Villainous book ticket to ADV grand final
Villainous have completed their epic lower-bracket run, running five-straight series with their backs against the wall, to now being one series win away from ESL Challenger League S43. Their latest win, coming two days ago against Red Wolves, was a two-map blowout on Mirage and Nuke.
The action kicked off on Villainous’ pick of Mirage, where they asserted themselves from the get-go on the offensive end. After losing the pistol, they won the next five of six rounds to go up 5-2. The Wolves clawed back with three of their own, but Villainous were able to close the half out in their favor, winning the first-half 9-6. Once the two teams switched sides, it was all Villainous.
It was nearly a clean sweep for Villainous, with Red Wolves only winning one round on the T side. It only took eight rounds for Villainous to close out the map on their CT side, stonewalling the Wolves 7-1 in the second half to win the map 16-7. The playmakers on the side of Villainous came out on their home pick, with three of the five members finishing with 20+ frags, and all of them ending with a 1.20+ rating.
When it came to Nuke, Red Wolves put up quite the fight to start their map pick. They gave Villainous a taste of their own medicine, winning five of six rounds after losing the pistol to go up 5-2. Villainous eventually began stringing together rounds on the defensive side, eventually closing out the half with the 8-7 lead, but Red Wolves still looked strong after the first map beatdown.
That form quickly vanished after the half switch, as Villainous decimated their opponent's defense, going 8-1 on the T-side second half to quickly wipe out Red Wolves’ hopes of a series comeback with a 16-8 map win. Once again, the well-rounded onslaught from Villainous was far too much for the Wolves’ stars to handle, and they were quickly washed out.
Red WolvesVillainous| Red Wolves |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Xavier 'Locke' Barth |
30 - 35 | -5 | 65.7 | 55.3% | 0.84 |
| Kameron 'K4mr0' Bouma |
27 - 35 | -8 | 64.3 | 57.4% | 0.84 |
| Sam 'sam' Donaldson |
28 - 42 | -14 | 69.6 | 55.3% | 0.79 |
| John 'Fatality' Owens |
20 - 38 | -18 | 53.4 | 53.2% | 0.58 |
| Kevin 'Shawta' Le |
19 - 41 | -22 | 61.8 | 38.3% | 0.58 |
| Villainous |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cory 'shutout' Frymark |
41 - 26 | +15 | 102.4 | 74.5% | 1.47 |
 Alvin 'Alvin' Bui |
38 - 20 | +18 | 71.7 | 80.9% | 1.37 |
| Kevin 'omniscient' Ma |
36 - 29 | +7 | 100.8 | 76.6% | 1.33 |
| Matthew 'tatm' Munro |
36 - 23 | +13 | 70.5 | 80.9% | 1.28 |
| Jake 'zebra' Davis |
40 - 27 | +13 | 83.9 | 74.5% | 1.27 |
Despite losing, Red Wolves receive an invite to ECL S42 Relegation for placing third in S42 ADV and have earned themselves an opportunity to make ECL S43. As for Villainous, they’ve got one more series left to complete the comeback run. Standing in their way are the playoff bullies of Magic School Bus, a team entering the grand finals after plowing through the upper bracket with only two lost maps throughout the playoffs.
With MSB entering the series with a 1-0 advantage for coming through the upper bracket, the stars of Villainous will have to work double-time to win the BO5 series. One particular matchup of interest entering the series is the matchup between Magic School Bus rifler Robby “Swqft” Harrison and Villainous AWPer Alvin “Alvin” Bui. Although different in position, both players are top six in rating during the playoffs. With both leading their teams in performance throughout playoffs, it will be interesting which of the two talents’ takes over during the BO5 grand finals with a direct invite to ECL S43 on the line.
The grand final is set to take place soon, starting at 09:30PM. Lastly, Eros and X13 compete on Tuesday the 11th at 09:00PM in the 5th place decider match for the last ECL relegation seat.
