americans on another eco.

After his side lost a round, Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş picked up a double kill in drop to unlock the B site defense (10-3), forcing another eco from Cloud9 and pushing Space Soldiers towards an impressive 11-4 Terrorist half.

A strong Terrorist side set Space Soldiers up for success

Winning the second pistol allowed Cloud9 to claw their way back into the game. The first buy also went the way of the North American side, with Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik securing two key kills in the round. Thanks to a Space Soldiers force buy setup that worked out on A and a 2v2 won in the followup, the Turkish side broke Cloud9's economy and went 13-8 up.

MAJ3R picked up an anti-eco ace to get his team another round before Cloud9 started pulling it bak again, with William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba contributing and Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta starting to wake up after a rough start to the game. As they got the score a round away from equalizing, Space Soldiers stopped them by switching up the play and taking deep B control (15-13).

After a drawn-out technical pause, paz closed out the game by single-handedly stopping Cloud9's A site offense, picking up an AWP ace along the way.

ELEAGUE Major 2018Best of 1 Space SoldiersMatchpage 16 13 20th January 2018 Cloud9 16Cobblestone 13

Space Soldiers	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliMAJ3R	23 - 18	+5	91.3	1.38
Ahmet 'paz' Karahocapaz	23 - 17	+6	71.4	1.25
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşXANTARES	20 - 24	-4	76.0	1.06
Buğra 'Calyx' ArkınCalyx	18 - 19	-1	65.0	1.01
Engin 'ngiN' KorngiN	17 - 20	-3	73.3	0.89

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Tarik 'tarik' Celiktarik	24 - 23	+1	100.0	1.27
Timothy 'autimatic' Taautimatic	21 - 20	+1	81.7	1.11
Tyler 'Skadoodle' LathamSkadoodle	18 - 18	0	74.4	1.10
William 'RUSH' WierzbaRUSH	21 - 17	+4	75.1	1.09
Jake 'Stewie2K' YipStewie2K	12 - 24	-12	50.9	0.67

2-0
Quantum Bellator Fire
1-1
Gambit	Space Soldiers
1-0
FaZe	Vega Squadron
G2	Liquid
SK	MOUZ
0-1
Virtus.pro	fnatic
BIG	Natus Vincere
Astralis	North
0-2
Cloud9