ESEA Advanced playoffs see four teams exit

Eight games of heated NA ADV S42 competition took place last night, with a slew of upsets coming on both sides of the bracket. After yesterday's games, only 12 teams remain.

Magic School Bus 2-1 Infinity

The upset that headlined yesterdays games without a doubt was the dethroning of the #1 seed Infinity. They entered the post season with a league-best 11-1 regular season record, and looked to be the favorites to run through the upper bracket. Despite getting blown out map two, MSB were able to grind out the top seeded Infinity in maps one and three, taking the series in overtime on Dust2.

Snakes Den 2-1 Villainous

Snakes Den overthrew Villainous in a series where all three maps were one sided. After losing Dust2 7-16, Snakes Den came back to win Nuke and Inferno 16-9 to take the series. Surprisingly, this was the only series last night where the better seed won.

X13 2-0 Eros

The two teams collided in one of the most talented matchup in the entire playoffs. With both teams entering as favorites to go deep in the playoffs, there was no telling which team would earn the edge over the other. X13 bested their rivals this time around with a well-rounded game plan to earn a closely contested 2-0.

Red Wolves 2-1 REIGN

These teams needed three maps and an overtime to settle the score, but after a tough series Red Wolves stood tall to complete the upper bracket games. Both team won their respective map picks, and when it came to the decider of Mirage, the Wolves hit a second gear to win it 16-9 to take the series.

Earlybirds 2-1 DNA

The birds joined the upset party with one of their own over #8 ranked DNA inside the lower bracket. After winning the 30-round Mirage nailbiter, Earlybirds found themselves reeling against DNA on Nuke. They made it close, but DNA took a sound 16-10 win after the tight map one loss. DNA were unable to reverse sweep the birds, as they managed the Nuke win 16-12 and the series 2-1. Following the loss, DNA are eliminated.

New Threat 2-1 Orion

#13 New Threat stuck it right to #5 Orion immediately to start the series, hitting them hard on Orion’s map pick of Ancient. The 16-12 win had Orion reeling, and forced them into a comeback situation on their opponents map pick of Vertigo. After failing to seal the series, New Threat was forced into a rubber match on Overpass, where they showed their grit to take the OT affair 19-15. After the tough loss, Orion have been eliminated.

LAG 2-1 FPL and Ellison

FPL and Ellison looked poised to take the series after a commanding 16-11 win on their pick of Mirage. LAG had no issue coming back with their own attack, punching back even harder with a 16-5 trouncing on their Inferno pick. Momentum was key for this series, as the red hot LAG looked strong with an 11-4 defensive first half. It took some effort to close, but following the 16-10 win, LAG completed the reverse sweep to send FPL & Ellison packing.

Take Flyte 2-1 Limitless

Three blowouts was the synopsis of this upset, as neither team managed over eight rounds in defeat over the three maps. Take Flyte were able to survive the series with 16-3 and 16-8 wins in Nuke and Dust2 respectively. After being wiped on Limitless’ Vertigo pick 8-16, TF had no issues coming back with haymakers of their own on the next two maps. Following defeat, Limitless are eliminated.

Upcoming Matches

With that, the next set of matches in the ESEA Advanced playoffs are set to begin tonight. Here are the matchups you can look forward to:

The next set of lower bracket matches are set to start in a few days, beginning 09:30PM, with the upper bracket games starting off days later on the 27th.