Rise Nation and SoaR head to ESEA MDL finals
The semi-finals of the ESEA MDL Season 26 playoffs came to a quick closure last night, with both series ending in the minimum required two maps.
Rise Nation vs GX (2-0)
Heading into the first map of this series the two teams met on Mirage. Rise started off on the right foot by claiming the first 3 rounds of their CT-side. Come the first gun round, GX brought the firepower you'd expect from a full buy of AK-47's and claimed three of their own. After the Counter-Terrorists managed to stabilize their economy GX couldn't seem to find a crack in their opponents defense. Rise won all but a single round afterwards, closing out the half 11-4.
While GX managed to claim the first two rounds on their defensive side, a second round bomb plant for Rise netted them enough cash to force up a buy with light utility on round three. With GX unable to maintain any sort of economic advantage, Rise ultimately won out 16-8.
The final map of the short series started with GX on the T-side of Nuke. Things were looking great for the CS veterans after nabbing four rounds until Rise tightened up their defense and started gaining rounds rapidly. After GX's short stint, Rise became virtually unstoppable winning out the half 10-5.
From a team who specifically chose this map as their pick, you would have expected a stronger CT-defense from GX but they fell massively short. Only able to obtain a single round of the second half, Rise Nation closed out the map 16-6 and the series 2-0, advancing them to the finals.
GXRise Nation| GX |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Braxton 'swag' Pierce |
33 - 34 | -1 | 69.2 | 65.2% | 0.96 |
| Matt 'Pollo' Wilson |
24 - 38 | -14 | 78.7 | 69.6% | 0.85 |
| Michael 'dapr' Gulino |
29 - 37 | -8 | 63.5 | 56.5% | 0.82 |
| Shawn 'witmer' Taylor |
22 - 39 | -17 | 54.0 | 54.3% | 0.62 |
 Keven 'AZK' Lariviere |
18 - 39 | -21 | 43.9 | 60.9% | 0.56 |
| Rise Nation |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon 'Ace' Winn |
38 - 17 | +21 | 77.0 | 84.8% | 1.42 |
| Kaleb 'moose' Jayne |
41 - 24 | +17 | 95.3 | 82.6% | 1.42 |
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
40 - 27 | +13 | 99.3 | 84.8% | 1.39 |
| Andy 'vSa' Xu |
35 - 29 | +6 | 84.7 | 82.6% | 1.30 |
| Will 'dazzLe' Loafman |
33 - 29 | +4 | 74.9 | 71.7% | 1.08 |
SoaR Gaming vs Ghost Academy (2-0)
Beginning the series on Cache, Ghost Academy started out with a dominant lead of five consecutive rounds before SoaR could compose themselves enough to get a proper defense together. Unrelenting, Ghost Academy drove forward, only dropping two rounds the entire half.
With an eleven round lead over SoaR going into their CT-side, the favorable side for Cache, hope felt all but lost. Unwilling to drop a map so easily SoaR fired back on all cylinders, responding with a fervor equal to their opponents. Mirroring a 13-2 half that befell them, they brought it to overtime. Through nothing short of raw determination and perseverance SoaR managed to win out 4-1 in OT and took the first map of the series.
SoaR began the second map of Nuke by winning two close rounds on their CT-side with bomb defusals. Unfortunately for them that also meant Ghost Academy had an equal number of bomb plants for an early buy and halt any growth of economy for the CT's. Once stabilized, SoaR went on to win out the rest of the half 11-4.
Once the two switched sides, it was over as quickly as it had begun. SoaR collected the final five rounds they needed to close out the map 16-4 and the series 2-0.
SoaRGhost Academy| SoaR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan 'Snakes' Amann |
52 - 32 | +20 | 99.2 | 74.5% | 1.48 |
| Jack 'xCeeD' Holiman |
39 - 31 | +8 | 75.7 | 83.6% | 1.21 |
| Logan 'Voltage' Long |
40 - 31 | +9 | 65.8 | 81.8% | 1.17 |
| Michael 'Grim' Wince |
42 - 33 | +9 | 76.3 | 70.9% | 1.16 |
| Matthew 'mCe' Elmore |
27 - 36 | -9 | 71.8 | 69.1% | 0.93 |
| Ghost Academy |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chad 'Oderus' Miller |
37 - 43 | -6 | 83.5 | 65.5% | 1.05 |
| Bryan 'MAKKA' Drouillard |
39 - 37 | +2 | 68.5 | 69.1% | 0.99 |
| Jason 'neptune' Tran |
29 - 38 | -9 | 56.0 | 65.5% | 0.88 |
| Andrew 'ShoT_UP' Orlowski |
30 - 42 | -12 | 60.6 | 65.5% | 0.87 |
| Jarod 'Douglas' Onorato |
27 - 42 | -15 | 63.8 | 63.6% | 0.80 |
SoaR Gaming and Rise Nation will meet in the 2017 ESEA MDL finals to decide who will be crowned the S26 champions, and earn an automatic spot in ESL Pro League Season 7.
As for GX and Ghost Academy, there is still more to fight for, as the third place decider between the two teams will determine which team will go on to play ESL Pro League Season 6 Relegation, where Immortals, Rogue, and the loser of the SoaR/Rise match will be waiting.
