INTZ and Riot Squad advance to Global Challenge playoffs; Rugratz and Triumph eliminated
The first day of the ESEA MDL Global Challenge Season 32 has concluded, seeing Rugratz and Triumph swiftly eliminated while INTZ and Riot Squad have continued into playoffs.
Rugratz dropped the first series of the day, falling to the newly promoted forZe squad in a one-sided 16-4 match on Mirage. The same fate befell Riot Squad as they were also succinctly bested by Spirit in a 16-4 loss on Nuke.
Over in Group B, INTZ finally delivered a win for the Americas as they pulled off a convincing 16-7 win against ORDER on Train. As for Triumph, they played the closest opening match, unfortunately dropping Mirage to HAVU 16-13 following a strong performance by Finnish player Olli "sLowi" Pitkänen.
Continuing into the elimination matches, Riot Squad made relatively quick work of Rugratz, winning Dust 2 and Train to secure the 2-0. Starting on Dust 2, after Rugratz claimed their CT-side pistol and the following eco round, Riot Squad managed to win the next ten rounds in a row before Rugratz found the last three rounds to close the gap. Once the two teams switched sides, Rugratz quickly whittled down Riot Squad's lead as they won five out of the first six rounds to narrow the round deficit to a single round. However, Rugratz never managed to take the lead as Riot Squad closed out the map after winning the next five rounds in a row.
Moving onto Train, Riot Squad managed to win the half once again, putting up a strong CT-side to find a 9-6 lead. Moving onto their CT-side Rugratz attempted to overpower Riot Squad as they again managed to close the gap down by a single round at 10-11. Much like last time, Riot Squad never let them have the chance as they only conceded one more round before closing out the map 16-11.
RugratzRiot Squad| Rugratz |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Alexander 'zanz' Diaz |
35 - 40 | -5 | 72.2 | 67.9% | 0.97 |
| Joshua 'Hunter' Madore |
34 - 36 | -2 | 67.0 | 54.7% | 0.96 |
| Daniel 'roca' Gustaferri |
30 - 41 | -11 | 58.6 | 52.8% | 0.78 |
 Erik 'penny' Penny |
32 - 42 | -10 | 65.5 | 54.7% | 0.78 |
| Corey 'flashstep' Parks |
24 - 41 | -17 | 57.6 | 60.4% | 0.67 |
| Riot Squad |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mitch 'mitch' Semago |
43 - 26 | +17 | 92.0 | 79.2% | 1.39 |
| Pujan 'FNS' Mehta |
51 - 32 | +19 | 90.5 | 77.4% | 1.39 |
| Austin 'crashies' Roberts |
44 - 36 | +8 | 95.9 | 73.6% | 1.28 |
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
40 - 30 | +10 | 73.8 | 73.6% | 1.14 |
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
22 - 31 | -9 | 51.3 | 69.8% | 0.89 |
Over in Group B's elimination match Triumph were sent packing following two close maps against the Australian ORDER squad. Starting the series on Inferno, Triumph struggled to get things going, only grabbing a handful of CT-side rounds before ORDER secured the half 10-5. After switching sides Triumph won the T-side pistol and the next two rounds before ORDER won the next five rounds in a row to secure map point. Triumph once again closed the distance as they found three more rounds however, they stumbled allowing ORDER to win the map 16-11.
On Nuke, Triumph managed to win their secure their T-side 9-6 following a strong performance from Jack "xCeeD" Holiman. However, their lead didn't last long as Jordan "Hatz" Bajic and co. closed the distance, outpacing Triumph to narrowly win the series with a 16-14 win on Nuke.
ORDERTriumph| ORDER |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jordan 'Hatz' Bajic |
53 - 33 | +20 | 95.4 | 78.9% | 1.48 |
| Chris 'emagine' Rowlands |
42 - 39 | +3 | 84.6 | 64.9% | 1.10 |
| Alistair 'aliStair' Johnston |
33 - 33 | +0 | 66.6 | 63.2% | 1.03 |
| Karlo 'USTILO' Pivac |
33 - 36 | -3 | 61.8 | 68.4% | 0.95 |
| Matthew 'Valiance' Hartrick |
28 - 34 | -6 | 54.9 | 71.9% | 0.89 |
| Triumph |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack 'xCeeD' Holiman |
45 - 39 | +6 | 81.1 | 71.9% | 1.19 |
| Ryan 'Snakes' Amann |
37 - 40 | -3 | 80.4 | 63.2% | 0.99 |
| Michael 'Grim' Wince |
30 - 36 | -6 | 65.6 | 61.4% | 0.94 |
| Logan 'Voltage' Long |
28 - 36 | -8 | 60.4 | 71.9% | 0.91 |
| Gabe 'Spongey' Greiner |
34 - 39 | -5 | 61.5 | 63.2% | 0.86 |
With only two teams from the Americas left in contention, Riot Squad faced off against Spirit in an incredibly close three-map series.
Beginning the action on Mirage, Spirit started the series in the lead as they claimed six rounds in a row on their T-side. Following Spirit’s strong start, Riot Squad prevented the half from snowballing out of control as they rallied and won eight out the last nine rounds to narrowly secure a one rounds lead heading into their T-side. After their strong performance on their CT-side, Riot Squad were outplayed in the second half as while they were able to string together five more rounds, Spirit looked in control as they claimed the map 16-13.
After a rough start on Mirage, Inferno ended up being a strong map for Pujan "FNS" Mehta and co. as they launched onto their T-side, winning the first four rounds in a row before holding onto the lead to take the half 9-6. Upon switching sides, Riot Squad kept up the pressure as they secured six rounds in a row to secure map point, managing to force a third map with a 16-10 scoreline.
With the series tied up, Riot Squad and Spirit were in a dead heat on Train as Riot Squad managed to pull ahead and take the opening half 8-7. Following this, Peter "ptr" Gurney put in a vintage performance as his team managed to hold off Spirit, making their way to playoffs with a 16-13 win.
SpiritRiot Squad| Spirit |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakov |
64 - 50 | +14 | 69.0 | 63.1% | 1.06 |
 Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhev |
57 - 56 | +1 | 74.2 | 66.7% | 1.05 |
| Artem 'iDISBALANCE' Egorov |
52 - 55 | -3 | 70.7 | 65.5% | 0.99 |
| Nikolay 'mir' Bityukov |
48 - 64 | -16 | 69.8 | 60.7% | 0.82 |
| Boris 'magixx' Vorobiev |
42 - 63 | -21 | 62.6 | 63.1% | 0.78 |
| Riot Squad |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pujan 'FNS' Mehta |
67 - 51 | +16 | 89.2 | 79.8% | 1.31 |
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
63 - 42 | +21 | 71.0 | 78.6% | 1.25 |
| Austin 'crashies' Roberts |
54 - 59 | -5 | 75.8 | 65.5% | 1.00 |
| Mitch 'mitch' Semago |
56 - 55 | +1 | 71.5 | 67.9% | 0.96 |
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
48 - 57 | -9 | 66.9 | 61.9% | 0.95 |
After an incredibly close series to end Group A, INTZ managed to decisively take down ORDER with one-sided victories on Inferno and Mirage.
On Inferno, INTZ won their CT-side up 10-5. Following that, they only allowed the Australians one more round before closing out the map 16-6.
Following their strong performance on Inferno, INTZ managed to win the first half of Mirage even more decisively, with Bruno "shz" Martinelli and co. ending it up 11-4. After a minor scare as ORDER won the first four rounds in a row, INTZ won the next five rounds in a row to secure the series with a 16-8 win.
INTZORDER| INTZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Bruno 'shz' Martinelli |
43 - 25 | +18 | 93.7 | 76.1% | 1.43 |
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
40 - 33 | +7 | 93.3 | 84.8% | 1.42 |
| Alexandre 'xand' Zizi |
38 - 18 | +20 | 82.6 | 80.4% | 1.38 |
| Ricardo 'boltz' Prass |
31 - 22 | +9 | 82.3 | 78.3% | 1.29 |
| Gustavo 'yel' Knittel |
29 - 26 | +3 | 61.5 | 67.4% | 1.03 |
| ORDER |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew 'Valiance' Hartrick |
39 - 32 | +7 | 96.4 | 71.7% | 1.26 |
| Jordan 'Hatz' Bajic |
24 - 36 | -12 | 66.6 | 58.7% | 0.81 |
| Alistair 'aliStair' Johnston |
25 - 37 | -12 | 62.1 | 58.7% | 0.75 |
| Karlo 'USTILO' Pivac |
23 - 39 | -16 | 55.8 | 56.5% | 0.65 |
| Chris 'emagine' Rowlands |
13 - 37 | -24 | 40.0 | 58.7% | 0.53 |
With both groups concluded, the two semifinal matches will look as follows:
| forZe |
vs. | INTZ |
 HAVU |
vs. | Riot Squad |
