Grading ECL Season 45 performances: Group B

With finals season and the regular season of ESL Challenger League wrapping up at the same time, what better way to recap teams' season performances than with a good old-fashioned report card? Team grades will be based upon overall placement in the season, and how each squad performed against their individual opponents.

MIBR (A+)

• Raphael "exit" Lacerda

• Matheus "Tuurtle" Anhaia

• Breno "brnz4n" Poletto

• Henrique "HEN1" Teles

• Felipe "insani" Yuji

• Bruno "BIT" Fukuda Lima

Setting the curve for the class of Group B are the Brazilian heavyweights of MIBR, locking down their second consecutive finish at the top of their ECL group. MIBR managed to improve upon their strong showing from Season 44, turning last season's 6-1 record into a spotless 7-0 record for Season 45. Few teams managed to give MIBR a run for their money, as ATK and Snakes Den were the only ones capable of taking a map off the Brazilian titans. Looking unstoppable heading into ECL playoffs, it would be difficult to assign any other grade than an A+ to the champs of Group B, with their eyes set on yet another ECL victory.

Wildcard (A-)

• Brett "brett" Rhein

• Matthew "Cryptic" Whitmore

• Jack "micro" Ryan

• Adam "freshie" Peterson

• Keller "SLIGHT" Nilan

Coming into Season 45 of ESL Challenger League after missing out on an appearance at the BLAST.tv Paris Major Americas RMR while simultaneously losing coach Joshua "m1cks" Micks, questions lingered regarding how this newly-signed squad would pan out in Group B. Despite these reasonable concerns, Wildcard exceeded expectations and accrued a strong 6-1 record, falling only to the behemoths of MIBR en route to locking in their playoff spot.

Wildcard secured straightforward victories over a number of opponents, with only ATK and Snakes Den managing to keep things close, with the latter match being defaulted to Wildcard regardless. Able to beat out most competition in their group, Wildcard have earned a grade of A-, a solid indicator of their chances as they head into ECL playoffs looking for a deep run, starting with an opening game against EG Black.

ATK (B)

• Gareth "MisteM" Ries

• Michael "Swisher" Schmid

• Ethan "reck" Serrano

• Adam "WolfY" Andersson

• Jonathan "Jonji" Carey

• Jonathan "b0denmaster" Bodenmalm

• Jonathan "djay" Dallal

ATK's performance in Group B of ECL Season 45 was marred by a mid-season shuffle which saw the exits of Jonathan "djay" Dallal and Jonathan "b0denmaster" Bodenmalm, with the former player being kicked while the latter stepped back due to disagreements in contract negotiations. Despite the hectic transformation of the roster, ATK still managed to snag enough wins to claim a place in playoffs while also going toe-to-toe with the season's strongest performers.

None of ATK's games came easy this season, as each series they played had at least one map where all thirty rounds were played out, and while that is something to be pleased with when facing squads like MIBR, it is significantly less inspiring versus Limitless or Take Flyte. Carving out a solid regular season even despite the out-of-server complications but still falling short at key hurdles, ATK earn a B as the start of their playoff campaign draws near with an opening match versus paiN.

Party Astronatus (B-)

• Josh "PwnAlone" Pigue

• Danny "cxzi" Strzelczyk

• Wesley "viz" Harris

• Ben "ben1337" Smith

• Connor "chop" Sullivan

Party Astronauts' first season since the revival of the tag has culminated in an ECL playoffs appearance, but only by the skin of their teeth. The Astronauts found themselves firmly in the middle of the pack in Group B, unable to contend with the heavy hitters of MIBR, Wildcard, and ATK, while simultaneously moving past Limitless, Take Flyte, and Snakes Den without dropping a map. Ultimately, a forfeit win over Strife would be the deciding factor in the Astronauts' claiming a playoff spot, earning the team a B- performance for a not-so-out-of-this-world regular-season showing.

Strife (C+)

• Gage "Infinite" Green

• Bobby "stamina" Eitrem

• Anthony "CLASIA" Kearney

• Matthew "d4rty" Paplawskas

• Ian "motm" Hardy

• Paul "aris" Wilson

Of all the final results in Group B, Strife's absolutely could have been the most different. Making use of Paul "aris" Wilson for the early portion of the season in order to retain their core from Season 44, Strife managed to lock down a solid 3-1 record which included a win over ATK and a close double-overtime map loss to MIBR. Following aris' official exit, Strife would only notch one series played with Ian "motm" Hardy, a confident 2-0 win over Take Flyte.

Unfortunately, unable to field a full roster for their final two games of the season versus Party Astronauts and Wildcard, Strife find themselves missing out on a playoff appearance despite their promising performances. Poor attendance has brought Strife's final grade down to a C, although with this promising roster the team have a phenomenal chance of improving upon that in Season 46.

Snakes Den (C)

• Dylan "DJF" Ferreria

• McKinley "Cyrix" Hollison

• Sebastian "Seb" Dietrich

• Mason "Lake" Sanderson

• Kyle "Wolffe" Greenfield

• Dwight "Calix" Nguyen

Sneaking into ECL Season 45 off the back of the collapse of Vendetta, expectations for Snakes Den were not particularly high as the season kicked off. A close loss to Party Astronauts in their debut match inspired some confidence, but the team was struck a heavy blow by the loss of Dwight "Calix" Nguyen, with the improper use of Kyle "Wolffe" Greenfield as a substitute earning the team a forfeit loss to Wildcard. With Wolffe properly registered for their remaining matches, Snakes Den fell to ATK and Strife, taking a map off the latter squad, and besting Take Flyte 2-0.

Snakes Den's proudest accomplishment of the season is no doubt dragging their series versus MIBR to a third map, a feat only replicated by ATK this season. The Snakes were unable to convert their opening map win and ultimately collapsed in the remainder of the series, but cleaned up their season with another 2-0 victory, this time over Limitless. For a team that was not even supposed to be in ECL in the first place, Snakes Den can look back on their results with some satisfaction. With that being said, there is still much more work to be done by the squad, earning them a C grade as they are poised to return to ECL relegation.

Take Flyte (D)

• Umar "Umar" Qaiser

• Nick "nicx" Lee

• Noah "Nifty" Francis

• Liam "xCAPE" Redmond

• Owen "SummY" Mustard

• Kyle "Wolffe" Greenfield

Finishing first place in Season 44 of Advanced and bolstered by the addition of veteran player Noah "Nifty" Francis, Take Flyte absolutely had the opportunity to impress in Season 45 of ECL. A close opening win versus Limitless was a solid start to the season but that was immediately followed with a quick 0-2 loss to Wildcard. Shortly afterward, Kyle "Wolffe" Greenfield would depart Take Flyte for Snakes Den, leading to the squad's utilization of Owen "SummY" Mustard.

For the remainder of the season, Take Flyte were unable to procure even a single map win from their opponents, with only a single player, Umar "Umar" Qaiser, not firmly in the red as far as individual stats go. After such a strong performance in Advanced, Take Flyte now sulk towards ECL Relegation with not much to show beyond a D grade.

Limitless (F)

• Max "Makzwell" Sparrey

• Matthew "scar" Bruni

• Kamron "kmrn" Manii

• Josh "JBa" Barutt

• Adam "Grizz" Golden

Limitless showed some promise in their previous season of ECL, notably snatching a series win over ATK before being shipped back to ECL Relegation. Unfortunately for the young squad, there was not even a glimmer of hope to be found this time around. A close opening loss to Take Flyte was immediately followed up by another narrow loss to ATK, but the team found themselves unable to lay claim to any more maps from this point forward.

Limitless will now be returning to ESEA Advanced for Season 46, after giving this roster a taste of ECL for two seasons. With this squad accruing only a single series win across two seasons of ECL, the team will be looking to drastically improve their game as they make their return to Advanced for Season 46, with their bottom-of-the-group performance earning Limitless the unenviable F grade.

Group B's playoff squads, MIBR, Wildcard, ATK, and Party Astronauts, will begin their runs in the post-season in a matter of days, with the quarterfinal matches set to begin Sunday at 08:00PM.