Recapping The Dignitas Female CSGO Team Win at the Intel Challenge 2019!
Dignitas Fe recently just won the Intel Challenge in Katowice, and in this article I will be talking through their journey!
The Female Dignitas CSGO team is arguably the best team in female CS, and back to back wins at the Intel Challenge seem to assert that title. The all-star squad of Catherine 'CAth' Leroux, Emmallee 'EMUHLEET' Garrido, Amanda 'rain' Smith, Carolyn 'artStar' Noquez and Kiara 'milk' Makua was able to pick up 5 wins out of 6 matches and only dropped 2 maps out of 9 throughout the tournament, winning the final 2-0 against CLG Red. Here, I will just be going into a little more depth about the team's brilliant performance and also adding a little bit of my own analysis along the way.
Group Stage
The first match this roster had to play was against the European mix team of Orgless Fe. This match started off very well for Dignitas as they won pistol round and were able to take the first half convincingly with an 11:4 scoreline. The second half didn't get off to the best of starts, as Orgless Fe won the first 2 rounds. However, Dignitas was able to pick up the first gun round giving them 3 round in a row. Orgless Fe did answer back winning 2 rounds of their own until Dignitas were able to take 2 more in a row and close out the game for a 16:8 score, with EMUHLEET ending on an impressive 1.42 rating.
The next map was against Assassins and wasn't as simple as the previous matchup. This roster, headlined by Michaela 'mimi' Lintrup actually did end up proving themselves and managed to secure a victory over Dignitas, which ended up being their only loss of this tournament. The first half on Dust 2 didn't go awfully and ended up with Assassins taking a 9:6 lead. After the half however things went from bad to worse and Assassins managed to win the first 6 rounds flawlessly. Dignitas did answer back with 5 rounds of their own but it wasn't enough as Assassins secured their 16th round just after.
On to the next and deciding group match, Dignitas Fe were faced with the full Brazillian roster of Pain Fe. This game got off to a flying start for the girls in black and yellow as they won the first 14 rounds on Dust 2 without a hitch, and ended the half 14:1. The next half was much of the same and ended quickly with Dignitas securing the first 2 rounds and closing the map. CAth shone incredibly well here and ended on an inhumanly high 2.48 rating and 5.4 KDR. The next map was Mirage and we saw some brilliant Counter-Strike with Dignitas only ceding 3 rounds to Pain Fe. Pain Fe did look to make a bit of a comeback at the start of the next half, after securing the first 2 rounds, but this was quickly shut down and the final score was 16:6 to Dignitas, putting them through to the semi-finals.
Semi Final
Just one day later, Dignitas was ready to compete once more and played their semi-final match against the European mix team of Besiktas in a best of 3. The first map of this series was on Overpass and boy did it deliver. The first half was mediocre at best for Dignitas and they were only able to string 4 rounds together, compared to Beskitas' 11. As the second half started, Dignitas were looking to mix things up again and they not only won the pistol round but then 4 more rounds after, until Besiktas could win 1 back, bringing the score to 12:8. Despite this, Dignitas quickly sprung back to life and won 8 rounds in a row and EMUHLEET closed out the game with a 4k bringing the game to an end with a 16:12 scoreline.
Map 2 was Mirage and Dignitas was hoping to close out the series nice and quickly here and got right to that winning the first 2 rounds. Beskitas quickly responded by winning the first gun round and taking 2 more rounds after that. Dignitas quickly responded with another 3 of their own and were looking in their stride. They then conceded one more round but responded with another 3 and Besiktas then took the last 3 rounds of the half leaving us with an 8:7 scoreline in favour of Dignitas. Besiktas got off to a flying start on the second half and quickly won 4 rounds, including the first gun round. EMUHLEET's team quickly answered back by winning a gun round and taking another 4 after that. Unfortunately, Beskitas did get the better of them and took the last 5 rounds of the game with relative ease making the final 16:11 to Besiktas and giving Dignitas their second map loss of the tournament.
Over to the 3rd and final map of Inferno and Dignitas were looking to close out this series once and for all. Dignitas had an explosive start to the CT side and, thanks to their impeccable holds, were able to take the first 7 maps without a hitch. Besiktas was eager to get into this game and ended up overpowering the CT side and took their first round of this map. Despite their best attempts, Besiktas couldn't capitalise on this and EMUHLEET's squad went on to win the remaining 7 maps of the half. Despite a solid attempt, Besiktas were overpowered in pistol round and Dignitas was able to take the pistol round and then the next to close out the map 16:1, thanks to milk and ArtStar's 2.00 and 1.99 ratings respectively, and were through to the final.
Final
Here we are at the final of the Intel Challenge and Dignitas was pitted against fellow NA team, CLG Red. Dignitas looked very energised on the CT side of Mirage and were able to hold well and take the first 2 rounds of the grand final. CLG fired back with 1 of their own, by winning the first gun round, but this was quickly shut down by Dignitas who then went on to take 4 rounds of their own. CLG did show some promise however and took 1 round, lost another and then managed to string 2 successive rounds together. Nevertheless, the Dignitas squad managed to comeback and won the last 4 rounds on their CT half leaving them with an 11:4 score line at half time. Not wishing to throw such a lead, they managed to overpower the site on pistol round, taking that and then were able to go on a bit of a spree and close out the map flawlessly with a final score of 16:4
The end seemed near and Dignitas was going to try and make sure that it happened so they could claim the title of back-to-back champions. Thanks to a solid hold, Dignitas was able to take the pistol round on Nuke and were looking to capitalise on this. However, CLG had a different idea and was able to take their force round and equalise the score. Dignitas weren't able to fire back until round 5 when they finally stopped CLG in their tracks. Dignitas then went on a riot and took 9 rounds straight until CLG answered and took the last 2 rounds of the half giving Dignitas a 10:5 lead at the half. CLG were able to carry forward some of the momentum from the last half and took pistol round and the second round as well. Dignitas responded well and took the first gun round but couldn't capitalise on it for 3 more rounds when the score was just in Dignitas' favour at 11:10. The girls in black and yellow then stormed ahead taking 5 consecutive rounds and were able to close out the map 16:11 and take their place as champions!
Summary
Dignitas played incredible CS at this tournament and showed some of the best female Counterstrike we have ever seen. Despite an MVP not being chosen, I would say that CAth would have to take that as she ended the tournament with a 1.46 KD and an impressive 1.39 rating. Overall, the squad played brilliantly and fought hard to take the trophy home and the $25k that came with it. All the teams at the Intel Challenge played superb CS and I wish them the best of luck in the future. Hopefully, Dignitas will be able to take the next Challenge and make it three in a row to truly assert their dominance.
