Party Astronauts headline second day of Mythic Winter Cup 2022
The first day of the Mythic Winter Cup 2022 has concluded, seeing Party Astronauts look to secure their third Mythic Cup victory as the $5,000 event enters the semifinals.
The eight-team tournament began over in Group A, where Party Astronauts started off strong as they easily dispatched of Israel "LEARSI" Vargas' Villainous squad 16-6 whilst Eros reigned supreme over ChocoCheck following a 16-10 victory. The Astronauts would then secure a semifinal berth after besting Eros 16-9 on Nuke in the Winners’ matchup while the aforementioned Villainous dismantled Carson "nosraC" O'Reilly's ChocoCheck in the Elimination match to stay alive in the tournament.
Entering the Decider's matchup as favorites, it looked likely that Eros would swiftly lock in a one-sided victory versus Villainous to guarantee a top-four placement, with Brody "BeaKie" Kelly's men securing a 10-5 scoreline by the end of their T-side. However, things soon went awry for Eros, as LEARSI and company stabilized themselves at the swap to build a seven-round win streak. Trading blows, it would be Eros who reached match point first on the back of a four-round spree to interrupt Villainous' dominant showing.
However, thirty rounds wasn't enough to separate the two, and after clawing back the final two rounds, Villainous were able to send the map to overtime. There, Eros quickly crumbled, as the ESL Challenger League side struggled to post even one round, allowing Villainous to steal map one 19-15 before the two sides headed into Dust2.
The second map unfolded into another hard-fought battle, with the two teams one round apart in favor of Eros by the time the two sides switched. A flurry of CT-side rounds for Villainous at the start of the second half sent LEARSI's men surging ahead to a 14-8 scoreline before Eros could even respond. Brief spells of two-round victories would be Eros' final say in the series, as Villainous were able to secure the remaining two rounds they needed to close out the map 16-12 to send Eros home.
ErosVillainous| Eros |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Brody 'BeaKie' Kelly |
57 - 41 | +16 | 99.9 | 77.4% | 1.37 |
 Kevin 'omniscient' Ma |
47 - 47 | +0 | 88.0 | 67.7% | 1.16 |
| Adam 'freshie' Paterson |
40 - 46 | -6 | 71.9 | 61.3% | 0.90 |
| John 'JTMythic' Timmermann |
29 - 45 | -16 | 52.8 | 62.9% | 0.81 |
 Cory 'shutout' Frymark |
33 - 41 | -8 | 53.8 | 56.5% | 0.74 |
| Villainous |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian 'REAL' Humphries |
49 - 38 | +11 | 86.7 | 77.4% | 1.26 |
| Diego 'sacrifice' Camacho |
50 - 39 | +11 | 81.0 | 71.0% | 1.19 |
 Israel 'LEARSI' Vargas |
39 - 40 | -1 | 76.3 | 74.2% | 1.12 |
| Fern 'intra' Hak |
44 - 44 | +0 | 71.7 | 61.3% | 1.04 |
| Jason 'jason' Garcia |
38 - 45 | -7 | 67.0 | 66.1% | 0.97 |
Over in Group B, Erik "fl0m" Flom's Paying Myself roster narrowly moved past RBG 16-14 in the opening matchup while ATK deconstructed X13 16-7 on Inferno with both teams fielding their coaches. fl0m's mix then cruised to the semifinals after overpowering ATK 16-10 in the Winner's matchup whilst RBG staved off X13 with a 16-13 win on Overpass to send their opponents packing.
The Decider match would pit ATK against RBG where the two teams initially descended to the latter's pick of Overpass. An incredibly strong T-side by Colby "Walco" Walsh allowed RBG to steam ahead, accruing a 12-3 lead by the turn of the half. ATK responded by entering the second half swinging, brushing off a lone RBG round to start off their offensive half with five rounds. However the strong second half showing would ultimately be too little, too late as amidst the trading of blows, RBG soon claimed the three rounds they needed to secure Overpass 16-11 and lead the series 1-0.
Heading into ATK's pick of Inferno, the first half was characterized by sprees of momentum from both sides. Gareth "MisteM" Ries and company would be the first to lead, winning the first five rounds of the map before RBG interrupted with two of their own. Both teams then went on streaks before ATK clinched the final round of the half to lead 9-6 at the swap. A stalwart ATK CT-side allowed the squad to remain in control for the remainder of the map, adding seven rounds to their name to RBG’s three to take Inferno 16-9 and tie up the series.
The final map would take the two teams to Nuke where things initially looked bright for ATK as they strung five defensive rounds together. However, RBG would soon regain their footing, brushing aside ATK for the remainder of the half to build a 9-6 lead. At the side swap, things quickly unraveled for RBG as the South African duo of MisteM and Rhys "Fadey" Armstrong joined forces to spearhead a ten-round T-side domination, only allowing their foes two rounds in the final half as ATK convincingly secured their spot in the semifinals to send RBG packing.
ATKRBG| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Gareth 'MisteM' Ries |
68 - 46 | +22 | 90.4 | 69.6% | 1.34 |
| Ian 'motm' Hardy |
60 - 52 | +8 | 77.5 | 65.8% | 1.14 |
| Rhys 'Fadey' Armstrong |
52 - 53 | -1 | 77.5 | 69.6% | 1.11 |
| James 'JAM' H. |
50 - 49 | +1 | 61.0 | 70.9% | 1.01 |
 Daniel 'sprayxd' Kogan |
43 - 61 | -18 | 65.4 | 58.2% | 0.82 |
| RBG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
61 - 57 | +4 | 80.6 | 68.4% | 1.13 |
| Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
59 - 54 | +5 | 77.6 | 65.8% | 1.10 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
56 - 53 | +3 | 71.8 | 67.1% | 1.02 |
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
47 - 48 | -1 | 67.2 | 70.9% | 1.02 |
| Jordon 'jitter' Ruggiero |
38 - 61 | -23 | 64.0 | 69.6% | 0.81 |
With the tournament down to the final four, the semifinal matchups are as follows:
Party Astronauts vs. ATK
Paying Myself vs. Villainous
The matches are set to start at 4PM EST with the grand final beginning shortly thereafter.
