paiN beat down ATK to win ECL Season 41
Brazilian squad paiN have taken down ATK 3-0 in the grand finals of ECL Season 41, securing the team a spot at the ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference, adding to the tally of European events that paiN have been signed up for in 2022 so far.
The series began in the favor of paiN, as they started with a 1-0 map advantage in the series thanks to their successes in the upper bracket, including against ATK in the upper bracket final. Things started very well for ATK on paiN's choice of Dust2, as the international squad got off to a respectable 6-0 lead. However, this lead did not hold for long as paiN rallied together a streak of their own to keep things close at 6-5. While ATK ultimately won out the half 8-7, this was a far cry from their strong starting lead.
ATK got back to winning ways to start their T-side, posting another six-round streak to claim a 14-7 lead, putting them inches away from evening up the series. Unfortunately for the international squad, this is where things began to slip away, as paiN crawled all the way back from this seven-round deficit to eventually drag the map into overtime. In overtime, ATK were unable to find the spark that gave them strong leads early on in each half, as paiN continued their march to close out map 19-16.
Now down 0-2 in the series, ATK hoped that their pick of Inferno would be the launching pad for a tremendous reverse sweep. A pistol round win to start was certainly a confidence booster, but things rapidly fell apart as paiN's defense proved nearly insurmountable, with the Brazilian side locking down a 13-2 scoreline heading into their T-side.
While ATK secured the second pistol round, a necessary prerequisite to a comeback of this magnitude, it did little to halt paiN's unrelenting show of force. ATK was able to put together some rounds on their defense, but with paiN so far ahead, there was not much they could do as paiN closed out the map 16-9, and the series 3-0.
With this victory, paiN have secured themselves a spot in the ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference. Teams will have some time off over the summer to prepare for the next season of ECL, which is set to begin on August 16th.