ATK and Singularity charge ahead in WINNERS League playoffs
Almost the entirety of the WINNERS League Season 2 playoffs round of 16 has concluded, with just one matchup between Lazarus and Lowkey left to be played. Two of the quarterfinals have also concluded, seeing ATK and Singularity through to the top four.
Notably, only two matchups thus far have resulted in a full three-map series being played, with ATK picking up a 2-1 win in their initial matchup before moving on to repeat the result in the quarterfinals. Despite both series going the distance, neither proved to be difficult affairs for the South African side, with the team's Canadian stand-in Tyson "TenZ" Ngo helping to reverse-sweep Party Astronauts and ex-Zone, dropping Dust2 against both of their opponents before securing victories on Mirage, Overpass, and Inferno.
ATKParty Astronauts| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tyson 'TenZ' Ngo |
48 - 38 | +10 | 81.1 | 73.9% | 1.21 |
 Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
47 - 45 | +2 | 78.1 | 72.5% | 1.17 |
| Rhys 'Fadey' Armstrong |
52 - 44 | +8 | 79.5 | 72.5% | 1.10 |
| Roberto 'blackpoisoN' Dall'Occo |
46 - 49 | -3 | 67.7 | 68.1% | 1.01 |
| Dominic 'Domsterr' Sampaio |
43 - 43 | +0 | 67.7 | 75.4% | 0.95 |
| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ian 'motm' Hardy |
49 - 48 | +1 | 80.3 | 69.6% | 1.07 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
42 - 55 | -13 | 76.1 | 69.6% | 1.02 |
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
45 - 41 | +4 | 61.5 | 66.7% | 1.02 |
| Robert 'robby' Brown |
48 - 48 | +0 | 74.0 | 69.6% | 1.02 |
| Brenden 'stellar' McGrath |
35 - 44 | -9 | 56.1 | 62.3% | 0.84 |
ATKRugratz| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyson 'TenZ' Ngo |
78 - 53 | +25 | 93.2 | 72.8% | 1.34 |
| Roberto 'blackpoisoN' Dall'Occo |
66 - 50 | +16 | 81.3 | 77.8% | 1.23 |
| Dominic 'Domsterr' Sampaio |
59 - 52 | +7 | 80.6 | 75.3% | 1.11 |
| Rhys 'Fadey' Armstrong |
47 - 58 | -11 | 70.7 | 69.1% | 0.94 |
| Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
45 - 57 | -12 | 62.1 | 63.0% | 0.85 |
| Rugratz |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander 'zanz' Diaz |
62 - 59 | +3 | 81.4 | 66.7% | 1.16 |
| Marian 'tyfoon' Lesnic |
58 - 61 | -3 | 81.7 | 71.6% | 1.10 |
| Joshua 'Hunter' Madore |
51 - 56 | -5 | 65.2 | 65.4% | 0.97 |
| Tyler 'tweiss' Weiss |
52 - 63 | -11 | 74.9 | 66.7% | 0.94 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
46 - 57 | -11 | 61.0 | 56.8% | 0.85 |
The remaining round of 16 matches went much as expected, with the favored sides picking up 2-0 victories on their road to a spot in the quarterfinals. INTZ had little trouble dispatching of Polar Ace with two one-sided halves while their Brazilian countrymen from oNe mirrored the result with their own 2-0 win over Prospects.
The stream team of Mythic were also swiftly sent packing by ex-Zone, who were fielding former 15-year-old member Nathan "leaf" Orf in place of Noah "ULTRA" Giesbrecht due to issues with the player's computer. On the opposite side of the bracket, the former eUnited duo of Skyler "Relyks" Weaver and Will "dazzLe" Loafman made short work of The Quest on Mirage and Overpass, stopping the team from getting double digit rounds on either map on the road to a 2-0 finish.
The most dominant results from the first round of play came from Singularity and Bad News Bears, who defeated Big Frames and Dogs of War, respectively, to earn their spot in the quarterfinals. Neither of the fallen teams were able to muster more than nine rounds combined in their series, with Ricky "floppy" Kemery leading the way for Singularity and Peter "ptr" Gurney taking control for Bad News Bears.
Singularity's winning ways continued into their quarterfinal matchup against oNe, with Ryan "ryann" Welsh helping his side make up for a dismal 7 round half on the CT-side of Nuke by granting the Brazilians just four rounds of their own for a 16-12 victory. ryann's performance continued on Train, where he was joined by Cameron "hydrex" Kern and Josh "oSee" Ohm in garnering a 9-1 lead to open up the map.
That lead was extended to 11-4 at the half, but a resurgence from oNe allowed for the Brazilians to win nine of the ensuing eleven rounds to tie up the match at 13-13. Unwilling to relent, a final trio of rounds went the way of Singularity as they edged out the win on their opponent's map pick 16-13, earning themselves a spot in the top four.
SingularityTeamOne| Singularity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan 'ryann' Welsh |
49 - 34 | +15 | 83.1 | 78.9% | 1.34 |
| Cameron 'cam' Kern |
46 - 34 | +12 | 85.5 | 80.7% | 1.26 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
43 - 34 | +9 | 73.1 | 71.9% | 1.16 |
| Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
35 - 39 | -4 | 72.8 | 82.5% | 1.00 |
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
29 - 36 | -7 | 65.0 | 71.9% | 0.99 |
| TeamOne |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Alencar 'trk' Rossato |
38 - 41 | -3 | 80.9 | 66.7% | 1.03 |
| Bruno 'BIT' Fukuda Lima |
34 - 41 | -7 | 70.4 | 71.9% | 0.99 |
| Bruno 'b4rtiN' Câmara |
36 - 33 | +3 | 59.1 | 77.2% | 0.98 |
| Victor 'iDk' Torraca |
39 - 46 | -7 | 73.2 | 73.7% | 0.95 |
| Pedro 'Maluk3' Campos |
30 - 41 | -11 | 61.1 | 61.4% | 0.80 |
One round of 16 matchup remains, with Lazarus set to go up against Lowkey later this week. The winner of that match will face off against Bad News Bears in one of the two remaining quarterfinals, while INTZ and New Identity are already set to go head-to-head in the coming days. The complete bracket for the playoffs can be found on the HLTV event page.
