VERTEX claims the eXTREMESLAND CS:GO Festival 2020 Oceania title after defeating Bizarre Gaming 2-1 in the grand final (1-0 on Default, 14-16 on Nuke, and 16-12 on Overpass). They also walk away with a US$1,000 first-place prize.
VERTEX‘s way to the grand final of the ZOWIE eXTREMESLAND CS:GO Festival 2020 Oceania was not as smooth as it could have been. On their way to the grand final, they squared off against Team SYLYX (16-10), Animal Squad (16-7), and defeated one of the favorites, R!OT (16-14).
Bizarre, on the other hand, clinched their way to the grand final coming from the lower bracket. After being defeated by Team SYLYX (11-16) in their opening match, Bizarre went on to dominate the lower brackets, defeating teams like Animal Squad (19-16), Control Esports (16-9), and R!OT (16-11).
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The Grand Final – VERTEX vs Bizarre
Following a huge success in the process going to the grand final, VERTEX went into the title decider brimming with confidence. Adding more pressure to the open qualifier winner, Bizzare, VERTEX was entitled to a one map advantage due to coming from the upper bracket.
The first map kicked off on VERTEX’s pick, Nuke, where they had a close fight in the first half finishing with an 8-7 lead on the CT side. Thanks to Benson “Liki” Niuila‘s monstrous performance, Bizarre successfully extended their lead on the CT side and secured the map with a 16-14 score.
Bizarre came out of Nuke looking scary and surged to a 5-0 lead on the CT side to leave VERTEX’s players stumped. However, VERTEX fought back valiantly to win their first round, in which James “Roflko” Lytras and Benny “tensai” Phan would come up huge for the team, who extended the scoreline to a 6-9 in the first half. After switching to the CT side, VERTEX was clearly the better side, they continued a strong showing on the defense. They closed out the map with a 16-12 scoreline, winning the series 2-1 and becoming the eXTREMESLAND CS:GO Festival 2020 Oceania champions.
VERTEX justified their position as favorites in the playoffs and took down Bizarre in a convincing fashion. They strengthen their spot as one of the top teams in Australia with this victory. According to HLTV APAC team rankings, the team currently occupies the fourth position of the Oceania regional rankings, behind AVANT Gaming and ORDER.
MVP of eXTREMESLAND CS:GO Festival 2020 Oceania
Bizarre’s Benson “Liki” Niuila has been named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament by eXTREMESLAND Official. The 22-year-old capped off a fantastic individual tournament with an impressive 1.55 HLTV rating, and averaging 1.03 kills per round in the first map against VERTEX.
Liki ended up on top in a quite tight MVP race, edging out VERTEX’s Jordan “pz” White who had a standout performance and was a strong MVP candidate throughout the event.
The full standings at:
| Place | Team | Prize |
| 1st | 🇦🇺 VERTEX | US$1,000 |
| 2nd | 🇦🇺 Bizarre | US$500 |
| 3rd | 🇦🇺 R!OT | – |
| 4th | 🇦🇺 GroupChat | – |
| 5-6th | 🇦🇺 Control Esports | – |
| 5-6th | 🇦🇺 Team SYLYX | – |
| 7-8th | 🇦🇺 AnimalSquad | – |
| 7-8th | 🇦🇺 DoMilk | – |
