Extra Salt takes their first European scalp

It started on Train, where Extra Salt despite losing the pistol round was dominating. A 9-6 lead at the break was converted to an unbreakable CT side, where Extra Salt won 7-0 to claim the first map. It was worth noting, that it was not only their starplayer Josh 'oSee' Ohm, who was performing, but the entire roster.

The match continued on BIG's map pick, Dust2. Here the Germans felt a lot more comfortable. BIG had only played once on Train during the last three months, while Dust2 had been a battleground nine times. A map that favors good AWP'ers like Florian 'syrsoN' Rische, who made it an uphill battle for Extra Salt, who was trailing all the way through the map.

The decider map was another surprise. BIG had lost the last four times on Nuke, while Extra Salt has 13 victories of their last 14 matches on the map. All of the matches though against tier two opponents. Extra Salt started strong by taking the first six rounds before BIG finally joined the server. The Germans quickly recovered, and by the end of the first half, they were only trailing by one round.

In the second half, BIG was again gone missing. Extra Salt kept adding points to the scoreboard, while Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş was having an off-day not able to help his team. BIG lost the match 16-8 and has now lost four out of their five latest matches against opponents as Renegades, HAVU, FunPlus Phoenix, and Extra Salt.

BIG – Extra Salt (1-2) | Funspark ULTI Europe

6-16 (Train) | FaNg – 1.77 Rating / 23-13 K-D / 108.4 ADR

16-10 (Dust2) | syrsoN – 1.37 Rating / 22-14 K-D / 89.2 ADR

8-16 (Nuke) | Sonic - 1.44 Rating / 23-15 K-D / 99.5 ADR

MVP: Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek - 1.27 Rating / 59-46 K-D / 83.7 ADR

With the victory Extra Salt won their first match against an European opponent. They now advance to the upper semi-final, where they will face the winner of Evil Geniuses vs Dignitas, while BIG will have to make a run through the lower brackets.