Sharks take a bite out of Swole Patrol
The second series in Santa Ana kicked off on Sharks' map pick of Mirage. The Brazillians started the map with two immediate round wins, but were caught off guard by Swole Patrol, who rebounded and strung together enough rounds to end the first half 10-5. Despite the harsh scoreline at halftime, Raphael "exit" Lacerda stood out as the strongest player on the map, with 15 total kills in the first half.
Sharks' weak performance in the first half seemed to be but a mirage however, as the Brazillians quickly recovered in the second half. Picking away at Swole Patrol's CT defenses, Sharks were able to secure a multitude of rounds and slowly chip away at the Swole Patrol's round difference as Leonardo "leo_druNky" Oliveira became the team's lead fragger. Despite Sharks' exhillerating performance, Swole Patrol were able to find just enough energy to force a 15-15 score and extend the map into overtime.
In overtime, the two teams continued to trade rounds back and forth without a clear dominant team. Up 18-17, Swole Patrol had their chance to finally wrap up the first map. Left in a 1v2, Cooper was able to take down Renato "nak" Nakano, but was quickly cleaned up by exit, forcing the map into double overtime.
In double overtime, the two teams continued to remain competitive and trading rounds. But finally, up 21-20, Sharks had Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro stuck in a 1v4 with the bomb planted. Despite two frags from Zellsis, the American was taken down by Jhonatan "jnt" Silva, securing Sharks the first map 22-20.
Inferno was a sextuple overtime thriller that is best experienced with your own eyes. A 49 frag performance by Ryan "freakazoid" Abadir was not enough to hold off exit and leo_druNky, who combined for an astonishing 110 kills in the 65 round bout. The result saw Swole Patrol eliminated in 2-0 fashion, albeit one of the longer sweeps you will ever see.
Swole PatrolSharks| Swole Patrol |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jordan 'Zellsis' Montemurro |
82 - 72 | +10 | 83.8 | 74.8% | 1.15 |
| Ryan 'freakazoid' Abadir |
75 - 75 | +0 | 81.4 | 73.8% | 1.12 |
| Austin 'Cooper' Abadir |
72 - 69 | +3 | 67.8 | 68.2% | 1.04 |
| Samuel 'SileNt' Portillo |
71 - 78 | -7 | 67.9 | 68.2% | 0.98 |
 Derrick 'LILMAN' Boyne |
58 - 76 | -18 | 66.2 | 70.1% | 0.88 |
| Sharks |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Raphael 'exit' Lacerda |
96 - 67 | +29 | 94.8 | 75.7% | 1.35 |
| Leonardo 'leo_drk' Oliveira |
89 - 74 | +15 | 95.1 | 77.6% | 1.32 |
| Renato 'nak' Nakano |
59 - 66 | -7 | 61.6 | 75.7% | 0.96 |
| Jhonatan 'jnt' Silva |
64 - 71 | -7 | 58.0 | 69.2% | 0.94 |
| Rodrigo 'RCF' Figueiredo |
61 - 81 | -20 | 63.6 | 68.2% | 0.92 |
The next (very delayed) match of the ZOTAC Cup Masters will be eUnited versus the upstart Brazilians of FURIA, in the first semifinal of the event.
With their hopes of going to Hong Kong dashed, Swole Patrol will now turn their attention to the upcoming Americas Minor in London, commencing in roughly a weeks time.
