Two ECL seats claimed at S42 relegation

The second set of ESL Challenger League S42 Relegation games took place last night, with two of the three series resulting in teams earning spots in next season’s ECL. The third series took place in the lower bracket, eliminating another ECL hopeful.

Mythic vs Villainous

The series kicked off on Villainous’ Vertigo pick, and it did not start well for the ADV squad as they fell behind 8-1 to start their T-side. They rallied back to make it a respectable 5-10 deficit, but the slow start did no favors for them. Their defensive effort was much better to start, winning five of the first six on CT-side. Mythic eventually downloaded the read, winning five of the last eight to secure the 16-13 win on their opponent's pick.

After the success on their opponent's map, it was on to Mythic’s Inferno pick. Things started the same with Mythic taking an early 5-3 lead on T-side. Villainous did their best to rally back, but Mythic closed the half out with relative ease 9-6. On the half switch, the two teams were neck and neck as Villainous started to crack the code on Mythic’s defense. However, the first-half cushion was enough for Mythic to edge out Villainous 16-13 on Inferno to win the series 2-0. The series win sees Mythic back in ECL, while Villainous have another chance to make it through the lower bracket.

BHOP vs Red Wolves

Dust2 was the first destination for this series as Red Wolves’ map choice. Things went almost entirely the way of BHOP in the first half, starting the first half up 7-2 on CT-side. The Wolves did answer back with four of their own to bring the match to a 6-7 deficit. BHOP jumped on the last two to bring the half in their favor 9-6. On the half switch, BHOP ran away on the T-side. Seven of eight rounds won in the second half secured them the Dust2 win, 16-7.

BHOP’s pick of Nuke looked closer on paper with a 16-11 scoreline, but it was BHOP the whole way. The 7-1 start on the T-side heavily swayed the win probability in their favor with the map being historically CT-sided. The two juggled the final seven rounds, with BHOP taking the half 10-5. Red Wolves got the ball rolling on offense, going 6-1 to start the half. A hint of hope was quickly shut down by BHOP, winning five in a row to secure the map and series 2-0. BHOP’s win brings them back to ECL, while Red Wolves continue their journey in the lower bracket.

Victorum vs X13

The sole lower bracket series of the night was tightly contested, with the two teams needing all three maps to separate them. The first map, X13’s pick of Nuke, was a steamroll for Victorum. Multiple win streaks on CT-side took them to a dominant 12-3 first half. After the switch, the two teams went round-for-round before Victorum successfully closed their opponent's pick out with ease, 16-7.

It looked to be more of the Victorum show once the gun rounds began on their pick of Ancient, winning the first half 8-7 after losing the first three rounds. After winning on the T-side, Victorum had no answer for the X13 offense, getting washed after winning the pistol. Win streaks of three and six took the map back for X13, securing their opponent's pick 16-10. As is tradition, it was on to the decider of Inferno.

The first half was a tight contest, with the two teams ensuring neither ran away with the decider. When halftime came, it was Victorum who had the slight edge at 8-7. After a tough CT side, it was on to them to close it out on offense. An initial 6-1 start for X13 put them in the driver's seat to close the series, but it was Victorum who rallied at the end with seven straight to prevent the upset. The 16-13 win for Victorum secured the series 2-1, keeping their lower bracket hopes alive.

The last set of games takes place soon, with the winners claiming the final two seats in ECL S43.

Tonight’s matchups:

Red Wolves vs Victorum
Snakes Den vs Villainous

The final ECL relegation games take place tonight at 08:00PM.