Yeah to face GGPR or Rise in Advanced grand final
The stage is set for the final few series in the ESEA Advanced Season 35 playoffs, with a direct spot in ESEA MDL Season 36 still a possibility for Yeah, GGPR, and Rise. Meanwhile, a berth in Relegation remains a possibility for SKDC and ex-Thunder Logic.
In the lower bracket final only the opening map of Mirage ended up being competitive, as Rise got an early boost in the series from Kevin "consti" Yi's 32 kill performance, which ended up being necessary to halt GSG9's second-half comeback effort at thirteen rounds and convert their first match point into a 1-0 series lead. Johnny "JDubs" Wu led GSG9 with 25 kills in the loss.
GSG9's squad went on to answer with a dominant 13-2 opening half on Train, which allowed them to close out the map and even the series at their leisure. Devin "Xzen" Barber led the way with 21 frags for GSG9, a feat matched by consti for Rise.
Rise flipped the script on GSG9 in the Overpass decider, where they jumped out to an 11-4 lead on their CT side and never looked back. The lone Canadian in the server, Filip "Feedalee" Fitevski, led all players with 22 kills, while Richie "sherps" Sherpa led GSG9 with 16 kills in the loss.
To kick-off the upper bracket final, Yeah strung together seven consecutive first half rounds on Inferno en route to a 10-5 halftime lead. GGPR didn't find any answers when it came to stopping Yeah after the switch to CT-side either, where they managed just two rounds before Yeah reached the required sixteen. Arthur "f4stzin" Schmitt led the server with 21 kills in the win for Yeah, while Victor "v1c" T., GGPR's 15-year-old budding talent, led the way in the loss with 20 frags of his own.
Yeah jumped out to a 12-3 lead after their T-side on Mirage, but had some problems shutting GGPR's offensive down at first after the side switch. v1c continued to be a bright spot for GGPR and top-fragged alongside Jeorge "jeorgesnorts" Endicott, with both players finishing the map with 16 kills. Eduardo "dumau" Wolkmer popped off and had 28 kills for Yeah as the Brazilian-American side punched their ticket to the best-of-five final.
ESEA have confirmed that in lieu of a team being invited to Relegation, the final spot will be decided by a tiebreaker between SKDC and ex-Thunder Logic.
As such, the remaining matches in the ESEA Advanced Season 35 playoffs are:
Rise | vs. | GGPR | Consolidation BO3 |
Yeah | vs. | GGPR/Rise | Grand Final BO5 |
SKDC | vs. | ex-Thunder Logic | Tiebreaker BO3 |
Yeah will start with a 1-0 advantage in the grand final due to coming from the upper bracket.