Carpe Diem and paiN compete for last Grand Finals spot in ECL Season 40 playoffs
With the playoffs nearing the end inside of the ESL Challenger League Season 40, only one match was played in last night's competition as Carpe Diem swiftly took care of Strife in the lower bracket to keep their playoff journey alive. Strife started their map pick smoothly with a 3-0 lead, but that quickly swung in the favor of Carpe Diem after taking eight straight on the CT side. With a comfortable 8-3, Carpe Diem would win three of the last four to take the first half of Overpass 11-4. Carpe Diem looked to make quick work of the map, taking four of the first five rounds to earn fifteen and be on match point. Strife rallied back with six of their own, but it was too little too late. Carpe Diem eventually took the final T-side round they needed to steal Strife map pick 16-11. With all five members operating at a 1.12 Rating or higher, Carpe Diem looked primed to take the series heading into their map pick of Inferno.
Things were slightly more competitive in the first half, as Strife did well to stave off the Carpe Diem offense initially through the first seven rounds. Their slight 4-3 lead would be wiped away following a six-round streak by Carpe Diem that eventually led to a 6-9 deficit for the Strife squad. Down three heading into T-side Inferno, Strife needed to solve the Carpe Diem puzzle fast. Unfortunately for Strife, their opposition made sure that was not going to happen. Carpe Diem stonewalled Strife defensively, winning seven of nine to win their map pick 16-8 and the series 2-0. Jadan “HexT” Postma was dominant in every phase of the game today for Carpe Diem, finishing with a 52-27 K/D, 112.1 ADR, and a 1.69 Rating over the two maps.
Carpe DiemStrife| Carpe Diem |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
52 - 27 | +25 | 112.1 | 80.4% | 1.69 |
 Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
38 - 26 | +12 | 70.4 | 80.4% | 1.24 |
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
30 - 31 | -1 | 68.4 | 82.4% | 1.10 |
| Anthony 'CLASIA' Kearney |
37 - 33 | +4 | 73.4 | 68.6% | 1.08 |
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
27 - 27 | +0 | 57.7 | 76.5% | 0.99 |
| Strife |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David 'J0LZ' Jolin |
34 - 35 | -1 | 80.3 | 64.7% | 1.05 |
| Keller 'SLIGHT' Nilan |
32 - 34 | -2 | 58.3 | 72.5% | 0.95 |
| Paul 'aris' Wilson |
29 - 36 | -7 | 60.7 | 68.6% | 0.90 |
| Matthew 'd4rty' Paplawskas |
26 - 36 | -10 | 57.8 | 66.7% | 0.82 |
| Bobby 'stamina' Eitrem |
23 - 44 | -21 | 61.4 | 51.0% | 0.63 |
After a solid win over Strife, Carpe Diem will look to replicate those results against a strong paiN lineup that was on a streak of five 2-0 victories inside of ECL before running into MIBR in the Upper Bracket Final. The two teams are no strangers to one another, doing battle twice just last month. Although paiN took the victory in their last meeting during a Cash Cup, it was Carpe Diem that had the upper hand when they met inside of ECL. The two will complete the trilogy match in the highest of stakes, the ECL playoffs with Grand Finals implications.
The winner of this match will see the undefeated MIBR in the Grand Finals, with the winner earning an invite to ESL Pro League Season 16 Conference. The two teams will begin their final showdown at 08:00PM.
The match happening later tonight at 08:00PM is:
Carpe Diem vs 
paiN
