FURIA, Final Feature, Fundamentals and iNTACT secure MDL Relegation spots
The ESEA Advanced Season 29 playoffs continued last night, with four teams reaching the semifinals of the bracket. These four teams have secured spots in the MDL Relegation tournament at the very least.
The first match to conclude last night was between Reign and iNTACT, with the two teams vetoing down to Mirage, Overpass and Inferno. Mirage was a relatively comfortable map for iNTACT, as after only securing one round in the first six of the half, they secured a strong 9-6 lead at the break. The second half was more fruitful for them, as Gabe "Spongey" Greiner's 1.88 rating would go comfortably next to the seven rounds they won for a 16-7 win.
Overpass was more comfortable for iNTACT, with the team in control from start to finish. Reign were only able to secure the occasional round as their opponents cruised to an 11-4 half time score, before taking all five rounds in the second half for a 16-4 win.
ReigniNTACT| Reign |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 George 'Powerzz' Yaede |
29 - 36 | -7 | 74.9 | 74.4% | 0.84 |
| Ezekiel 'KmZ' Hughes |
27 - 33 | -6 | 73.2 | 53.5% | 0.84 |
| Rahmin 'ShoukR' Shoukoohi |
18 - 37 | -19 | 54.1 | 58.1% | 0.64 |
| Bilal 'SPAMMER' Ali |
21 - 38 | -17 | 62.2 | 46.5% | 0.59 |
| Quintin 'dolphy' Madsen |
14 - 36 | -22 | 39.0 | 55.8% | 0.48 |
| iNTACT |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gabe 'Spongey' Greiner |
51 - 20 | +31 | 116.9 | 81.4% | 1.88 |
| Michael 'Turismo' Haas |
41 - 20 | +21 | 95.8 | 69.8% | 1.62 |
 William 'will' Cheng |
37 - 23 | +14 | 101.1 | 81.4% | 1.49 |
| Christopher 'Swahn' Swahn |
35 - 24 | +11 | 68.9 | 69.8% | 1.23 |
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
16 - 22 | -6 | 49.3 | 88.4% | 0.97 |
The next to finish was FURIA's match against Masked, with the two playing on Inferno, Nuke and potentially Mirage. Inferno was opened by FURIA, but it wasn't long before the two teams took part in a battle of attrition for the first half, where either side gained and lost the lead within rounds. The end of the first half saw Masked take a narrow 8-7 lead, but it wouldn't be held long in the second half. FURIA came out of the gates on their T-side, with Kaike "kscerato" Cerato and co. securing the pistol round and following two anti-ecos. Although Masked were able to win the next round, FURIA came out and took two more sets of three to seal away a 16-10 victory.
Nuke was a much closer map between the two teams, where both David "Delta9" Shafer of Masked and FURIA's Yuri "yuurih" Santos managed to rack up over 30 kills over the map. Masked opened the map, with the pistol and first anti-eco, before FURIA were only able to secure one round as the Americans raced to a 7-1 lead. The end of the half wasn't as strong a finish for Masked, as FURIA woke up and secured five of the final seven rounds, but it would be Masked going in as 9-6 leaders. The second half started off equally as scrappy, Masked once again picked up the first two rounds before the two teams fought for control of the map, starting a bit of ping-pong where neither could gain control. But right at the end, it was FURIA who went on a roll, securing the final five rounds of the game to take the map 16-14.
FURIAMasked| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
53 - 35 | +18 | 97.9 | 78.6% | 1.44 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
47 - 36 | +11 | 82.7 | 73.2% | 1.23 |
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
37 - 27 | +10 | 78.1 | 83.9% | 1.21 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
33 - 35 | -2 | 58.9 | 62.5% | 0.89 |
| Rinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior |
24 - 31 | -7 | 53.1 | 67.9% | 0.83 |
| Masked |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David 'Delta9' Shafer |
46 - 38 | +8 | 91.2 | 71.4% | 1.24 |
| Joshua 'Hunter' Madore |
37 - 34 | +3 | 62.7 | 64.3% | 0.95 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
27 - 40 | -13 | 53.9 | 75.0% | 0.88 |
| Dion 'Bl4ckiice' Mckenzie |
29 - 39 | -10 | 71.0 | 62.5% | 0.88 |
| Egzon 'x0ni' Gashi |
24 - 44 | -20 | 56.8 | 58.9% | 0.68 |
blitz's match against The Fundamentals took longer to complete, with the two teams playing over Mirage, Nuke and Cache. Mirage saw Alexander "retrQ" Kadan and the rest of blitz come out fighting, slowly gnawing back after The Fundamentals secured the first two rounds. The two fought for control of the first half, but it would be The Fundamentals narrowly taking the lead at the break. The second half appeared to start the same, before blitz pulled out a blitzing performance and edged closer and closer to the win, before taking the first map 16-13.
Nuke followed, and blitz appeared to continue the momentum from the first map. Taking the first four rounds, they pushed away The Fundamentals' advances time and time again on their T-side, mounting a strong 10-5 lead at the break. But that was proved irrelevant on The Fundamentals' own T-side, where Toryon "KLUMZ" Kelley and co. showed an 11-round masterclass, winning every single round in the second half to take a 16-10 victory.
Cache followed, and it was a fundamentally good map from The Fundamentals. Taking the first seven rounds in a row on their CT-half, KLUMZ managed to rack up a 2.08 rating with his team's dominant performance on the map. blitz were only able to take three rounds overall, a far cry from the performances on the first two maps. A 16-3 victory saw The Fundamentals reach the semifinals.
blitzThe Fundamentals| blitz |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nathan 'leaf' Orf |
45 - 55 | -10 | 74.2 | 66.2% | 1.04 |
| Jacob 'L0NER' Webster |
43 - 49 | -6 | 61.9 | 70.3% | 0.94 |
 Maxim 'wippie' Shepelev |
49 - 55 | -6 | 69.6 | 62.2% | 0.91 |
| Alexander 'zanz' Diaz |
47 - 57 | -10 | 76.4 | 67.6% | 0.90 |
| Alexander 'retrQ' Kadan |
45 - 60 | -15 | 65.7 | 63.5% | 0.83 |
| The Fundamentals |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toryon 'KLUMZ' Kelley |
72 - 46 | +26 | 96.2 | 81.1% | 1.48 |
| Ryan 'ROBBY1' Robshaw |
60 - 48 | +12 | 79.1 | 73.0% | 1.16 |
| Jake 'Decko' Muse |
50 - 45 | +5 | 78.1 | 71.6% | 1.08 |
| Jake 'theTRUTH' Hass |
51 - 45 | +6 | 70.7 | 70.3% | 1.07 |
| Nolan 'Temperature' Pepper |
43 - 45 | -2 | 75.4 | 79.7% | 1.03 |
The final match to conclude was the topsy-turvy fixture between Robert Morris University and Final Feature on Nuke, Inferno and Overpass. Nuke was a dominant display from RMU, with the college team benefiting from Hunter "koga" Allen's strong 2.53 rated performance. They raced through the first half, only dropping two rounds in total to secure a 13-2 score at the break. The second half was equally as strong, nailing all three rounds to win the map.
Inferno followed, and it was practically a mirror image in terms of performance. Final Feature were the team in control for the majority of the map, and although it wasn't as dominant as RMU's Nuke, seven rounds at the end of the first half for FF saw William "shonk" Kittrell and co. take a 10-5 lead at the break. The second half started off well for RMU, taking the first two rounds, but it wasn't long before Final Feature came out and won all the way to the end of the map for a 16-7 win.
Overpass was the concluding map, and it was truly a tale of two halves. Final Feature had the best of the first half, capitalizing off of a strong CT-side start shonk and co. secured a 10-1 lead before RMU woke up and picked up the final four rounds of the first half. Switching sides, the game looked different. Although FF managed to secure a forcebuy win in the second round and push on with their lead, to 13-6, RMU came out and raced on to first even the match and then take a narrow one round lead at 14-13, in part thanks to koga bringing out a monstrous display. But that wouldn't be enough for RMU, as Final Feature became the final featuring team in the semifinals by taking the final three rounds of the map and securing a 16-14 win.
RMUFinal Feature| RMU |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter 'koga' Allen |
69 - 45 | +24 | 103.0 | 76.1% | 1.49 |
| Andrew 'Draggio' Aggio |
49 - 40 | +9 | 68.5 | 78.9% | 1.15 |
| Andy 'Andersin' Collins |
48 - 48 | +0 | 68.5 | 64.8% | 1.03 |
| Riley 'Reality' Fusch |
46 - 49 | -3 | 68.7 | 77.5% | 1.02 |
| Liam 'Welshy' Newhouse |
37 - 53 | -16 | 67.9 | 69.0% | 0.87 |
| Final Feature |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| William 'shonk' Kittrell |
54 - 46 | +8 | 81.7 | 74.6% | 1.19 |
| Jonah 'JonahP' Pulice |
48 - 49 | -1 | 70.7 | 73.2% | 1.07 |
| Colton 'BASE' Musella |
45 - 53 | -8 | 76.3 | 67.6% | 0.95 |
| Daniel 'picky' Milazzo |
42 - 52 | -10 | 69.7 | 63.4% | 0.92 |
| Damian 'EMIYA' Boulware |
46 - 50 | -4 | 59.2 | 64.8% | 0.91 |
These results means the upcoming semifinals are as follows:
| FURIA |
vs. | Final Feature |
| The Fundamentals |
vs. | iNTACT |
The action will continue tonight, with both matches set to start at 9:30 PM EST, with the winners facing each other for a chance at guaranteed promotion to MDL for Season 30.
