SAW claim final playoffs spot over BetBoom
In a nail-biting series, the top-seeded Portuguese SAW lineup survived a defiant BetBoom lineup to secure a 2-1 victory and lock down the final playoff spot at ESL Challenger Atlanta. With their win over BetBoom ending day two, SAW have joined Wildcard, BIG, and FlyQuest in playoffs tomorrow.
The first map in the series, Anubis, was a decisive win for SAW as the Portuguese squad secured a 7-5 half on their T-side before taking the map 13-6. Map two, Nuke, ended up being far closer, with BetBoom and SAW ending up tied at the half before SAW claimed the first three rounds to claim a 9-6 lead. Despite it being their map pick, SAW were unable to close the deal as BetBoom rallied around Aleksandr "KaiR0N-" Anashkin as he propelled them to a 13-10 victory.
With the series tied up, BetBoom began Ancient in an utterly dominant fashion, starting their T-side off 8-2 before SAW closed the gap to 8-4. In the second half it became a truly dire situation for SAW as BetBoom climbed up to an 11-5 lead, coming within inches of taking down SAW.
However, BetBoom's dreams of a significant finish in Atlanta were dashed as SAW launched into a perfect T-side, winning eight rounds in a row to force a 13-11 win on a razor's edge on Ancient.
SAWBetBoom| SAW |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 João 'story' Vieira |
54 - 35 | +19 | 86.6 | 78.8% | 1.33 |
| Christopher 'MUTiRiS' Fernandes |
51 - 38 | +13 | 79.7 | 72.7% | 1.19 |
| Michel 'ewjerkz' Pinto |
39 - 44 | -5 | 77.8 | 77.3% | 1.06 |
| Rafael 'arrozdoce' Wing |
43 - 47 | -4 | 74.7 | 68.2% | 0.98 |
| Ricardo 'roman' Oliveira |
40 - 43 | -3 | 61.3 | 77.3% | 0.95 |
| BetBoom |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Aleksandr 'KaiR0N-' Anashkin |
58 - 44 | +14 | 92.2 | 72.7% | 1.32 |
| Pavel 's1ren' Ogloblin |
42 - 44 | -2 | 74.0 | 69.7% | 0.95 |
| Aleksandr 'zorte' Zagodyrenko |
40 - 44 | -4 | 59.6 | 66.7% | 0.84 |
| Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov |
32 - 45 | -13 | 64.2 | 62.1% | 0.80 |
| Kirill 'Magnojez' Rodnov |
35 - 51 | -16 | 66.5 | 65.2% | 0.80 |
With their win over BetBoom, SAW joins the four teams in playoffs with the following matchups happening tomorrow:
Wildcard v. FlyQuest 
begins at 10:00AM
BIG v. SAW begins at 01:15PM
