Two squads secure ESL Impact League finals berth
CLG Red and Evil Geniuses Gold have claimed their places at the ESL Impact League Season 2 LAN Finals, set to take place in Jönköping, Sweden starting November 25th. The two regional heavyweights had no difficulties besting their opponents to secure their European trip.
CLG Red squared off against Please Send Bocks in their playoff matchup, an arduous match for the latter squad considering CLG Red's dominant 6-0 run through the group stage. This series kicked off on Please Send Bocks' pick of Dust2, where CLG Red immediately shoved their opponents aside to take an early six-round lead. Please Send Bocks answered with a streak of three rounds, but they could not muster much else as CLG Red secured a 10-5 halftime lead. CLG Red quickly finished off the second half with an unanswered six-round run to take Dust2 16-5. CLG Red's pick of Vertigo was even more one-sided, with Please Send Bocks only snagging one round as CLG Red stamped them out 16-1 to finish the series.
CLG RedPlease Send Bocks| CLG Red |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Vivienne 'BiBiAhn' Quach |
43 - 20 | +23 | 120.6 | 86.8% | 1.94 |
 Mounira 'GooseBreeder' Dobie |
40 - 23 | +17 | 111.3 | 97.4% | 1.76 |
 Coline 'Kaoday' Le Floc'h |
35 - 16 | +19 | 89.3 | 86.8% | 1.57 |
 Kelsie 'uhKelsie' Click |
27 - 17 | +10 | 70.7 | 81.6% | 1.28 |
| Marissa 'madss' Dasta |
24 - 15 | +9 | 59.9 | 81.6% | 1.18 |
| Please Send Bocks |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Kimberly 'Kimmy' Nelson |
22 - 35 | -13 | 71.6 | 68.4% | 0.69 |
| Charissa 'Senna' Hoang |
18 - 33 | -15 | 59.0 | 55.3% | 0.62 |
| Julie 'Bouchard' Bouchard |
20 - 32 | -12 | 57.6 | 55.3% | 0.61 |
| Vanessa 'vanessa' Gideon |
17 - 34 | -17 | 57.1 | 52.6% | 0.58 |
| Somalie 'smiLey' Audet |
14 - 35 | -21 | 62.5 | 42.1% | 0.54 |
On the other side of the bracket, Evil Geniuses Gold tussled with Valkyries fe for a shot at reaching Jönköping. Valkyries' selection of Ancient kicked off the series, where Evil Geniuses recovered from an early 0-3 deficit to lock down ten of the remaining twelve rounds, claiming a 10-5 lead at halftime. A pistol round win for Evil Geniuses furthered their lead, and although Valkyries were eventually able to put up some rounds of their own in the second half, Evil Geniuses' lead was simply too much to overcome as Ancient was stolen away 16-8.
EG's pick of Dust2 was a far more back-and-forth affair, with the two sides posting alternating streaks of rounds, with Valkyries ultimately coming out ahead 9-6 at the half. Although Valkyries had the momentum heading into their T-side, things rapidly fell apart as Evil Geniuses posted a formidable defense, with the latter squad winning ten rounds in a row to take the map 16-9, securing them a spot in Jönköping.
EG GoldValkyries fe| EG Gold |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucy 'empathy' Verkaik |
43 - 33 | +10 | 109.8 | 69.4% | 1.44 |
| Kiara 'm1lky' Makua |
46 - 32 | +14 | 94.6 | 75.5% | 1.38 |
| Anna 'garden' Gutierrez |
31 - 26 | +5 | 65.5 | 77.6% | 1.13 |
| Jessica 'jesscas' Ngo |
32 - 33 | -1 | 71.6 | 73.5% | 1.00 |
 Kiki 'PiggyKiki' Long |
28 - 24 | +4 | 57.7 | 73.5% | 0.99 |
| Valkyries fe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stella 'Galy' Castro |
36 - 35 | +1 | 80.7 | 67.3% | 1.05 |
| Lindsey 'Blender' Houchin |
31 - 32 | -1 | 66.2 | 61.2% | 0.98 |
| Andrea 'Andrea' Bracewell |
33 - 36 | -3 | 76.1 | 69.4% | 0.93 |
| Kristen 'PippySippy' Hendrickson |
25 - 38 | -13 | 55.6 | 69.4% | 0.78 |
| Samantha 'kyler' McGinley |
23 - 39 | -16 | 68.6 | 53.1% | 0.70 |
CLG Red and Evil Geniuses Gold will now be joining Russian squads Nigma Galaxy and NOFEAR5, Asian side HSG, ATK Female, and three more teams at the ESL Impact League Season 2 finals in Sweden later this year, with the event set to begin on November 25th.
