ECL Playoffs second round preview

Yesterday's games came and went quickly, with all four opening matchups ending in 2-0 scorelines. Today, the winners face the winners and the losers face the losers. It be weird if it were any other way don't you think? Anyways, not only were yesterday's matches 2-0, they also went in the favorites' ways, so now we get to see the four best teams in ECL face off.

MIBR vs EG Black

The lone Brazilian team in the top 4 will look to fight against one of EG's second teams for a spot in the upper-bracket finals. EG handily defeated their previous matchup, while MIBR took one map to overtime before closing it out. Both teams are very strong, but in the regular season, MIBR took down the Americans 2-0 in two very close maps, 30 and 29 rounds respectively.

Last time, they played Inferno and Dust2, so be on the lookout for those maps once more. EG will look for Jerric "wiz" Jiang to continue his stellar form while MIBR will turn their heads toward Henrique "HEN1" Teles to take them past their toughest challenge yet.

Nouns vs ATK

These two teams have a lot to play for. With both narrowly missing the Major at the Americas RMR, they'll look towards ECL to be their opportunity to play against international teams in the future. ATK have looked deadly in ECL, only dropping one match to Vendetta. Nouns have looking strong as well, but not to that degree, finishing the regular season with a 5-2 record.

Recently, ATK have held an incredibly dominant streak over the Nouns core, defeating them the last 5 times they faced each other, albeit under different names. Nouns will need to strike back here and now to take their stand in the upper-bracket finals.

Iron Blood vs Vendetta

In another inter-group matchup, these two teams met in the regular season. Vendetta took that match but only slightly, winning the first map in the thirtieth round and the second in double overtime. This match-up will surely be just as tough, with both teams fighting for their tournament lives.

While Vendetta were incredibly strong in the regular season, they have cooled off a tad going into playoffs, so it's up to the team to make their stand against Derek "dare" Brown's hot form as of late.

Los + oNe vs Brazen

Our last match-up of the day, Los + oNe had a great regular season, dropping only a match to MIBR. However, an unfortunate game to Nouns saw them drop instantly in the playoffs. Now, they fight for their life against Brazen, who clinched playoffs even with a negative record in the regular season.

This will probably be the most one-sided affair of these four matches. Brazen must prove that they belong in the upper tier of ECL. Either that or go back home.

Tonight's Matches:
MIBR vs EG Black at 08:00PM
Nouns vs ATK at 08:00PM
Iron Blood vs Vendetta at 09:00PM
Los + oNe vs Brazen at 08:00PM