ECS Challenger Cup lower bracket commences
Having spent just under a week away from the competition, the ECS Season 6 Challenger Cup returned to action in the lower bracket yesterday. It was just the first two rounds of the lower bracket played, with the upper bracket set to continue later today.
The first lower bracket match saw FURIA and lmfao face off, with lmfao using two new players in the form of Robert "robby" Brown and Lucas "Fiziq" Blow, in place of Anthony "Nervous" Boring and Ian "motm" Hardy. The two teams vetoed down to Cache, Mirage and Nuke. Cache began with FURIA taking the pistol round, lmfao claiming an eco round win in the second round before FURIA returned the favor and pushed on to control the majority of the first half, claiming a 10-5 lead as the American team were barely able to pick up rounds.
The second half changed this, with fortunes reversed as lmfao bounced out the gates with a six round start, before swiftly dealing with a FURIA entrance to go 13-11 up. However the Brazilians dug deep and came back into the game, claiming all five of the final five rounds played to take the first map 16-13.
Next up was Mirage, and it was another close map between the two teams. Once again FURIA kicked off the action, picking up the pistol and this time converting the following two rounds. Although lmfao had a greater impact in the half this time, FURIA still went in 9-6 leaders at the break.
The second half for lmfao started in a similar fashion to the preceding map, with the Americans taking seven rounds at the start of the half, to go 13-9 ahead. This was, effectively, in vain as Kaike "kscerato" Cerato and co. managed to dig up the energy to get back into the game, by first evening the score and then taking the lead. They only dropped one more round as they secured the series with a 16-14 win.
FURIAlmfao| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
56 - 30 | +26 | 101.4 | 78.0% | 1.49 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
47 - 37 | +10 | 86.3 | 67.8% | 1.25 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
40 - 36 | +4 | 78.6 | 72.9% | 1.13 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
36 - 40 | -4 | 62.9 | 72.9% | 1.06 |
| Guilherme 'spacca' Spacca |
32 - 41 | -9 | 56.7 | 78.0% | 0.91 |
| lmfao |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Austin 'RenZ' Dickman |
43 - 42 | +1 | 81.4 | 74.6% | 1.07 |
| Kevin '4pack' Przypasniak |
45 - 45 | +0 | 78.8 | 64.4% | 1.05 |
| Robert 'robby' Brown |
41 - 39 | +2 | 72.9 | 66.1% | 1.01 |
| Marcos 'tacitus' Castilho |
32 - 42 | -10 | 68.5 | 69.5% | 0.91 |
| Lucas 'Fiziq' Blow |
23 - 43 | -20 | 45.7 | 47.5% | 0.63 |
MIBR's match with oNe concluded next, with the two teams choosing to play on Inferno, Train and Cache. MIBR started the series with a strong dominant display on Inferno, taking an eco win in the second round after oNe's pistol win to take the first half 12-3. The second half was a similar story, with MIBR winning a forcebuy in the third round to start a winning streak that allowed them to cruise to a 16-5 victory.
Train followed, and it was a closer affair. The two teams traded the first five rounds of the match, with no-one getting a foothold until oNe pushed on to pick up three in a row for a 5-3 lead. MIBR then got back into the game and secured a six round run, guaranteeing them a first half lead, before oNe secured the final two rounds of the half to limit the lead to 8-7.
The second half started with MIBR securing the first three rounds of the half, before oNe claimed a number of rounds to keep them close to Marcelo "coldzera" David and co.'s lead. This eventually proved to be impossible for oNe, as MIBR pushed on for the final rounds required to complete the series as 16-12 winners.
MIBRTeamOne| MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marcelo 'coldzera' David |
51 - 26 | +25 | 101.5 | 77.6% | 1.52 |
| Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
47 - 35 | +12 | 100.3 | 77.6% | 1.41 |
| Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip |
38 - 33 | +5 | 77.0 | 73.5% | 1.17 |
| Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
29 - 32 | -3 | 65.6 | 83.7% | 1.09 |
| Tarik 'tarik' Celik |
34 - 32 | +2 | 82.3 | 71.4% | 1.09 |
| TeamOne |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victor 'iDk' Torraca |
40 - 38 | +2 | 85.5 | 71.4% | 1.25 |
 Nicolas 'NikoM' Miozzi |
34 - 39 | -5 | 76.0 | 71.4% | 0.88 |
| Alencar 'trk' Rossato |
25 - 42 | -17 | 73.5 | 65.3% | 0.88 |
| Pedro 'Maluk3' Campos |
30 - 41 | -11 | 63.2 | 67.3% | 0.82 |
| Bruno 'BIT' Fukuda Lima |
29 - 39 | -10 | 59.8 | 65.3% | 0.76 |
The second lower bracket round followed immediately after, with Gorilla Gang taking on FURIA taking place first, with the two teams opting for a Nuke, Train and Mirage mixture. Nuke began with FURIA taking control, winning the first four rounds before Gorilla Gang entered and claimed an eight-round run right in the middle of the half. FURIA finished the half off with the final three rounds before the break, but it was Gorilla Gang who were narrowly 8-7 ahead.
The second half saw a similar state of affairs, FURIA opening the half before Gorilla Gang took a period of dominance in the middle after regaining the lead. From there the two teams fought over control of the lead, before Anthony "Vanity" Malaspina and co. secured the required rounds for a 16-13 win.
Train followed, and it was a slightly easier affair for Gorilla Gang. Picking up a force in the second round after losing the pistol, they were comfortably in control with a five and then eight round run in the first half. The second half was slightly more difficult, with FURIA picking up the first three rounds of the half and forcing a reset for Gorilla Gang, but the Americans weren't fazed as they eventually wrapped up the game 16-7.
Gorilla GangFURIA| Gorilla Gang |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victor 'food' Wong |
41 - 30 | +11 | 86.8 | 78.8% | 1.35 |
| Cameron 'cam' Kern |
42 - 32 | +10 | 78.5 | 84.6% | 1.26 |
| Anthony 'vanity' Malaspina |
40 - 32 | +8 | 83.3 | 75.0% | 1.20 |
| Ryan 'ryann' Welsh |
40 - 33 | +7 | 82.1 | 69.2% | 1.11 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
30 - 26 | +4 | 61.1 | 78.8% | 1.05 |
| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
33 - 35 | -2 | 65.7 | 67.3% | 0.96 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
32 - 42 | -10 | 76.5 | 61.5% | 0.93 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
29 - 39 | -10 | 64.1 | 59.6% | 0.84 |
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
30 - 38 | -8 | 68.7 | 61.5% | 0.84 |
| Guilherme 'spacca' Spacca |
29 - 39 | -10 | 54.5 | 59.6% | 0.81 |
Bravado then faced MIBR, with the two teams choosing to play on Cache, Inferno and Train. Cache was a relatively comfortable game for MIBR, picking up the eco-round win after Bravado's pistol round before controlling a sizable portion of the first half. Although the South Africans looked to take the control back with a four round run in the middle of the half, MIBR went in 9-6 ahead. The second half was easier viewing, after a pistol round win the Brazilian-American squad only lost two rounds as they secured the seven needed to take a 16-8 win.
Inferno followed, and similar scenes were seen on their way to victory as MIBR picked up the eco win after Bravado's pistol round win. From there it was more comfortable, as Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo and co. picked up a seven and six round runs in the first half for a 13-2 lead. The second half saw round wins come in the form of ping-pong, with MIBR's pistol being overturned by the South Africans before the Brazilian-core could force through the final two rounds for a 16-5 win.
BravadoMIBR| Bravado |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rhys 'Fadey' Armstrong |
35 - 40 | -5 | 83.6 | 66.7% | 0.96 |
| Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
29 - 39 | -10 | 79.6 | 62.2% | 0.89 |
| Dimitri 'Detrony' Hadjipaschali |
26 - 35 | -9 | 56.8 | 53.3% | 0.82 |
| Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek |
22 - 34 | -12 | 62.5 | 64.4% | 0.72 |
| Ruan 'ELUSIVE' van Wyk |
16 - 35 | -19 | 47.4 | 53.3% | 0.54 |
| MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
43 - 23 | +20 | 105.0 | 88.9% | 1.67 |
| Tarik 'tarik' Celik |
46 - 29 | +17 | 101.3 | 82.2% | 1.56 |
| Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
37 - 23 | +14 | 78.5 | 77.8% | 1.34 |
| Marcelo 'coldzera' David |
31 - 25 | +6 | 64.0 | 82.2% | 1.08 |
| Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip |
26 - 28 | -2 | 70.9 | 75.6% | 1.02 |
After these results, the lower bracket is set to conclude with a match between Gorilla Gang and MIBR. That match will take part alongside the upper bracket final between compLexity and AZIO. By the end of tonight, both new entrants to the league will be confirmed.
The full schedule for the remainder of the ECS Season 6 Challenger Cup, with times in EDT, is as follows:
| Upper Bracket Final | |
 compLexity vs. AZIO |
6 PM |
| Lower Bracket Final | |
| Gorilla Gang vs. MIBR |
6 PM |
| Consolidation Final | |
| Loser of UB Final vs. Winner of LB Final | 9 PM |
