Mythic and Rocket advance to ESL Challenger Melbourne CQ
Late last night, the North American Open Qualifier for ESL Challenger Melbourne 2024 finished up with two teams securing spots next to the invited NRG and Party Astronauts to determine who will end up going to Melbourne to compete.
With G3 defeating Limitless the day prior and Rocket stomping MIGHT, those two first fought out their BO3 on Anubis, G3's pick. Rocket came out to an early lead but G3 followed suit. Rocket finished the half strong securing an 8-4 lead, with G3 beginning their own CT-side win with a pistol and conversion. However, from then on, Rocket left G3 on the launch pad, securing five T-sided rounds in a row to take the first map spearheaded by Matthew "nero" Seymour.
On Rocket's map pick of Mirage, it was similar scenes for the first half as an early lead for G3 was equaled and then surpassed en route to another 8-4 half. A pistol win for Rocket seemed to all but cement the victory until a flurry of CT-rounds led by Qihao "C4ALLM3SU3" Su brought the game to the wire. Unfortunately it was too little too late as Rocket secured their 13th in the final round of regulation, defeating G3 2-0 and taking a spot at the ESL Challenger Melbourne Closed Qualifier.
G3Rocket| G3 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Qihao 'C4LLM3SU3' Su |
32 - 31 | +1 | 87.8 | 62.8% | 1.06 |
 Alex 'tmk' Post |
26 - 32 | -6 | 67.0 | 65.1% | 0.90 |
 Ochirbileg 'obi' Shinebaatar |
23 - 32 | -9 | 63.4 | 65.1% | 0.79 |
| Bishrel 'N2o' Tamir |
22 - 38 | -16 | 70.3 | 67.4% | 0.76 |
 Stanley 'calamity' Chiu |
24 - 31 | -7 | 58.1 | 60.5% | 0.76 |
| Rocket |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damian 'EMIYA' Boulware |
36 - 26 | +10 | 111.9 | 81.4% | 1.49 |
| Matthew 'nero' Seymour |
37 - 24 | +13 | 81.9 | 81.4% | 1.37 |
| Ahmed 'ayy' Mahmoud |
32 - 23 | +9 | 69.8 | 76.7% | 1.23 |
| Christopher 'aleph' Froden |
34 - 22 | +12 | 78.9 | 79.1% | 1.21 |
 Nelvin 'nooz' Gonzalez |
24 - 33 | -9 | 69.8 | 69.8% | 0.81 |
For the other spot, Mythic and FLUFFY AIMERS duked it out in their own BO3. Mythic's pick of Overpass went exactly as planned, with a substantial seven rounds on T-side leading into a near-flawless CT-side taking down fellow ECL team 13-7. On this map, it was the duo of Cooper "Trucklover86" Phelps and Ryan "freakazoid" Abadir to steal the show, combining for 46 kills.
Not ready to concede FLUFFY AIMERS fought back on their own pick of Vertigo in strikingly similar fashion. Seven rounds on T-side followed by a 6-2 bout on CT-side, exactly the same as map one, put FLUFFY AIMERS on the board, led by Diego "sacrifice" Camacho's 1.65 rating.
Map three Ancient nearly went the full distance in a much closer affair than either previous battlegrounds. FA started strong with a pistol, only to be rebutted against the force-buy, yet only once more to win with a force-buy of their own. From then on, Mythic ran Ancient's CT-side, piling up round after round and preventing FA from getting consecutive rounds on the board. FLUFFY AIMERS then had to fight back on their own CT-side with only three rounds to their name. Rounds swung either way with FA taking the advantage on most, but it was a team effort on Mythic's side to eventually stagger past the finish line and win 13-10, qualifying for ESL Challenger Melbourne's Closed Qualifier.
FLUFFY AIMERSMythic| FLUFFY AIMERS |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diego 'sacrifice' Camacho |
52 - 47 | +5 | 89.7 | 77.8% | 1.21 |
| Darius 'PNDLM' Bandali |
45 - 41 | +4 | 74.8 | 79.4% | 1.13 |
| Fern 'intra' Hak |
45 - 45 | +0 | 73.6 | 71.4% | 1.04 |
| Jason 'jason' Garcia |
42 - 45 | -3 | 77.9 | 73.0% | 1.00 |
 Israel 'LEARSI' Vargas |
38 - 46 | -8 | 63.8 | 74.6% | 0.98 |
| Mythic |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicholas 'hate' Young |
57 - 41 | +16 | 90.8 | 79.4% | 1.32 |
| Ryan 'freakazoid' Abadir |
50 - 49 | +1 | 87.5 | 69.8% | 1.19 |
| Cooper 'Trucklover86' Phelps |
51 - 39 | +12 | 77.9 | 74.6% | 1.15 |
| Austin 'Cooper' Abadir |
35 - 49 | -14 | 66.1 | 74.6% | 0.91 |
| Erik 'fl0m' Flom |
29 - 44 | -15 | 60.2 | 77.8% | 0.85 |
With the four teams set, NRG, Party Astronauts, Mythic, and Rocket are set to compete for a single ESL Challenger Melbourne slot beginning Monday.
