FURIA and Singularity advance to MDL Season 31 grand finals
The semifinal round of MDL Season 31 playoffs have come to an end, with FURIA and Singularity securing themselves spots in the grand finals following victories over Party Astronauts and ATK, respectively.
The Brazilians from FURIA were the first to claim victory in their bout against Party Astronauts, picking up relatively easy victories on Overpass and Nuke.
The situation initially looked grim for Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato's side as Party Astronauts opened up the series with a 3-0 lead, with FURIA only managing two in reply before Ben "ben1337" Smith and co. pushed their way up to a 7-2 scoreline. A resurgence towards the end of the half from FURIA allowed for the Brazilians to string together five rounds, running the back score to 7-8 as the sides swapped over.
Party Astronauts quickly attained double digits as the second pistol round went their way, but once the economy for FURIA had stabilized it was a whole different ball game. Relentless aggression from FURIA on B saw KSCERATO and co. begin racking up rounds, with the team mustering nine straight and securing a 2vs5 victory in the final round to take the map 16-10.
Party Astronauts fared no better on FURIA's pick of Nuke, with Vinicius "VINI" Figueiredo opening up FURIA's T-side by picking up an ace to recover a 2vs5 situation. From there, FURIA were able to take firm control as they pushed their way up to a 5-0 lead. A handful of rounds towards the end of the half went the way of Party Astronauts, but the Brazilians remained firmly in control with a 10-5 scoreline as they swapped over to the defense.
A three round streak allowed for ben1337 and co. to narrow the deficit, but much like on Overpass, FURIA were swift to answer back. Once they regained control, FURIA were unrelenting, winning the next six rounds straight to close out the map 16-8 and secure their spot in the grand finals.
FURIAParty Astronauts| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
45 - 28 | +17 | 80.1 | 78.0% | 1.38 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
33 - 28 | +5 | 79.7 | 80.0% | 1.28 |
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
34 - 26 | +8 | 84.4 | 80.0% | 1.24 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
38 - 32 | +6 | 76.9 | 64.0% | 1.19 |
| Rinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior |
34 - 31 | +3 | 77.3 | 78.0% | 1.09 |
| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
32 - 39 | -7 | 73.9 | 60.0% | 0.95 |
| Robert 'robby' Brown |
32 - 36 | -4 | 70.0 | 60.0% | 0.92 |
| Ian 'motm' Hardy |
27 - 36 | -9 | 62.4 | 64.0% | 0.87 |
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
28 - 37 | -9 | 57.9 | 66.0% | 0.85 |
| Brenden 'stellar' McGrath |
26 - 36 | -10 | 66.8 | 60.0% | 0.79 |
The second semifinal matchup bore little resemblence to the first, with Singularity completely dominating ATK on the opening map of Inferno before struggling to close out their own map pick of Vertigo, leading to a third map. There, the score was once again one-sided as Singularity dispatched of their opponents in quick fashion, leading to a 2-1 series victory.
A stellar performance from 21-year-old in-game leader Alan "Shakezullah" Hardeman was the catalyst for Singularity on ATK's pick of Inferno, with the South African side managing just two rounds in the opening half of the map. A pistol round victory in the second half helped ATK forstall their execution for six additional rounds, but the score remained firmly in the favor of Singularity as the team eventually closed out the map 16-7.
Singularity seemed set for a swift series sweep as their own pick of Veritgo got underway, with ATK managing to post four rounds early on before Singularity took firm control of the proceedings. ATK managed just one additional round in the half as Singularity powered their way to a 10-5 T-side half, putting themselves in touching distance of closing out the map.
A pistol round win following the side swap allowed for Singularity to further extend their lead to 12-5, but that was where their momentum was brought to an abrupt halt. An incredible performance from ATK's Canadian stand-in, Tyson "TenZ" Ngo, allowed for the South African roster to rally back on their own T-side, giving up just a single round on the road to a narrow 16-13 victory. TenZ ended the 29-round game with 39 frags to his name, averaging 114 damage per round and mustering a 1.81 map rating to help his team over the finish line.
ATK continued in their winning ways as the deciding map of Train got underway, taking a 3-0 lead on the offense to open up the map. Their lead didn't hold for long however, with SIngularity winning five rounds in reply before battling back-and-forth to edge out a 9-6 scoreline at the half.
Much like on Vertigo, Singularity extended their lead with another pistol round victory, this time by adding a full trio of rounds to pull ahead 12-6. A clutch by TenZ gave ATK their first round win, but the team quickly found their economy crushed as Singularity immediately replied back to remain in control. From there, it was smooth sailing for Shakezullah's side, with Josh "oSee" Ohm powering his team to a 16-7 finish to take the series 2-1.
ATKSingularity| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tyson 'TenZ' Ngo |
65 - 55 | +10 | 86.2 | 64.0% | 1.20 |
 Roberto 'blackpoisoN' Dall'Occo |
50 - 57 | -7 | 71.6 | 72.0% | 1.00 |
| Dominic 'Domsterr' Sampaio |
45 - 52 | -7 | 62.6 | 72.0% | 0.92 |
| Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
35 - 55 | -20 | 62.7 | 65.3% | 0.78 |
| Rhys 'Fadey' Armstrong |
29 - 62 | -33 | 49.7 | 54.7% | 0.61 |
| Singularity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
66 - 44 | +22 | 87.7 | 81.3% | 1.38 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
64 - 41 | +23 | 83.7 | 77.3% | 1.34 |
| Cameron 'cam' Kern |
57 - 44 | +13 | 85.6 | 76.0% | 1.22 |
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
53 - 39 | +14 | 75.1 | 70.7% | 1.13 |
| Ryan 'ryann' Welsh |
39 - 57 | -18 | 62.4 | 72.0% | 0.87 |
FURIA and Singularity are the finalists of MDL Season 31, and will face off on LAN for a spot in ESL Pro League Season 10 next month. ATK and Party Astronauts are set to play in a third place decider match tomorrow at 9:30 PM EDT, with the winner earning a spot in ESL Pro League Relegation.
