Mythic and Philadelphia Liberty continue success in ESEA Advanced playoffs
ESEA Advanced playoff action continued last night with two upper-bracket BO3s that saw Mythic and Philadelphia Liberty raising their hands in victory, continuing their run toward the penultimate goal of qualifying for ESL Challengers League Season 41. Although UYU and Kinship are not totally eliminated from playoffs, the run through the lower bracket is always a tall task for any team.
Kicking off last night's action was Philadelphia Liberty versus Kinship. The two teams entered the playoffs following identical 9-5 regular season performances, but they were anything but competitive. Starting on Philadelphia's map pick of Mirage was exactly what the lineup needed to settle in against their opposition. Kinship ripped off eight straight to take the first-half lead in the final moments, but by that point, the Liberty had already downloaded their opposition in time for the second half. Philadephia went on a 10-2 run on CT-side to secure a 16-11 victory on their map pick. Unfortunately for Kinship, this was as close as the series would be.
On their map pick of Nuke, Kinship made it competitive with six T-side rounds. However, Philadelphia's offensive attack was far too much for Kinship's defensive efforts, as they went seven-for-seven to take Nuke 16-6, and the series 2-0. Philly's Andrew "Tender" Cote was a menace through the entire series, ending the two-map bout with a 49-33 K/D, 103.9 ADR, and 1.45 Rating. With this 2-0 victory, Philadelphia Liberty moves one step closer to the Grand Finals match, with only a BO3 against Mythic separating them from it. As for Kinship, they will have to recover quickly as they play tonight at 09:00PM against the winner of Big Chillin and Unjustified in the lower bracket round three.
KinshipPhiladelphia Liberty| Kinship |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Matthew 'Cryptic' Whitmore |
35 - 40 | -5 | 83.3 | 67.3% | 1.02 |
 Sebastian 'Florence' Ogarev |
36 - 38 | -2 | 70.2 | 61.2% | 1.02 |
| Mike 'clipsanity' Yelnikov |
30 - 41 | -11 | 64.5 | 65.3% | 0.86 |
| Benjamin 'niise' Mauldin |
25 - 36 | -11 | 62.5 | 59.2% | 0.77 |
| Sean 'Subarashii' Tuttle |
21 - 42 | -21 | 57.7 | 61.2% | 0.59 |
| Philadelphia Liberty |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew 'Tender' Cote |
49 - 33 | +16 | 103.9 | 75.5% | 1.45 |
 Wayne 'castro' Einarsson |
38 - 30 | +8 | 84.4 | 79.6% | 1.26 |
| Garret 'garret' Henry |
39 - 27 | +12 | 79.5 | 79.6% | 1.24 |
| Jeremy 'taiwi' Wang |
34 - 29 | +5 | 80.2 | 75.5% | 1.20 |
| Graham 'GRAHAM' Smith |
37 - 28 | +9 | 70.8 | 81.6% | 1.16 |
Mythic qualified for the upper-bracket final after a competitive BO3 affair against UYU. Starting on UYU's pick of Vertigo sent UYU reeling after a quick defeat on their home turf. Things were close in the beginning, as the two teams were tied 6-6 before Mythic snatched up the final three, securing the first half 9-6. When the two swapped sides, Mythic was unstoppable on their T-side, winning seven of eight rounds to take the first map 16-7. With Mythic's pick of Inferno, UYU had little time to recover. UYU kept it close on their CT-side of Inferno, taking the half 9-6. This time around, it was UYU who had the dominant second-half T-side, as they went on a 7-2 run of their own to win back Mythic's map. Following the 16-8 victory on Inferno, UYU looked poised to complete the reverse sweep.
The decider map of Mirage was as close as it could be to end the first half, with an 8-7 lead favoring the Mythic squad. With the final map neck-and-neck, Nicholas "hate" Young decided to take the fate of the game into his own hands. His 17-4 K/D and 147.5 ADR was the defacto catalyst for Mythic in crunch time. The team won eight of eleven CT rounds to close out Mirage 16-10, win the series 2-0, and advance to the Upper Bracket final, where they will need to overcome a strong Philadelphia Liberty to secure a spot in the Grand Finals. The two teams will meet on Friday at 09:30PM. UYU will fight for survival in the coming days against the winner of InControl and Limitless inside of the lower bracket.
UYUMythic| UYU |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew 'tatm' Munro |
50 - 57 | -7 | 80.5 | 67.1% | 1.03 |
| Andrew 'Drew' Warkentin |
51 - 53 | -2 | 72.5 | 68.5% | 1.02 |
 Alvin 'Alvin' Bui |
43 - 51 | -8 | 66.8 | 69.9% | 0.94 |
| Joey 'hyza' Cornelius |
45 - 54 | -9 | 62.1 | 74.0% | 0.85 |
| Kamron 'kmrn' Manii |
40 - 55 | -15 | 63.5 | 64.4% | 0.82 |
| Mythic |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicholas 'hate' Young |
56 - 42 | +14 | 82.9 | 75.3% | 1.22 |
| Austin 'Cooper' Abadir |
59 - 44 | +15 | 84.8 | 74.0% | 1.19 |
| Eric 'ERIC' W. |
52 - 50 | +2 | 78.1 | 78.1% | 1.17 |
| Erik 'fl0m' Flom |
52 - 42 | +10 | 69.3 | 78.1% | 1.16 |
| Ryan 'freakazoid' Abadir |
48 - 51 | -3 | 79.5 | 69.9% | 1.06 |
The Advanced playoff games being played tonight are:
InControl vs Limitless Big Chillin vs Unjustified
The ESEA Advanced Season 40 playoffs will continue tonight, with InControl vs Limitless starting at 08:00PM and Big Chillin vs Unjustified resuming shortly after at 09:00PM. Big Chillin and Unjustified are continuing a postponed match that will resume on Unjustified's pick of Inferno with a 12-7 lead, with Mirage and Vertigo as the decider if needed.
