Tenacious Revenant Esports takes down Gods Reign

It was a rematch of their Skyesports Masters 2023 grand final as Gods Reign took on Revenant Esports in the ROG ASUS Showdown Series 2023 final with the best of five grand final, quite possibly being the final BO5 final for the Indian CS:GO region, with CS2 imminent to take over.

Revenant started on the CT side of Gods Reign's opening pick of Ancient. An A spilt with clouda coming in with a triple saw Gods Reign take the opening pistol even though gump 1v5'd the T side but lost the round to time. Gods Reign started off with a 3-0 lead before Revenant got their full buy and shut down a B hit to get on the board with their first CT round. A clouda double that saw Gods Reign open up the A site in a 3v4 saw them secure their sixth round and break Revenant's economy that allowed them to win the half at 8-3. CycloneF and shandarez's backstabs helped Revenant get a fourth round but it was all Gods Reign in the first half as they ended the opening half with a 10-5 lead.

Ember and Crazy_Gamer's double helped Gods Reign secure both pistols on Ancient but Revenant answered back with a force buy as gump and f1redup came in with multi-kills. f1redup's double in the first gun round of the second half saw Revenant get within two rounds of Gods Reign's lead and f1redup's 1v2 saw Revenant secure double digits and then went on to take the lead of the map. SpawN's double B opener saw Revenant get to 14 and shandarez's double saw Revenant turn around a 4v5 to secure map point. Revenant went on to pick the map at 16-11 as they won 11 rounds in a row after losing the second pistol with f1redup topping the scoreboard once again with 33 kills.

reV3nnnnn denied f1redup a 1v4 clutch to kick off Mirage as Gods Reign started their CT side with a 3-0 lead before Revenant got their first T round once they brought the guns out. clouda and reV3nnnnn's A hold saw Gods Reign answer back immediately and reV3nnnn's quad kill on the B site saw Gods Reign put up their fifth. Gods Reign won out the half at 8-1. Revenant pulled a couple of rounds back and their fourth back off the back of an upgraded pistols buy with shandarez's Deagle doing the majority of the heavy work. Revenant eventually managed to salvage the half with six T rounds.

gump's double saw Revenant retake on the B site to take the second pistol but Gods Reign replied back with a force as Crazy_Gamer knifed CycloneF to round out a 1v3. clouda's double opener at A saw Gods Reign get up to 13 and it looked like they would run away with the map but Revenant answered back with a pistol buy which saw the CTs get back on the board. Revenant built on that full eco win to tie up the game eventually at 13-13 thanks to a gump quad kill in round 26. shandarez's triple from Connector put Revenant on map point and they secured their pick of Mirage at 16-14 with gump and shandarez topping the scoreboard with 26 and 25 kills respectively.

Revenant started Gods Reign's pick of Inferno on the defensive side but it was reV3nnnn and Crazy_Gamer opened up the A site to give them the opening pistol. Revenant bounced back with the force as gump with the pistol was the heavy-hitter and CycloneF denied Ph1NNN a 1v3 on the B site to see Revenant take the lead of the map. After five straight CT rounds, it was reV3nnnn's triple on a B hit that saw Gods Reign put up their second round. Ph1NNN's 1v2 on the A site saw Gods Reign get their fifth to bring Revenant's lead to just a single round and a couple of B hits saw Gods Reign end the half with a 8-7 lead.

f1redup and CycloneF opened up the B site in a instant hit that saw Revenant take the second pistol to tie the score at 8-8. After four rounds from Revenant it was an Ember triple that saw Gods Reign get their first CT round and Ph1NNN's 1v1 against CycloneF on the A site saw the CTs put up their tenth. It was another 1v1 clutch by the young rifler from Gods Reign that saw Gods Reign tie up the score before CycloneF's 1v1 against clouda on the B site that saw the score remained tied at 14-14. Gods Reign were the first to secure map point and clouda's triple A hold saw Gods Reign win Inferno 16-14.

Revenant's pick of Overpass was the fourth map of the grand finals with Gods Reign getting things started on the CT side. Gods Reign started with a 6-1 lead and they walked away with the opening half at 8-1 as reV3nnnn's AWP along with Ph1NNN were on song early on Overpass. After taking nine rounds in a row it was a CycloneF quad kill on the B site that saw Revenant take their second round. gump's 1v1 against Ember saw Revenant make it two in a row but it was Gods Reign ending the first half of Overpass with a 12-3 lead.

Revenant picked up the second pistol and converted against the eco and took the first gun around as well. Revenant started the second half with five rounds in a row before clouda's double opener which saw Gods Reign come in with an A execute to get their T campaign underway. Gods Reign put up two in a row before a f1redup quad kill denied Gods Reign map point and a shandarez triple down at Monster saw Revenant get up to double digits. It was Ph1NNN eventually who opened up the B site for Gods Reign which eventually helped them secure map point and Gods Reign picked up Overpass at 16-14 with Ph1NNN leading from the front with 26 kills.

The best of five grand final headed to the decider on Anubis with Revenant starting on the T side. It was a pistol win for the T side and CycloneF's 1v2 on the B site saw Revenant go 3-0 up, holding off against an eco which almost went sideways. Revenant converted a 3v4 in the first full buy from both sides to go 6-0 up. It finally took a complete eco from Gods Reign to get on the board and a reV3nnnn double saw Gods Reign make it two in a row. It was reV3nnnn and his AWP on the B site, shutting down every attack as Gods Reign tied up the score at 6-6, taking six in a row. Gods Reign went on to win the half at 8-7, after starting with a 0-6 deficit.

f1redup and SpawN secured the second pistol for Revenant to tie the score at 8-8 but clouda came in with a 1v3 on 3HP to see Gods Reign secure the force buy. Gods Reign went 12-9 up before Revenant bounced back to secure match and championship point at 15-12. Gods Reign pulled the match to all 30 rounds and took the series decider to overtime after seeing off three map and championship points.

After trading rounds back and forth, it was Revenant who finally closed out the map in triple overtime at 25-23.

This was the new look Revenant's first tournament win and after a grueling best of five, SpawN and his boys got the better of one of their most competent rivals.