Extra Salt claim spot at ESL Challenger Anaheim 2022 over paiN
Extra Salt secured their spot at ESL Challenger Anaheim 2022 after a run through the Closed Qualifier which saw them face off only against Brazilian sides, including two series against paiN.
The first matches of the Closed Qualifier kicked off yesterday, with Extra Salt beating out oNe, and paiN edging out Bad News Bears, setting up the first elimination matchup between oNe and the Bears. The match started on oNe's pick of Inferno, where Bad News Bears took a commanding lead of six rounds before oNe was able to answer back with a couple of their own. The Bears started to run out of steam in the latter part of the first half, but they were still able to come out on top with a 9-6 lead on their CT-side. A 1v4 ace clutch from Brendan "Bwills" Williams on the second pistol round set the pace for the second half, as Bad News Bears stormed ahead of oNe to take the first map 16-7.
The Bears continued their dominance into their pick of Dust2, this time picking up seven rounds in a row thanks to strong showings from Bwills and Paytyn "junior" Johnson. oNe were not deterred by this and shut down Bad News Bears' streak, securing themselves six rounds to put the scoreline at 9-6. oNe looked as if they might have been able to close the gap on their T-side, but with junior maintaining his form from the first half there was little that they could do as the Bears took the second map 16-12, sending oNe packing on the first day.
TeamOneBad News Bears| TeamOne |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa |
36 - 37 | -1 | 70.7 | 54.9% | 1.03 |
 Enzo 'xns' Henrique |
29 - 37 | -8 | 56.3 | 64.7% | 0.85 |
| Matheus 'prt' Scuvero |
22 - 33 | -11 | 59.7 | 66.7% | 0.82 |
| Pedro 'Maluk3' Campos |
24 - 38 | -14 | 53.3 | 54.9% | 0.68 |
| Matheus 'pesadelo' Panisset |
20 - 41 | -21 | 60.7 | 54.9% | 0.62 |
| Bad News Bears |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
42 - 25 | +17 | 94.7 | 80.4% | 1.51 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
39 - 26 | +13 | 78.1 | 74.5% | 1.26 |
| Paytyn 'junior' Johnson |
39 - 26 | +13 | 76.5 | 70.6% | 1.24 |
| Gabe 'Spongey' Greiner |
30 - 24 | +6 | 73.2 | 78.4% | 1.14 |
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
36 - 30 | +6 | 75.3 | 72.5% | 1.06 |
Meanwhile, in the upper bracket, Extra Salt matched up against paiN for the first spot in the grand final. Extra Salt got off to a flying start on the first map, paiN's pick of Ancient, where the North American side claimed an astounding 12-3 lead for themselves on their CT-side. Extra Salt snatched the second pistol round, and at that point, there was little to nothing that paiN could do to put a stop to them, as Extra Salt went on to take the first map 16-3.
Extra Salt's map pick of Overpass would be a far closer affair than the dominance displayed on Ancient. paiN snagged the first pistol and the subsequent two rounds, but Extra Salt managed to secure three rounds of their own right after. Frequent trading back-and-forth of rounds would go on for much of the first half, with paiN ultimately taking the lead in the end with an 8-7 scoreline. paiN grabbed the second pistol round, but lost to the force buy, allowing Extra Salt to even the scoreline out 9-9. paiN took back control of the game with an eco win of their own, stringing together the next three rounds, looking like they would be able to drag this series to a third map. But it wasn't to be, as Extra Salt went on to take six of the next seven rounds, winning them both the map and the series, giving them the first spot in the grand final of the Closed Qualifier.
Extra SaltpaiN| Extra Salt |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
51 - 26 | +25 | 102.4 | 85.4% | 1.58 |
 Justin 'FaNg' Coakley |
40 - 29 | +11 | 91.6 | 77.1% | 1.34 |
| Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
29 - 26 | +3 | 68.6 | 83.3% | 1.17 |
 Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
37 - 30 | +7 | 80.1 | 77.1% | 1.17 |
 Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado |
27 - 24 | +3 | 70.6 | 70.8% | 1.08 |
| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rafael 'saffee' Costa |
29 - 35 | -6 | 67.3 | 66.7% | 0.91 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
28 - 39 | -11 | 69.8 | 58.3% | 0.83 |
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
30 - 39 | -9 | 53.2 | 60.4% | 0.76 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
22 - 34 | -12 | 62.6 | 52.1% | 0.76 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
26 - 37 | -11 | 62.5 | 58.3% | 0.73 |
Knocked down to the lower bracket, paiN now faced off against Bad News Bears, in what would be a relatively tight series. The series started on the Bear's selection of Inferno, where Bad News Bears were in control for much of the first half. paiN kept the Bears honest and prevented them from getting a sizeable lead, taking the last four rounds of the half on their CT-side to get a respectable 7-8 scoreline. With the second pistol under their belts, paiN strung together four rounds, looking as if they would shut Bad News Bears out for the rest of the map. But Bad News Bears composed themselves, and a round won with only a partial buy would spur the Bears to find a resurgence in form, dominating most of the rest of the half, eventually taking the map 16-12.
paiN saw a massive recovery of form on their pick of Nuke, setting Bad News Bears aside for most of the first half, collecting a commanding 11-4 lead on their T-side. It seemed like the Bears would be out for the count, but they shook away the sorrows of the first half, going on a run of their own of six rounds to almost even out the scoreline 11-10. paiN snuck in a round of their own, but the Bears answered back right away with three more. With their backs to the wall, paiN put themselves back together again in the last stretch of the map, taking the next four rounds to claim Nuke, taking the series to a third map.
The decider map of Dust 2 would tell a similar tale to Nuke, with paiN starting in a quite dominant fashion, garnering themselves another 11-4 lead to work with. This time though, Bad News Bears were not able to get a nice start in the second half, as paiN took the pistol and the round right after. The Bears took one round of their own right after, but paiN won the next one to put themselves at a 14-5 scoreline. At this point paiN's lead was simply too much to overcome. While Bad News Bears managed to string together quite a few rounds, it wasn't enough, as paiN took the map 16-11, locking in their grand final spot and rematch against Extra Salt.
paiNBad News Bears| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rafael 'saffee' Costa |
71 - 51 | +20 | 92.7 | 79.8% | 1.34 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
54 - 55 | -1 | 80.2 | 71.4% | 1.06 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
53 - 48 | +5 | 64.4 | 75.0% | 1.01 |
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
55 - 59 | -4 | 61.8 | 67.9% | 0.93 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
41 - 60 | -19 | 65.1 | 71.4% | 0.84 |
| Bad News Bears |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paytyn 'junior' Johnson |
70 - 49 | +21 | 86.4 | 77.4% | 1.36 |
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
62 - 53 | +9 | 76.3 | 75.0% | 1.13 |
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
54 - 53 | +1 | 74.1 | 70.2% | 1.04 |
| Gabe 'Spongey' Greiner |
48 - 52 | -4 | 59.7 | 73.8% | 0.95 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
37 - 69 | -32 | 61.3 | 70.2% | 0.79 |
The second meeting between Extra Salt and paiN would be much closer than their first, worthy of a grand final match. paiN opted for Nuke as their pick this time around, and this decision worked in their favor. The first half was relatively close, with Extra Salt coming out on top just barely with an 8-7 lead. paiN was determined, however, and Rafael "saffee" Costa and Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt put up impressive numbers on their CT-side to lock down the first map 16-13.
The second map of Overpass did not start nearly as close as Nuke, with Extra Salt taking a commanding 9-2 lead before paiN was able to put a stop to their run, ending the half with a 10-5 scoreline for the North American side. paiN picked up the first three rounds of the second half, looking like they might even snag a fourth, but a 1v2 from Edgar "MarKE" Maldonado helped to get Extra Salt back in the saddle. paiN took the next two rounds, but Extra Salt were able to regain their composure enough to take the next five rounds, bringing the grand final to a third map.
Extra Salt carried their momentum from Overpass into the decider map of Vertigo, setting themselves up with a comfortable 6-1 lead on their CT-side. paiN stayed resilient, grabbing five more rounds throughout the half to cut Extra Salt's lead down to 9-6. Extra Salt secured the second pistol and the following three rounds, looking like they would shut out paiN for the rest of the map. The two sides traded rounds until Extra Salt reached match point with a 15-9 scoreline, giving them six opportunities to close it out. But, paiN were determined to stay in the match and powered by a fantastic performance from saffee, the Brazilians went on a rampage for six rounds straight to drag the final map into overtime. Unfortunately for paiN, their efforts fell short at the last hurdle, as Extra Salt, whose efforts were being spearheaded by Justin "FaNg" Coakley, found it in themselves to finally close out the map, taking it 19-17, locking in their spot in the main event.
Extra SaltpaiN| Extra Salt |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Justin 'FaNg' Coakley |
76 - 63 | +13 | 82.5 | 64.8% | 1.21 |
| Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado |
66 - 55 | +11 | 75.2 | 75.8% | 1.15 |
| Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
61 - 64 | -3 | 77.1 | 74.7% | 1.11 |
| Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
57 - 55 | +2 | 72.3 | 70.3% | 0.98 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
51 - 60 | -9 | 68.1 | 59.3% | 0.93 |
| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rafael 'saffee' Costa |
80 - 59 | +21 | 81.9 | 69.2% | 1.19 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
67 - 68 | -1 | 86.0 | 70.3% | 1.07 |
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
59 - 63 | -4 | 71.0 | 68.1% | 1.01 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
51 - 59 | -8 | 59.9 | 71.4% | 0.88 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
39 - 62 | -23 | 59.4 | 63.7% | 0.80 |
Extra Salt will be joined at ESL Challenger Anaheim 2022 by 9z, ORDER, and five other squads from February 11-13th.
