LDLC.com have progressed to the Upper final of ESL One Cologne's Group B following a 16-2 beating of London Conspiracy.

LDLC, who picked the CT side, came out the brighter and won the pistol after retaking the A site while losing just one player, with Hovik "⁠KQLY⁠" Tovmassian getting three rounds to his name. After losing the first eco round, London Conspiracy went for a full buy, but their strategy failed to produce the result that they expected even though they were given a free entrance into the ramp room by the Frenchmen.

LondonC then went for another eco before buying again, but they kept being pushed back by LDLC.com. This is the pattern that was established until the ninth round, which was when the Norwegians finally managed to out play their opponents: after rushing the A site, the remaining two .no players dropped down the event and won a 2-on-3 situation, with Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard picking up two kills.

Many expected this to be the turning point, but LDLC quickly regained control of the match, which meant that LondonC's economy took a huge dent. The Norwegian side still tried to get back into the game, but they only managed to win one more round as they found themselves down 2-13 at the break.

apEx with a +8.33 K/D ratio

LondonC knew they had a mountain to climb to turn things around, and things took a turn for the worse right after as LDLC picked up the pistol round thanks to a quick ramp rush that was followed by a plant in A. The French team went on to win the next two rounds, this way sealing a comfortable 16-2 victory that puts them one victory away from the playoffs.

ESL One Cologne 2014Best of 1 LDLCMatchpage 16 2 14th August 2014 London Conspiracy 16Nuke 2

LDLC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	25 - 3	+22	-	2.36
Hovik 'KQLY' TovmassianKQLY	19 - 5	+14	-	1.73
Vincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerHappy	20 - 8	+12	-	1.70
Mathieu 'Maniac' QuiquerezManiac	16 - 7	+9	-	1.40
Kevin 'Uzzziii' VernelUzzziii	7 - 13	-6	-	0.68

London Conspiracy	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	15 - 17	-2	-	1.03
Ruben 'RUBINO' VillarroelRUBINO	7 - 18	-11	-	0.32
Preben 'prb' Gammelsæterprb	5 - 17	-12	-	0.28
Pål 'Polly' KammenPolly	5 - 18	-13	-	0.23
Bjoern 'Skurk' MaarenSkurk	4 - 17	-13	-	0.23

Håvard 'rain' Nygaard Age: 19 Team: London Conspiracy Rating 1.0: 0.90 Maps played: 31 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.73 Hovik 'KQLY' Tovmassian Age: 23 Team: LDLC Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 147 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.65