ESL Challenger League S46 group stage concludes with M80 on top

The group stage of ESL Challenger League Season 46 came to a conclusion on November 22nd after fourteen weeks, with the ten teams set to fight for the sole spot in ESL Pro League S19 determined.

With this, in lieu of any major surprises, it did help reaffirm the state of things in North America, with M80 and BOSS (ex-Wildcard) taking the top spots in the league table and earning a bye into the second round of the upper bracket with 14-0 and 12-2 records, respectively.

Alongside M80 and BOSS, the other eight teams in playoffs are as follows:

• Unjustified - 10-4 - Upper Bracket Round 1

• Evil Geniuses - 10-4 - Upper Bracket Round 1

• Party Astronauts - 10-4 - Upper Bracket Round 1

• Nouns - 9-5 - Upper Bracket Round 1

• FLUFFY AIMERS - 7-7 - Lower Bracket

• Badass - 7-7 - Lower Bracket

• Take Flyte - 6-8 - Lower Bracket

• Mythic - 6-8 - Lower Bracket

Of these teams, the most interesting storyline is Unjustified's achievement of finishing with a 10-4 record. Considering the core of this squad finished last season with a 2-5 record, their turnaround has been impressive, especially when considering their wins over the likes of Evil Geniuses and Party Astronauts.

It is also worth noting Nouns' relatively low position in the standings. This is due to Nouns' decision to forfeit their last three matches while in Europe to focus on ESL Challenger Jönköping. While they will likely regret this decision denying them a better seed, as they are still in the upper bracket, they likely aren't too broken up about it.

Moving beyond playoffs, the bottom of the league table ended up as follows:

• Eros White - 4-10 - Return for Season 47

• Rocket - 4-10 - Sent to Relegation

• Bad News Bears - 3-11 - Sent to Relegation

• Reason - 2-12 - Sent to Relegation

• kariESPORTS - 1-13 - Return for Season 47

Looking beyond Eros White and kariESPORTS, who both disbanded mid-season, the standout story down in the dumps of the league table is Bad News Bears' 3-11 season. On the one hand, they were a self-admitted "for fun" roster and had to use less-than-ideal stand-ins, however, one might have expected a bit more from Umar "Umar" Qaiser. Additionally, with Aran "Sonic" Groesbeek leaving for Wildcard, thus necessitating more stand-ins, relegation may be the last time we see the iconic NA tag.

It also must be said what a poor season Reason had. While they also had major roster troubles throughout the season, picking up a single win against Eros White right before they disbanded is fairly disappointing for the experienced core.

Here are the full standings for ESL Challenger League Season 46, courtesy of Liquipedia:

While ESL have yet to release the bracket for playoffs, the league is set to conclude in around two weeks time on December 10th, with the winner taking home $35,000 and a coveted spot in ESL Pro League Season 19.