Envy and Singularity set to battle for ESL Pro League spot
The first day of the ESL Pro League Season 8 Relegation tournament concluded last night, with two games taking place after Swole Patrol's victory over cantwinalan in the ESEA MDL Season 29 Final. With the second day just about to begin at publication, here's a brief look at last night's results.
The first match to take place last night was between Rogue and Singularity, where the MDL team triumphed with a 2-1 win after matches on Mirage, Inferno and Dust2. Mirage started off well for Rogue, with the pistol and two anti-eco rounds, before Cameron "hydrex" Kern ramped up to finish the map with a strong 1.74 performance, narrowly ahead of teammate Victor "food" Wong, as they secured seven rounds in a row at the end of the half to take the lead. The second half was a close fought affair, but it would end in Singularity's favor at 16-9.
Inferno followed and it was a much more impressive showing from Rogue, with Daniel "vice" Kim leading the line for his team. Although it was a close fought first half between the two teams, where Rogue were only narrowly 8-7 ahead at the break, the second half was pure domination from Rogue; taking eight rounds in a row after a reset from the pistol round for a 16-8 win.
The Dust2 decider followed, and it belonged to Singularity from start to finish. Going on a nine-round unbeaten streak in the first half, Josh "oSee" Ohm helped his team mount a strong 11-4 half time lead. Although the first half was a strong start for Rogue, taking five rounds to narrow the gap at 11-9, Singularity closed it out for a 16-10 win.
RogueSingularity| Rogue |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Hunter 'SicK' Mims |
54 - 50 | +4 | 74.7 | 76.0% | 1.11 |
| Daniel 'vice' Kim |
52 - 56 | -4 | 71.0 | 66.7% | 1.04 |
| Spencer 'Hiko' Martin |
50 - 50 | +0 | 73.3 | 69.3% | 1.01 |
 Mathias 'MSL' Lauridsen |
45 - 55 | -10 | 71.4 | 57.3% | 0.96 |
 Michael 'Uber' Stapells |
47 - 51 | -4 | 61.2 | 70.7% | 0.94 |
| Singularity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victor 'food' Wong |
56 - 47 | +9 | 83.4 | 82.7% | 1.29 |
| Cameron 'cam' Kern |
64 - 52 | +12 | 85.4 | 74.7% | 1.25 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
47 - 44 | +3 | 72.3 | 73.3% | 1.13 |
| Anthony 'vanity' Malaspina |
46 - 53 | -7 | 67.7 | 69.3% | 0.95 |
| Ryan 'ryann' Welsh |
49 - 52 | -3 | 63.1 | 72.0% | 0.95 |
Their opponents in the promotion match are set to be Envy, who came back after a first map defeat to take down cantwinalan 2-1 on Overpass, Mirage and Cache. Overpass was an overtime thriller between the two teams, with both having two regulation halves where they were dominant, 12-3 between them. The overtime was a killing field for cantwinalan, however, as they won all four rounds to take the opening map 19-15, where Ryan "GRAMPZ" Baber showed he wasn't to be messed with on a 1.35 rating.
Mirage followed, and after a scrappy first half where cantwinalan were narrowly ahead 8-7, Envy bounced back thanks to a dual display from Stephen "reltuC" Cutler and Noah "Nifty" Francis. After losing the first two rounds of the half, the team bounced back and won the next nine to even the series with a 16-10 map win.
Cache was the finale, and after coming back from a pistol round loss, Envy gained control of the first half twice as Josh "jdm64" Marzano was no longer in a lounging position, finishing the map with a 109.0 ADR. After a 9-6 first half display, Envy followed it up by taking six rounds in a row to claim map point. cantwinalan finally responded at that point, and only then it was fruitless as Envy would then take the win at 16-7.
Envycantwinalan| Envy |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen 'reltuC' Cutler |
69 - 47 | +22 | 78.5 | 75.9% | 1.28 |
| Josh 'jdm64' Marzano |
64 - 51 | +13 | 77.8 | 79.5% | 1.23 |
| Matt 'Pollo' Wilson |
60 - 50 | +10 | 84.1 | 77.1% | 1.21 |
| Noah 'Nifty' Francis |
66 - 56 | +10 | 81.9 | 66.3% | 1.14 |
| Taylor 'Drone' Johnson |
43 - 62 | -19 | 66.6 | 73.5% | 0.94 |
| cantwinalan |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connor 'CONNOR93' Glover |
55 - 59 | -4 | 74.8 | 75.9% | 1.04 |
| Ryan 'GRAMPZ' Baber |
58 - 63 | -5 | 74.2 | 66.3% | 0.99 |
| Mitch 'mitch' Semago |
53 - 58 | -5 | 72.4 | 65.1% | 0.96 |
| Jack 'xCeeD' Holiman |
49 - 62 | -13 | 60.0 | 75.9% | 0.94 |
| Sebastian 'seb' Bucki |
49 - 60 | -11 | 62.9 | 69.9% | 0.89 |
These two results mean Envy and Singularity are set to face off now, 11:10 AM EST, in the upper bracket final, with the winning team heading to the next season of the ESL Pro League. In the lower bracket, Rogue and cantwinalan have one last life where the losing team will be heading to ESEA MDL Season 30. That match is scheduled for 3:30 PM EST.
