ECS Season 8 Week 1 - Liquid, NRG, Cloud9 tested; ECS studio evacuated
The first day of the first week of ECS Season 8 has concluded, seeing Liquid, NRG, Cloud9, and Sharks progress in the tournament.
Sharks more or less had their way with INTZ, who yesterday announced the signing of Bruno "shz" Martinelli as a replacement for Giuseppe "kNgV-" Vito. shz's unfamiliarity with his new team showed, as he went 19-39 across the 2-0 series.
SharksINTZ| Sharks |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Leonardo 'leo_drk' Oliveira |
39 - 34 | +5 | 88.5 | 74.5% | 1.22 |
| Raphael 'exit' Lacerda |
39 - 26 | +13 | 74.8 | 78.4% | 1.19 |
| Jhonatan 'jnt' Silva |
35 - 28 | +7 | 71.7 | 74.5% | 1.17 |
 Ignacio 'meyern' Meyer |
36 - 33 | +3 | 80.3 | 74.5% | 1.16 |
| Luca 'Luken' Nadotti |
36 - 29 | +7 | 80.8 | 70.6% | 1.15 |
| INTZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gustavo 'yel' Knittel |
46 - 31 | +15 | 84.5 | 70.6% | 1.39 |
| Lucas 'destiny' Bullo |
31 - 37 | -6 | 65.6 | 58.8% | 0.87 |
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
30 - 39 | -9 | 62.1 | 52.9% | 0.81 |
| Alexandre 'xand' Zizi |
24 - 39 | -15 | 63.9 | 52.9% | 0.72 |
| Bruno 'shz' Martinelli |
19 - 39 | -20 | 50.8 | 54.9% | 0.67 |
eUnited looked set to make a statement as they handily took Overpass from Liquid off the back of a 12-3 Counter-Terrorist side. However, Liquid would return the favor in spades by thrashing Kaleb "moose" Jayne and co. on Mirage.
This brought the series to Nuke, and an 11-4 Terrorist half by Liquid seemed to be the final nail in eUnited's coffin. The plucky underdogs were not done yet though, as after winning the pistol they were able to bring the scoreline to within one of their opponents before falling 16-13.
LiquideUnited| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
70 - 48 | +22 | 90.9 | 77.3% | 1.37 |
| Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip |
64 - 50 | +14 | 89.8 | 73.3% | 1.33 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
55 - 44 | +11 | 83.3 | 65.3% | 1.19 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
46 - 47 | -1 | 62.6 | 70.7% | 0.97 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
40 - 47 | -7 | 66.9 | 69.3% | 0.90 |
| eUnited |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaleb 'moose' Jayne |
61 - 56 | +5 | 87.8 | 68.0% | 1.11 |
| Anthony 'vanity' Malaspina |
56 - 59 | -3 | 84.4 | 60.0% | 1.03 |
| Austin 'Cooper' Abadir |
46 - 53 | -7 | 62.0 | 64.0% | 0.90 |
 Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado |
41 - 56 | -15 | 65.8 | 66.7% | 0.84 |
| Victor 'food' Wong |
32 - 52 | -20 | 55.0 | 61.3% | 0.79 |
Viewers at home were unable to watch the end of Nuke, however, as the ECS studio was evacuated due to a bomb threat.
Fortunately, the area was deemed safe around two hours later.
Next up was NRG versus Singularity, with the latter team sporting their new yet non-standard roster for the first time. NRG took Nuke decisively, with Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte sporting a 28-14 K/D, before Josh "PwnAlone" Pigue and Singularity answered back on Overpass. The final map of the series, Inferno, was all NRG, as they battered the fledgling squad with an 11-4 Terrorist half before closing out the map 16-6.
SingularityNRG| Singularity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
46 - 48 | -2 | 71.3 | 72.0% | 1.07 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
52 - 59 | -7 | 79.0 | 64.0% | 0.95 |
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
46 - 55 | -9 | 73.8 | 72.0% | 0.91 |
| Cameron 'cam' Kern |
51 - 61 | -10 | 66.0 | 60.0% | 0.84 |
| Robert 'robby' Brown |
41 - 58 | -17 | 67.1 | 61.3% | 0.78 |
| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
64 - 43 | +21 | 74.2 | 78.7% | 1.27 |
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
55 - 44 | +11 | 73.2 | 82.7% | 1.23 |
| Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
54 - 52 | +2 | 86.5 | 81.3% | 1.19 |
| Tarik 'tarik' Celik |
51 - 52 | -1 | 84.2 | 76.0% | 1.18 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
57 - 46 | +11 | 76.8 | 73.3% | 1.15 |
The final series of the night between Cloud9 and ex-Luminosity was much in the mold of the Liquid/eUnited series, as the underdog claimed the first map before the favorite came back and handled business. Unlike the prior series, however, this one was closer throughout, as there were no blowouts to be found.
Freshly home from a disappointing finish at the Arctic Invitational, Kenneth "koosta" Suen and Tyson "TenZ" Ngo stood out for Cloud9. On the other side, ex-Luminosity were likely pleased by the performance of newcomer Felipe "skullz" Medeiros, despite the end result of the series.
Cloud9ex-Luminosity| Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kenneth 'koosta' Suen |
65 - 55 | +10 | 92.1 | 65.0% | 1.20 |
| Tyson 'TenZ' Ngo |
61 - 50 | +11 | 75.3 | 68.8% | 1.12 |
 Oscar 'mixwell' Cañellas |
51 - 47 | +4 | 68.0 | 65.0% | 0.99 |
| Damian 'daps' Steele |
50 - 52 | -2 | 72.0 | 72.5% | 0.96 |
| Timothy 'autimatic' Ta |
48 - 57 | -9 | 76.0 | 70.0% | 0.93 |
| ex-Luminosity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| João 'felps' Vasconcellos |
60 - 58 | +2 | 85.0 | 71.2% | 1.16 |
| Ricardo 'boltz' Prass |
58 - 53 | +5 | 75.7 | 72.5% | 1.10 |
| Felipe 'skullz' Medeiros |
48 - 53 | -5 | 70.5 | 70.0% | 1.01 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
49 - 57 | -8 | 70.7 | 71.2% | 1.00 |
| Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
44 - 54 | -10 | 56.6 | 65.0% | 0.83 |
The results from yesterday set up the following semifinals:
| September 17th | |||
| Liquid |
vs. | Sharks |
5 PM EDT |
| September 18th | |||
| NRG |
vs. | Cloud9 |
5 PM EDT |
The final will be played out the following day on September 19th at the same time. As a reminder, in a change from last season, the winner's of the first two brackets will not directly qualify for the ECS Season 8 Finals, but rather the team with the most prize winnings after the first two series will qualify.
