Villainous continue ADV playoff lower-bracket run
Razor thin margins separated competing teams on Thursday night as both series’ third maps ended in either the 30th round or in overtime. Following the tight games, we are down to the final four.
The first lower-bracket semi-final contest between Snakes Den and Eros kicked off on Snakes Den’s pick of Vertigo, and Eros did not hesitate to take control from the CT-side of things, starting the map up 6-1. After Eros’ hot start, Snakes Den efficiently countered them on their map, turning the tide with wins on five of the last eight rounds to close their T-side out 6-9.
Once again, Eros claimed the pistol round, but it again did not phase Snakes Den. After the three-round run to start the second half, Snakes Den ran away with the game by taking nine of ten rounds to put them on match point at 15-13. The two split the final rounds, giving Snakes Den the 16-14 edge to end a tight map one, sending us to Eros’ pick of Dust2.
Snakes Den flipped the script on Eros, starting off 4-0 on their opponent map pick similar to map one. Eros retaliated with might, winning five rounds back on their T-side. The two exchanged rounds through the rest of the first half, ending 8-7 in Snakes Den favor. Although the first half was tight, Eros would run away with the second half, shutting their opponents out completely with a 9-0 defensive performance. After the 16-8 beating, the score was to be settled on Nuke.
Nuke was a defensive showcase for both teams. Snakes Den started the decider with six of seven round wins. Eros finally cracked the code in the eight round, winning four straight to make the first half competitive at 5-6. That would be it for the Eros offense, as Snakes Den closed the first half in style with four back of their own to take a 10-5 lead.
Eros hit their opponents with a haymaker on defense, winning nine of the eleven initial second-half rounds. Snakes Den nearly mounted the comeback in regulation, but Eros took us to overtime in the 30th round.
The defensive war of attrition continued into the overtime contest, as the only margin separating the two teams was the sole T-side win by Snakes Den which was enough to tip the scale in their favor. After going 1-2, they shut down Eros on defense to win all three CT rounds, claim the map three victory 19-17, and the series 2-1. The win puts Snakes Den in the lower-bracket final while the loss means the end of Eros’ season.
Snakes DenEros| Snakes Den |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Charles 'ChwE' Whitehead |
61 - 65 | -4 | 83.8 | 70.0% | 1.13 |
| Mason 'Pr0mise' Maher |
65 - 64 | +1 | 77.6 | 76.7% | 1.10 |
| Patrick 'Pat_' White |
64 - 66 | -2 | 75.3 | 64.4% | 1.01 |
| Dylan 'DJF' Ferreira |
58 - 63 | -5 | 71.5 | 68.9% | 0.94 |
 Daniel 'Reason' Martinez |
44 - 68 | -24 | 50.9 | 62.2% | 0.73 |
| Eros |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Darius 'PNDLM' Bandali |
75 - 53 | +22 | 86.7 | 76.7% | 1.28 |
| Nelvin 'nooz' Gonzalez |
70 - 59 | +11 | 84.3 | 78.9% | 1.21 |
| Rudy 'PALADIN' Rokin |
64 - 58 | +6 | 74.5 | 66.7% | 1.04 |
| Michael 'Millz' Millsaps |
59 - 62 | -3 | 74.0 | 71.1% | 1.04 |
| Scott 'Scottiyio' Baker |
57 - 61 | -4 | 68.7 | 72.2% | 1.01 |
The second series of the night offered fireworks of its own, starting on Villainous Dust2 pick. They were blindsided by X13 after winning pistol, as they went on three four-round win streaks to take the first-half with force 12-3. The two exchanged blows in the second half but it was X13 who got the best of this exchange , closing the map out 16-8.
Villainous answered back on X13’s Ancient map pick with seven rounds straight after losing the pistol. X13 crawled back from being blown out in the first half, but they were on a slippery slope being down 5-10 entering their CT-side. Villainous put the clamps on X13 after pistol, winning six straight CT-rounds to win the map 16-7 to bring it to the coveted Inferno decider.
Once again, Villainous got off to a fast start after dropping pistol to mount a 5-3 lead early in the map on the T-side. The final seven rounds were nearly all Villainous, winning five to secure a comfortable 10-5 lead heading into the final half. The second half was nearly a carbon copy for X13, as they took off with four round wins of their own after dropping pistol. With Villainous up 11-9, X13 rallied back on their T-side to bring this game all the way to the final round.
With both teams’ seasons on the line, Villainous’ Cory “shutout” Frymark achieved a career-highlight ace in the eleventh hour to secure match point and put his team in position to close the map 16-14 and win the series 2-1. The win for Villainous puts them one BO3 away from completing the four series lower-bracket. Standing in their way are Snakes Den, the very team that sent them to the lower-bracket.
X13Villainous| X13 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave 'seziwana' Schrage |
64 - 52 | +12 | 86.8 | 67.5% | 1.23 |
| James 'Gonzo' Madden |
52 - 50 | +2 | 74.5 | 74.0% | 1.12 |
| Austin 'Austin' Meadows |
50 - 56 | -6 | 66.4 | 68.8% | 0.95 |
 Aidan 'Feral' Wood |
42 - 51 | -9 | 64.7 | 61.0% | 0.91 |
| Andrew 'Andrew' Burrell |
39 - 50 | -11 | 57.8 | 70.1% | 0.87 |
| Villainous |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cory 'shutout' Frymark |
62 - 50 | +12 | 83.2 | 70.1% | 1.21 |
| Matthew 'tatm' Munro |
54 - 53 | +1 | 85.1 | 75.3% | 1.13 |
 Alvin 'Alvin' Bui |
49 - 38 | +11 | 62.7 | 74.0% | 1.06 |
| Jake 'zebra' Davis |
54 - 52 | +2 | 74.1 | 72.7% | 1.06 |
| Kevin 'omniscient' Ma |
40 - 54 | -14 | 64.1 | 71.4% | 0.92 |
With Thursday’s matches concluded, the next set of matches in the ESEA Advanced playoffs are set to begin next Wednesday. Here are the matchups you can look forward to:
Magic School Bus vs Red Wolves (Upper bracket final) Snakes Den vs Villainous (Lower bracket final)
