M80 are headed to Atlanta
M80 are officially going ESL Challenger Atlanta after they took down Evil Geniuses in a comfortable 2-0 win. The upcoming December event is only the second biggest Counter-Strike event to be held in the United States and will also be the biggest, and first, Counter-Strike 2 event held in the country.
Despite barely playing at all with new arrival Fritz "slaxz-" Dietrich, the squad looked comfortable as they cruised through both the open and closed qualifiers of the event, despite an initial hiccup against Party Astronauts in the opening matchup on Wednesday afternoon. Despite losing that matchup, the squad did not drop a single map for the rest of the event as they came from the lower-bracket to take down Wildcard, Party Astronauts, and eventually Evil Geniuses in the final.
As for Evil Geniuses, this is another blow to the squad and the organization who are currently rumored to be leaving the scene entirely. The organization earned an invite, somewhat controversially, to the closed qualifier where they made the Grand Final by defeating Wildcard and Party Astronauts.
During the match, M80 came out roaring as they dominated on their T-side of Vertigo, leading to a 10-2 half. While Evil Geniuses were able to make some effort in a comeback, it wasn't long before the international squad shut that down 13-8 to take an opening lead. EG's pick of Ancient went in a similar way, with M80 taking the first half lead 7-5 before dominating on their T-side to close it out 13-6.
Evil GeniusesM80| Evil Geniuses |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Timothy 'autimatic' Ta |
31 - 29 | +2 | 87.5 | 70.0% | 1.12 |
 Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
22 - 31 | -9 | 65.5 | 65.0% | 0.86 |
| Paytyn 'junior' Johnson |
24 - 26 | -2 | 48.2 | 67.5% | 0.80 |
| Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott |
18 - 28 | -10 | 62.2 | 67.5% | 0.77 |
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
16 - 29 | -13 | 49.8 | 65.0% | 0.65 |
| M80 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
33 - 24 | +9 | 82.4 | 85.0% | 1.34 |
 Fritz 'slaxz-' Dietrich |
28 - 18 | +10 | 67.9 | 77.5% | 1.19 |
 Marcus 'maNkz' Kjeldsen |
28 - 27 | +1 | 75.2 | 67.5% | 1.15 |
| Ethan 'reck' Serrano |
28 - 22 | +6 | 78.3 | 75.0% | 1.11 |
 Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa |
26 - 24 | +2 | 71.8 | 75.0% | 1.04 |
M80, now with just a few days in their new roster, are heading to their second LAN since the squad was created as the sixth team at ESL Challenger Atlanta. Dust2.us will also be in attendance at the event, providing live updates and interviews.
