Rogue take a swift victory over GX in ESL Pro League Relegation
With the relegation tournament starting for the North American ESL Pro League, Rogue and GX were set to face off against each other in the opening match. The victor would head to the upper bracket, whereas the losing side would have to slog it out in the lower bracket. The game was set to take place on Inferno, Mirage and Cache.
Inferno began with GX taking advantage of the T-side to grab the pistol round, following it up with the two anti-ecos. GX then continued their wins into the first buy round, before Rogue picked up a set of rounds to stop the game running away. Key economic damage done by Casper "cadiaN" Møller at the end of round four allowed his team to send GX onto an eco two rounds later, and start a run of their own.
Although GX managed to pick up a couple of rounds in the first half, it was pretty much just Spencer "Hiko" Martin and co. showing off their skills in the rest of the half. With Rogue just running away with the game, the halftime offered a brief respite for GX as Rogue went 9-6 up.
The second half did not help out Shawn "witmer' Taylor's side at all. With the pistol going to Rogue's T-side, the rest of the rounds just fell their way. With Rogue taking their 13th round GX looked to finally get back on the board, but Hiko secured a 1v2 clutch to keep his team ahead. From there Rogue comfortably closed the map out at 16-8.
Mirage was up next and Rogue started off strongly with the pistol round and the following anti-ecos on their T-side. GX then followed up by taking the first full buy round, but it was Rogue who answered back with another two. Although GX managed to secure another round, Rogue were practically on fire as Michael "Uber" Stapells was performing extremely strongly for his team as they went to a strong 8-2 lead.
GX finally managed to string multiple rounds together, as Braxton "swag" Pierce and Matt "Pollo" Wilson combined to keep their team in the game. Rogue then rounded out the half in their favour, taking a 10-5 lead to build on in the following rounds.
The second half started out in Rogue's favor once again, with Rogue taking the pistol and first anti-eco. GX forced up in the third round to get a stable hold in the match, pushing on to pick up four rounds in the half. With GX looking to get closer into the game, cadiaN and Uber combined for Rogue to get back into the driving seat as they went 13-9 up as they edged closer to match point.
From there it was just Rogue's game at that point, as round after round just fell to them in a simple fashion. As match point turned up on their doorstep, it was Josh "shinobi" Abastado to pick up an ace in the final round for Rogue to claim the game for themselves, with a 16-9 win.
GXRogue| GX |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Matt 'Pollo' Wilson |
32 - 37 | -5 | 77.9 | 68.1% | 1.00 |
| Braxton 'swag' Pierce |
23 - 31 | -8 | 60.6 | 66.0% | 0.80 |
| Michael 'dapr' Gulino |
22 - 41 | -19 | 61.7 | 55.3% | 0.63 |
 Keven 'AZK' Lariviere |
20 - 38 | -18 | 56.1 | 55.3% | 0.63 |
| Shawn 'witmer' Taylor |
24 - 42 | -18 | 60.1 | 55.3% | 0.62 |
| Rogue |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Casper 'cadiaN' Møller |
38 - 24 | +14 | 91.5 | 85.1% | 1.49 |
| Michael 'Uber' Stapells |
43 - 22 | +21 | 88.9 | 85.1% | 1.46 |
| Daniel 'vice' Kim |
40 - 28 | +12 | 86.9 | 89.4% | 1.38 |
| Spencer 'Hiko' Martin |
34 - 24 | +10 | 82.8 | 85.1% | 1.32 |
| Josh 'shinobi' Abastado |
32 - 24 | +8 | 71.9 | 72.3% | 1.14 |
From here Rogue are set to face off against fellow Season 6 ESL Pro League side Ghost in the Upper Bracket Final tomorrow, where one of those two teams will return for Season 7. Meanwhile, GX are to face off against their MDL compatriots of Rise Nation as they try to keep their promotion hopes alive.
