MIBR to ECS Season 8 Week 5 grand finals over ATK; voo wins Community Caster Challenge
MIBR have won the second semifinal matchup in the fifth and final week of ECS Season 8, taking down ATK 2-0 to earn themselves a spot in the grand finals against eUnited.
The series kicked off on MIBR's pick of Mirage, but it was ATK who took an early lead by winning six of the first seven rounds. The latter portions of the half were all MIBR however, with ATK mustering only one additional round on the offense as the Brazilians edged out an 8-7 lead at the half.
Another solid start to a half had ATK taking back control for an 11-9 scoreline, but a five-round streak from MIBR allowed Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo's side to quickly fight back and put themselves just two rounds from a map victory. A comeback effort from ATK gave Ian "motm" Hardy and company the opening to force overtime, but it was MIBR who eventually prevailed to take a 22-19 victory.
A similar scenario unfolded on Inferno, seeing ATK up three rounds before MIBR were able to respond. Five rounds in reply put the Brazilian side in the lead, although ATK were able to keep the scoreline close as a back-and-forth trading of rounds at the end of the half once again kept the teams within one round of each other as the sides swapped over.
The swap to the offense proved to be the key for MIBR as a pistol round win was quickly converted into a three-round spree, putting them at 11-7. ATK were only able to add a single round to their tally before MIBR shut them down, making up for a number of man advantages with stellar entry frags to take the map 16-8.
MIBRATK| MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
60 - 37 | +23 | 93.9 | 73.8% | 1.45 |
| Vito 'kNgV-' Giuseppe |
56 - 38 | +18 | 85.6 | 73.8% | 1.31 |
| Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
46 - 40 | +6 | 79.8 | 78.5% | 1.19 |
| Lucas 'LUCAS1' Teles |
43 - 42 | +1 | 67.0 | 73.8% | 1.04 |
| Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
39 - 47 | -8 | 73.4 | 66.2% | 0.94 |
| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
54 - 47 | +7 | 86.6 | 70.8% | 1.14 |
 Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek |
46 - 46 | +0 | 83.0 | 60.0% | 1.05 |
| Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
35 - 47 | -12 | 67.8 | 64.6% | 0.86 |
| Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
37 - 50 | -13 | 59.4 | 63.1% | 0.84 |
| Ian 'motm' Hardy |
32 - 55 | -23 | 53.8 | 56.9% | 0.67 |
While the series was underway, Canadian caster Donnie "voo" Par announced that he had been selected as the North American winner of the ECS Season 8 Community Caster Challenge, earning himself a trip to the LAN finals in Arlington, Texas to be a part of the broadcast team.
MIBR will take on eUnited tomorrow at 6 PM EDT for the final spot at the ECS Season 8 Finals.
