ETHEREAL and Final Feature set to clash for final MDL slot
The lower bracket final matchup for ESEA MDL Season 29 Relegation has been determined, with ETHEREAL and Final Feature set to clash for the sole MDL Season 30 spot on offer.
ETHEREAL and Big Frames fought on one side of the lower bracket to determine which MDL team would remain to fight for their slot, with ETHEREAL emerging victorious 2-1 (16-7 Mirage, 8-16 Cache, 16-8 Inferno).
The series began on ETHEREAL's pick of Mirage, with Big Frames taking a 3-0 lead to start the map off. They were unable to hold on to that lead for long however as ETHEREAL were quick to battle back, taking ten of the remaining twelve rounds of the half for a 10-5 lead on their T side. Big Frames gave themselves a fighting chance with a pistol round victory in the second half, but managed just one additional round before ETHEREAL took the series to Cache with a 16-8 map win.
In stark contrast to Mirage, ETHEREAL were unable to get going on Cache, managing just three rounds on their T side while Andy "devastation" Parr helped his side to a 12-3 scoreline. Jin "Jindoke" Park and co. rallied back for four rounds off the back of the second half pistol round, but much like Big Frames on Mirage, managed just one additional round before Big Frames took their own map 16-8 and moved the series on to Inferno.
Jindoke and the rest of ETHEREAL stepped up their CT side game on Inferno, helping their team net 13 rounds in the first half for a dominant lead swapping on to their T side. A pistol round victory saw ETHEREAL move to immediately claim match point, and despite Big Frames' best efforts, allowed them to take a firm 16-8 win on the deciding map for the series win.
Big FramesETHEREAL| Big Frames |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ryan 'Church' Church |
51 - 45 | +6 | 74.1 | 74.6% | 1.10 |
| Andy 'devastation' Parr |
57 - 52 | +5 | 79.2 | 69.0% | 1.08 |
| Greg 'GRAG' Phillips |
5 - 10 | -5 | 40.6 | 83.3% | 0.93 |
| Anthony 'Nervous' Boring |
43 - 52 | -9 | 67.5 | 69.0% | 0.92 |
 Marcos 'tacitus' Castilho |
32 - 48 | -16 | 53.6 | 76.1% | 0.87 |
| Yan 'PRDTR' Davtian |
44 - 56 | -12 | 68.8 | 62.0% | 0.86 |
| ETHEREAL |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jin 'Jindoke' Park |
61 - 47 | +14 | 86.3 | 76.1% | 1.25 |
| Dennison 'fdeN' Fong |
55 - 43 | +12 | 82.4 | 74.6% | 1.24 |
| Arya 'arya' Hekmat |
56 - 51 | +5 | 87.1 | 71.8% | 1.19 |
| Sol 'snim' Min |
51 - 44 | +7 | 76.4 | 71.8% | 1.09 |
| Corey 'flashstep' Parks |
39 - 47 | -8 | 63.5 | 70.4% | 0.93 |
Final Feature had a far easier time of things on the opposite side of the bracket in their match against Masked, dispatching of their Advanced comrades 2-0 (16-6 Mirage, 16-13 Inferno).
Mirage began with Masked on the backfoot, seeing Final Feature secure the first three rounds of the match before resetting their opponents, allowing them to further extend their lead to 5-1. Although Masked battled back to take four rounds straight, the trio of Colton "BASE" Musella, Daniel "picky" Milazzo, and William "shonk" Kittrell combined to secure Final Feature 11 of the next 12 rounds to firmly take the first map 16-6 in their favor.
Final Feature continued their good form into Inferno, getting off to a 5-0 start before Masked were able to put a round of their own on the board. Final Feature were quick to reset Masked's economy, pushing forward to a 7-1 scoreline before Masked managed to grab another round for themselves. Again, another reset allowed for BASE and co. to nab themselves another two rounds, but Masked managed to keep themselves competitive in the half by edging out three of the remaining four rounds in the half.
Masked won their first pistol round of the series in the second half of Inferno, narrowing the lead to 10-7 in Final Feature's favor. Final Feature grabbed themselves a victory in their first gun round, but much like Masked in the first half, found themselves quickly reset as Masked took a trio of rounds for themselves to trail by one at 11-10. Final Feature kept the lead just out of reach with another round win, but Masked continued their pursuit to snatch the lead from Final Feature 12-13. BASE helped his side rally back for four rounds, narrowly taking the map 16-13.
MaskedFinal Feature| Masked |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nathan 'madcow' Retterath |
38 - 39 | -1 | 82.7 | 64.7% | 1.00 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
35 - 41 | -6 | 70.8 | 62.7% | 0.92 |
| Joshua 'Hunter' Madore |
32 - 37 | -5 | 65.6 | 56.9% | 0.89 |
| David 'Delta9' Shafer |
18 - 43 | -25 | 57.5 | 51.0% | 0.61 |
 Dion 'Bl4ckiice' Mckenzie |
16 - 40 | -24 | 48.5 | 47.1% | 0.52 |
| Final Feature |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colton 'BASE' Musella |
47 - 26 | +21 | 97.8 | 84.3% | 1.52 |
| William 'shonk' Kittrell |
50 - 29 | +21 | 91.2 | 76.5% | 1.38 |
| Daniel 'picky' Milazzo |
37 - 26 | +11 | 90.2 | 78.4% | 1.29 |
| Jonah 'JonahP' Pulice |
35 - 31 | +4 | 76.5 | 66.7% | 1.05 |
| Damian 'EMIYA' Boulware |
30 - 27 | +3 | 62.2 | 70.6% | 1.02 |
ETHEREAL and Final Feature are set to fight for the last MDL Season 30 slot from Relegation in the lower bracket final, slated to kick off tomorrow at 10 PM EST.
