ESL Challenger League S49 playoffs set to start tonight

After twelve weeks of regular season play, ESL Challenger League Season 49 has reached the playoffs. Ten teams are in the running to earn one of two spots in ESL Pro League Season 21 and a $25,000 top prize. Eight of the ten teams are set to play their opening matchups tonight, while M80 and Legacy received round one byes due to finishing at the top of the league table.

Additionally, four of those teams—BOSS, FLUFFY AIMERS, E-Xolos LAZER, and timbermen—are set to start in the lower bracket, meaning two teams will face elimination from the league by the end of the night.

Upper Bracket

In the upper bracket, Nouns are set to take on Wildcard while Party Astronauts will play NRG. The Nouns matchup sees the squad face off against Wildcard in what will undoubtedly be a difficult opener for the Nouns squad. In recent months Nouns have struggled to keep pace with the likes of M80 and Wildcard and currently have a 1-4 map record versus the team.

As for the showdown been NRG and Party Astronauts, NRG are the favorites as PA's new-look roster has struggled to find its form with recent additions Bogdan "ogwizard" Savula and Jaxon "Peeping" Cornwell while NRG have been in good from recently, reliably dispatching lower ranked teams while appearing competitive at times against the likes of M80 and Legacy.

Lower Bracket

The matches in the lower bracket have much higher stakes as two of the four teams that start in the lower bracket will be eliminated by the end of the night. The opening matchups for this section of the bracket will see BOSS take on FLUFFY AIMERS while E-Xolos LAZER will play timbermen for the third time in recent weeks.

The matchup between BOSS and FLUFFY AIMERS sees BOSS as the favorites, with the team currently up 3-1 in maps against the team this month. Additionally, with FLUFFY AIMERS having to use Ahmed "ayy" Mahmoud as a stand-in, they may look a bit worse for wear as they have been fielding Kyle "Wolffe" Greenfield outside of ECL.

As for E-Xolos versus timbermen, the match is a true tossup as the Brazilian team is tied 3-3 against the orgless squad. However, with timbermen looking quite flat since adding Matthew "nero" Seymour and Christopher "aleph" Froden and falling into old bad habits of tilting, E-Xolos may have the mental edge.

At a glance, ECL S49 playoffs will begin tonight with the following matchups: