ECS Season 7 Week 2 - INTZ overcomes eUnited in razor-thin series
Day one of ECS Season 7 Week 2 has come to an end, with NRG, INTZ, compLexity, and FURIA all securing spots in the semi-finals. This week of competition has seen many Pinnacle Cup teams compete as Renegades, Cloud9, Liquid, and MIBR all opted out of the second series for various reasons including prior tournament commitments or roster issues.
The first matchup of the day saw NRG square off against Spacestation. Following their loss to compLexity in last week's semifinals, NRG seemed keen to avoid another upset as they came into Train with all guns firing. On their opening T side, after winning the initial pistol, NRG went on a tear only allowing Spacestation a handful of rounds. Closing out the half, NRG looked ready to end map one early as the scoreline was set at 11-4.
Moving into the second half, Spacestation started off their T side by winning the opening pistol. However, NRG won the force-buy and the ensuing eco round to put the scoreline up to 13-4. With any chance of a map one comeback hanging in the balance, Spacestation ramped up their T side aggression, taking three rounds in a row to put the score at 13-7. Spacestation went on to take three more rounds off NRG, but due to NRG's large round advantage from the first half, they closed out Train 16-11.
The second map of the series took the action to Inferno where a similar scenario played out as on Train. NRG's T side proficiency again allowed them to run up the rounds on Spacestation, although they put up a far fiercer fight than on Train. With strong individual plays including Ryan "Snakes" Amnan's 3k AWP defense, Spacestation ended the half slightly down with a three-round deficit at 6-9.
On their T side, Spacestation lost the opening pistol and the resulting anti-eco, but they were able find their footing on round 18. After converting their first buy of the half, Spacestation went on to claim six rounds in a row to take the lead away from NRG and set the score at 12-11. After this, NRG recovered composure and claim five rounds in a row to close out map two 16-12. During their bout against Spacestation, the recently signed Tarik "tarik" Celik was NRG's stand-out player, managing to put a 1.55 rating over two maps.
With this, NRG has advanced to the semifinals, although their close match against Spacestation illustrates that the #2 ranked team in North America still have a lot of work to do as they implement tarik into their team.
NRGSpacestation| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tarik 'tarik' Celik |
53 - 32 | +21 | 99.9 | 76.4% | 1.55 |
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
50 - 34 | +16 | 93.5 | 78.2% | 1.39 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
47 - 34 | +13 | 88.0 | 85.5% | 1.28 |
| Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
36 - 34 | +2 | 65.0 | 74.5% | 1.11 |
 Damian 'daps' Steele |
16 - 40 | -24 | 57.7 | 63.6% | 0.62 |
| Spacestation |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan 'Snakes' Amann |
37 - 36 | +1 | 85.0 | 69.1% | 1.13 |
| Michael 'Grim' Wince |
46 - 40 | +6 | 72.0 | 65.5% | 1.05 |
| Chad 'Oderus' Miller |
37 - 45 | -8 | 66.4 | 60.0% | 0.88 |
| David 'DAVEY' Stafford |
28 - 42 | -14 | 63.7 | 61.8% | 0.79 |
| Anthony 'gMd' Guimond |
26 - 40 | -14 | 64.7 | 65.5% | 0.78 |
The next matchup saw another Pinnacle Cup team enter the fray as INTZ took on eUnited. On the first map of Inferno, eUnited looked ready to send INTZ home as they completely negated INTZ's T side to close out the opening half 12-3. Going into the second half, INTZ won the opening pistol however it ended up mattering little as eUnited claimed the next four rounds in a row to rapidly close out map one 16-4. During the first map Mexican phenom Edgar 'MarKE" Maldonado proved to be extremely lethal as he put up a massive 2.08 rating along with a +18 K-D during INTZ's routing.
After the first map, Cache was expected to be a similarly short affair, however INTZ seemed to regain their footing, keeping Cache competitive by claiming seven rounds on their T side to nearly tie up map two 7-8. During the first half, Marcelo "chelo" Cespedes picked up a 3k that helped set up a four round-run for the Brazilian squad. As the action continued onto the second half, INTZ once again won their CT pistol, and went to use the advantage to convert the following two rounds taking the lead 10-8. After this lead was established, eUnited and INTZ continued to trade trios of rounds throughout the half. However, in the end, INTZ eventually took map two 16-14, forcing the series onto a third map.
On the third and final map of Mirage, INTZ continued this series' tradition of losing the initial half to eUnited as the North American team's CT defense once again proved formidable netting the team nine rounds. On the second half of Mirage neither was able to eke out a solid lead as they continued to trade rounds. On the 30th round, with eUnited on the brink of closing out the series, INTZ were able to force overtime and continue the series. After an inconclusive first overtime, INTZ finally broke eUnited's resolve and closed out map three 22-19, pulling off a massive comeback following their initial loss during map one.
With this victory in the bag, INTZ are set to face off against NRG tomorrow.
eUnitedINTZ| eUnited |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado |
65 - 52 | +13 | 83.7 | 72.5% | 1.21 |
| Kaleb 'moose' Jayne |
67 - 54 | +13 | 80.1 | 79.1% | 1.13 |
| Victor 'food' Wong |
68 - 60 | +8 | 79.0 | 71.4% | 1.10 |
| Austin 'Cooper' Abadir |
57 - 54 | +3 | 64.1 | 71.4% | 0.99 |
| Anthony 'vanity' Malaspina |
50 - 62 | -12 | 60.5 | 67.0% | 0.91 |
| INTZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Alexandre 'xand' Zizi |
66 - 62 | +4 | 78.3 | 71.4% | 1.13 |
| Vito 'kNgV-' Giuseppe |
66 - 64 | +2 | 80.8 | 65.9% | 1.09 |
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
62 - 57 | +5 | 79.4 | 70.3% | 1.09 |
| Lucas 'destiny' Bullo |
51 - 68 | -17 | 65.5 | 70.3% | 0.95 |
| Gustavo 'yel' Knittel |
36 - 56 | -20 | 47.3 | 61.5% | 0.76 |
The third matchup was a North American affair as Bad News Bears took on compLexity. On Cache, compLexity got off to a strong start after winning the first three rounds. However, Bad News Bears, a team filled with young stars and old veterans alike were able to shift the momentum following a solid CT defense that netted the MDL team six rounds in a row to secure a slight lead. After this strong showing, compLexity answered back with a five-round run of their own, and although Bad News Bears took the fifteenth round, compLexity closed out the half with a slight 9-6 lead. On compLexity's CT side they won the opening pistol but lose the following round to a Bad News Bears force buy.
Following the force buy, Bad News Bears were able to trade rounds and eventually tie up the score at 11-11. This resurgence would be short-lived though as once compLexity's economy recovered, they were able to mount a solid CT defense that allowed them to close out map one 16-11. During the first map, veteran British player Rory "dephh" Jackson proved integral to compLexity as he averaged a kill each round, managing 113.6 ADR by the end of the map.
On Mirage, compLexity lost the opening pistol, they were able to go on an absolute tear as after an anti-eco of their own they were to convert seven rounds in a row. Even after Bad News Bears were able to claim four rounds of their own, this effort helped to secure compLexity a very strong lead, ending the half at 10-5. Bad News Bears continued to fight back though, as they claimed their T side pistol to nearly even the score at 8-10.
However, much like the first map, once compLexity managed to get their economy under control, their experience shined as they were able to mount a strong defense. After nearly tying it up, Bad News Bears eventually lose map two again with a 11-16 scoreline.
Bad News BearsComplexity| Bad News Bears |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyson 'TenZ' Ngo |
42 - 40 | +2 | 93.3 | 72.2% | 1.17 |
| Mitch 'mitch' Semago |
37 - 38 | -1 | 72.9 | 68.5% | 1.02 |
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
39 - 41 | -2 | 73.4 | 63.0% | 0.94 |
| Jeff 'RZU' Ngo |
32 - 40 | -8 | 65.0 | 53.7% | 0.82 |
| Josh 'shinobi' Abastado |
18 - 45 | -27 | 45.9 | 53.7% | 0.54 |
| Complexity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rory 'dephh' Jackson |
54 - 34 | +20 | 99.6 | 85.2% | 1.49 |
| Shahzeb 'ShahZaM' Khan |
47 - 32 | +15 | 89.8 | 75.9% | 1.36 |
 Ricardo 'Rickeh' Mulholland |
43 - 30 | +13 | 82.4 | 74.1% | 1.32 |
| Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
37 - 35 | +2 | 78.4 | 81.5% | 1.14 |
| Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbert |
23 - 37 | -14 | 57.0 | 66.7% | 0.81 |
The final match of the day saw two Brazilian team duke it out as FURIA took on Luminosity. Starting the action off on Inferno, Luminosity appeared unstoppable as they battered FURIA's CT defense. During this first half, FURIA were only able to claim a handful of rounds with Luminosity firmly ending the half up 12-3. Moving onto the second half, FURIA were only able to claim a single round with Luminosity confidently taking the first map 16-4.
Moving onto Overpass, FURIA were narrowly able to take the lead 8-7 after a strong T side. As FURIA transitioned onto their CT side, Luminosity initially took the lead after winning the opening pistol and the following three rounds. After this, FURIA's CT defense was ironclad and they would take the next rounds on a row to force a third map; closing out map two 16-11.
On the third and final map of the day, FURIA once again won the first half, highlighted by a six-round run of rounds starting during round six. On the CT side, after the opening pistol, Luminosity answered back and tie up the map 10-10. However, in the end FURIA went on to take the map and the series as they were able to close out Train 16-12. During the series, former MIBR member Ricardo "boltz" Prass put in a massive effort in his attempt to prevent FURIA's victory, managing a 1.45 rating alongside 96.0 ADR. Regardless of his performance Luminosity fell to FURIA, who are set to face off against compLexity on Thursday.
FURIALuminosity| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
48 - 53 | -5 | 67.7 | 65.3% | 0.99 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
50 - 52 | -2 | 77.5 | 69.3% | 0.97 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
50 - 52 | -2 | 75.1 | 73.3% | 0.96 |
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
47 - 50 | -3 | 69.8 | 66.7% | 0.94 |
| Rinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior |
43 - 55 | -12 | 61.8 | 66.7% | 0.85 |
| Luminosity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ricardo 'boltz' Prass |
62 - 39 | +23 | 96.0 | 81.3% | 1.45 |
| Henrique 'HEN1' Teles |
62 - 46 | +16 | 83.6 | 70.7% | 1.24 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
52 - 53 | -1 | 75.5 | 74.7% | 1.10 |
| Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
51 - 45 | +6 | 61.7 | 76.0% | 0.99 |
| Lucas 'LUCAS1' Teles |
35 - 57 | -22 | 63.3 | 69.3% | 0.84 |
With the quarterfinal matches completed, the two semifinal matchups will be as follows:
| Week 2 Semifinals, March 19th & 20th (EDT) | |
|---|---|
| NRG -vs- INTZ |
6:00 PM |
 compLexity -vs- FURIA |
6:00 PM |
The first semifinals match will take place tomorrow, with NRG facing off against INTZ at 6 PM EDT.
