UYU earns the final spot in ECL Season 41 over ex-Philadelphia Liberty
UYU claimed victory over ex-Philadelphia Liberty last night in a fifth-place decider match inside of ECL Season 40 relegation. UYU's journey to the following stages of competitive Counter-Strike was less than smooth. They had to scratch and claw their way through the best that Advanced offered, and the results did not always end in their favor. Despite that, UYU fought through the thick and the thin to earn their place in next season's Challenger League.
UYU was white-hot through the first eleven matches of ESEA Advanced's regular season before ending on a three-loss skid. They bounced back to form to start the playoffs with 2-1 victories over InControl and Infinity, but the team ran out of steam against the likes of Mythic and Limitless, losing 2-1 to both teams. Although they were out of playoff contention, the team did just enough to make the Advanced fifth-place decider match against Kinship, which they took with relative ease, 2-0. Despite the late season struggles, the win over Kinship had UYU just a stone's throw away from ECL.
In an almost identical fashion, UYU did just enough in the upper and lower brackets inside of ECL relegation to earn them a fifth-place decider match. Their win over Eros and losses to Third Impact and BHOP left them in a final fifth-place showdown against ex-Philadelphia Liberty. The former representatives of the Liberty brand came into this bracket with much better success in the Advanced playoffs, finishing third and barely losing to Unjustified in a lower-bracket BO3 thriller that ended in double-overtime.
The two teams never met inside of Advanced playoffs, but their regular-season meeting was fairly one-sided, with UYU taking Vertigo 16-8 off a strong CT side effort. Two months since the two teams late met and it was time for them to duke it out one last time inside of relegation for the final ECL spot. With the picks and bans finished, it was time to begin the potential three-map affair on ex-Liberty's pick of Vertigo, the same map they dropped to UYU just under two months back.
Although it went better than last time, the result was still the same, with UYU ending the map in victory after a tough CT side. They kept the first half close, ending behind with seven rounds on T-side, but their defensive effort was once again too much for their opposition. UYU ground them out to win the second half 9-5 and the map 16-13. The same story was told on UYU's Mirage pick, as their 11-4 first half set the tone for them to ease their way toward victory. Although their T side was less effective, UYU successfully edged ex-Liberty out to secure the map 16-10 and series 2-0. Despite their initial losses in both brackets, UYU successfully persevered to earn their place amongst the best prospective teams in North America.
ex-Philadelphia LibertyUYU| ex-Philadelphia Liberty |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Andrew 'Tender' Cote |
49 - 40 | +9 | 89.9 | 58.2% | 1.20 |
| Jeremy 'taiwi' Wang |
40 - 37 | +3 | 86.6 | 70.9% | 1.11 |
| Graham 'GRAHAM' Smith |
33 - 39 | -6 | 63.6 | 60.0% | 0.84 |
| Garret 'garret' Henry |
32 - 43 | -11 | 67.5 | 65.5% | 0.82 |
 Trong 'piepiepoppin' Nghia Dao |
18 - 43 | -25 | 42.6 | 61.8% | 0.59 |
| UYU |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alvin 'Alvin' Bui |
57 - 29 | +28 | 110.3 | 78.2% | 1.64 |
| Andrew 'Drew' Warkentin |
44 - 34 | +10 | 102.8 | 80.0% | 1.45 |
| Matthew 'tatm' Munro |
38 - 30 | +8 | 60.7 | 72.7% | 1.08 |
| Kamron 'kmrn' Manii |
34 - 40 | -6 | 61.6 | 69.1% | 0.88 |
 Joey 'hyza' Cornelius |
28 - 39 | -11 | 63.0 | 65.5% | 0.81 |
Their efficiency on CT side was pretty balanced, but it was Alvin "Alvin" Bui's hard carry on UYU's T side that kept them going amidst their opponents' defensive resistance. He closed the two maps with a 30-15 K/D, 115.9 ADR, and 1.79 rating on the T side for his team over 26 rounds on offense. His impact on T side and overall individual presence made him a major catalyst for his team's success and qualification.
UYU's lineup for ECL Season 41 is:
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Alvin "Alvin" Bui
-
Andrew "Drew" Warkentin
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Joey "hyza" Cornelius
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Kamron "kmrn" Manii
-
Matthew "tatm" Munro
