Melbourne Qualifier enters Day 2
For the rest of the world, ESL Challenger Melbourne's spots are filled with North America waiting on tonight's matches to provide the last team for the Australian LAN competition.
With Complexity already planning their travel, it remains to be seen who else from the region is headed to join up with them. Four matches have already taken place in the qualifier, which has seen ATK rise above once again to the Grand Final while Strife were sent packing after losing 2-0 to EG Black and 2-1 to Vendetta.
It was a tough break for Strife as David "J0LZ" Jolin faced technical issues in the second map against EG Black causing to coach Calvin "becker" Becker to step in. It was unfortunately not enough for the squad as they were sent down against Vendetta to play later that evening. Despite J0LZ playing in the full contest, they couldn't overcome Vendetta and would exit the closed qualifier.
ATK had one of the longer nights as they played out two full BO3s against Vendetta and EG Black, both of which they came away with the win. Vendetta's game was a back-and-forth contest as each side traded map picks with Michael "Swisher" Schmid leading the way for the international squad thanks to a 1.19 HLTV Rating.
On the other side, Silas 'silas' Marrufo was the best player on the server by far going 65-49 with an 86.5 ADR, 69.6% KAST, and a 1.24 HLTV Rating. Unfortunately, the player will be stepping aside soon to deal with personal issues, but will finish out the qualifier with the team.
The big match last night was once again between EG Black and ATK. Both sides were decently matched and like ATK's game against Vendetta, they would trade map picks as ATK would cruise to a 2-1 series win. William "RUSH" Wierzba was the dominant player for EG Black as he posted the most kills of anyone and tied Paytyn "junior" Johnson for the least amount of deaths. RUSH's 86.1 ADR, 73.1% KAST, and 1.26 Rating were some of the best out of all players, but unfortunately was not enough for the Blueprint organization.
ATK saw some monumental help coming from Ethan "reck" Serrano, who is stepping in for the team after seeing Saad "Pluto" Siraj and Aleksandar "CacaNito" Kjulukoski try their hand with the squad in the last few months. reck was the best player of the match with his 65-51 K/D line, 92.6 ADR, 74.4% KAST, and 1.29 HLTV Rating the best out of anyone.
EG BlackATK| EG Black |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 William 'RUSH' Wierzba |
66 - 49 | +17 | 86.1 | 73.1% | 1.26 |
| Paytyn 'junior' Johnson |
54 - 49 | +5 | 71.7 | 69.2% | 1.07 |
| Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott |
46 - 54 | -8 | 75.3 | 65.4% | 0.95 |
 Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
46 - 60 | -14 | 70.4 | 56.4% | 0.86 |
| Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
37 - 59 | -22 | 54.0 | 60.3% | 0.75 |
| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethan 'reck' Serrano |
65 - 51 | +14 | 92.6 | 74.4% | 1.29 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
56 - 52 | +4 | 84.6 | 67.9% | 1.13 |
| Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
56 - 46 | +10 | 71.2 | 74.4% | 1.07 |
 Gareth 'MisteM' Ries |
49 - 50 | -1 | 67.4 | 71.8% | 1.05 |
 Jonathan 'b0denmaster' Bodenmalm |
43 - 53 | -10 | 58.9 | 67.9% | 0.93 |
EG Black get another bite at the apple tonight as they play Vendetta in the Consolidation Final, where the winner of that plays against ATK in the Grand Final.
