Party Astronauts overcome NRG, punch their tickets to Melbourne
After falling to NRG to the lower bracket in the upper bracket final during day one, Party Astronauts beat Mythic to set up a rematch where the winner would secure the tickets to the ESL Challenger Melbourne. PA ended up taking the grand final win against NRG, getting revenge and the three-day voucher to down-under.
For NRG, this is the fifth qualifier in a row that the team is unable to win, having previously lost a spot in the PGL Copenhagen Major Americas RMR, IEM Chengdu Closed Qualifier twice, BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, and now ESL Challenger Melbourne.
Picking things up in the lower bracket final between Mythic and Party Astronauts, the stream team started the series with a heavy loss on their own pick of Overpass 13-4. PA would then get stunned on their home map of Anubis 13-3 after a 10-2 T-side half from Mythic. The match was decided on Ancient, where things were close at the half, as PA went to the T-side with a 7-5 advantage. Mythic could only get one round during the second half, with PA taking the win 13-6. Colby "Walco" Walsh put up an 11-2 K-D during the T-side of the last map, which only lasted seven rounds.
Party AstronautsMythic| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
46 - 39 | +7 | 102.6 | 73.1% | 1.34 |
| Adam 'WolfY' Andersson |
41 - 30 | +11 | 79.6 | 78.8% | 1.22 |
 Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
37 - 35 | +2 | 73.2 | 75.0% | 1.04 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
36 - 36 | +0 | 74.5 | 75.0% | 0.99 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
28 - 33 | -5 | 61.4 | 75.0% | 0.91 |
| Mythic |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicholas 'hate' Young |
41 - 39 | +2 | 74.7 | 73.1% | 1.13 |
| Austin 'Cooper' Abadir |
38 - 35 | +3 | 73.5 | 67.3% | 1.02 |
| Erik 'fl0m' Flom |
35 - 40 | -5 | 73.4 | 73.1% | 1.02 |
| Cooper 'Trucklover86' Phelps |
26 - 35 | -9 | 70.5 | 69.2% | 0.97 |
| Ryan 'freakazoid' Abadir |
32 - 40 | -8 | 67.4 | 67.3% | 0.89 |
In the Grand Final, NRG got things underway on their pick of Inferno by blowing out the org-less squad with a 10-2 T-side half. Party Astronauts were not giving up, though. On the back of Adam "WolfY" Andersson's almost flawless offensive side, PA mounted a huge comeback to take Inferno 13-11 as they only dropped a single round on the T-side. PA headed to their pick of Anubis Anubis and managed to control NRG's T-side this time, heading to halftime with an 8-4 lead. On the offense now, PA also couldn't close it out in regulation, sending the game to overtime. There, however, they were able to quickly finish the series 16-12 in a flawless overtime.
NRGParty Astronauts| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
42 - 34 | +8 | 89.0 | 76.9% | 1.22 |
| Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
37 - 27 | +10 | 74.5 | 82.7% | 1.15 |
| Damian 'daps' Steele |
37 - 35 | +2 | 80.3 | 75.0% | 1.06 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
37 - 35 | +2 | 64.1 | 71.2% | 0.95 |
| Justin 'FaNg' Coakley |
22 - 38 | -16 | 55.4 | 65.4% | 0.70 |
| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adam 'WolfY' Andersson |
45 - 28 | +17 | 82.8 | 73.1% | 1.36 |
| Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
36 - 38 | -2 | 78.7 | 76.9% | 1.08 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
34 - 37 | -3 | 72.9 | 75.0% | 0.94 |
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
28 - 36 | -8 | 59.3 | 71.2% | 0.85 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
24 - 36 | -12 | 52.0 | 76.9% | 0.84 |
With this win, Party Astronauts have secured a spot in the ESL Challenger Melbourne, joining Apeks, MIBR, Rebels, Rooster, Newhappy, sunday school, and one more European team yet to be defined. The event will run from April 26th until April 28th and features a $100,000 prize pool.
