“They die like flies,” says SabeRLight as TSM Continues its Rampage Through The Stockholm Major

North America (NA) is well on its way to securing its third consecutive Top 2 finish at a major with TSM FTX moving on to the winner bracket finals of the ESL One Stockholm Major 2022, with a scintillating 2-0 victory over Gaimin Gladiators. TSM FTX showed some real grit and tenacity to comeback from massive deficits in both games, to secure the victory over the European side in the playoffs knocking Gaimin Gladiators to the lower brackets.

Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek was in high spirits in the post game interview, commenting that TSM didn’t really have any problems with brushing off these challenges from the European teams. “They die like flies,” he said in jest. “Slap after slap, 2-0 after 2-0, I feel kind of bad honestly since I am also EU, so it's kind of like betraying my own region but I kind of have to do it for NA.”

However, he also added that TSM’s next match against Tundra Esports in the winner bracket finals was going to be interesting because it looked like it was in good form and that it was the one team that his team was consistently losing to, in scrims . “Hopefully, we can slap them 2-0 as well”, he added.

TSM continues to carry North America’s torch in the Stockholm Major 2022

Both Gaimin Gladiators and TSM came into the game fresh off 2-0 victories over OG and T1 respectively, so fans were expecting a very even series. And it delivered on those fronts in Game 1, as Gaimin Gladiators took control of the map in the initial stages of the game utilizing Melchior "Seleri" Hillenkamp’s Enchantress and Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard’s Timbersaw to exert an incredible amount of pressure on the opposing side which secured them a 12k gold lead 38 minutes into the game.

The Western European team was looking like it was going to cruise to victory with Aegis, Cheese and its net worth advantage. However, a crucial mistake from Anton "dyrachyo" Shkredov’s Monkey King where he leaped into the enemy base and died allowed TSM to mount the comeback.

TSM managed to chain several kills together off the back of this misplay and evened out the game. Gladiators went on to make several more uncharacteristic errors which lead to botched teamfights which, in turn, lead to several of its heroes dying without Buybacks and handed the win to the NA side.

Gaimin Gladiators never really looked like it was in its element in Game 2, messing up an Aegis pick-up and several other teamfights in a row despite having a massive networth lead (11.5k in 21 minutes after a disastrous laning phase from TSM), and ended up handing the Game 2 win to TSM.

TSM will play against Tundra Esports on May 21 for a spot in the Grand Finals, while Gaimin Gladiators will have to make its way through the lower brackets of the ESL One Stockholm Major 2022 which starts with a game against the winner of the beastcoast vs BetBoom Team match on May 20.