Wildcard claim DDOS win, M80 eek out semi-final victory | ECL S48 Playoffs Round 2

Well, it certainly wasn't a quiet night for one. Last night ended in controversy as Wildcard are alleging a DDoS attack during their match against BOSS which they eventually won 2-0. It's an all-too-common event in North America as malicious actors try to influence these important games for gambling profits. Given Wildcard's eventual win, here's to hoping they lost.

As for the other matches, Legacy pulled out an incredibly tight win over Nouns, M80 had a solid come-from-behind win against NRG, and Party Astronauts sent the Brazilians from E-Xolos LAZER all the way home after their win in the lower bracket.

We've got three more matches coming up tonight, but let's examine what happened last night.

Legacy 2-1 Nouns

It was a tough match for the Wildcard killers, as things started off on the wrong foot. The squad started on their pick of Ancient, only to find the Brazilians holding strong on their CT-side. Nouns managed to claim only four T-side rounds before then being run over on their defense, dropping the map 4-13.

Nouns bounced back on Mirage as they went into double overtime to steal Legacy's pick and even up the series 1-1, going to Nuke as the final decider. It was fairly even back and forth, but Legacy were able to stage a late comeback as they pulled ahead to claim a 2-1 series victory, sending Nouns down to the lower bracket.

M80 2-1 NRG

NRG started out strong but petered out towards the end as M80 firmly took control of the match. It was a strong, come-from-behind win for the German-American squad, which has solidified itself as one of the best teams in the region.

M80 bounced back from losing NRG's pick of Mirage 13-8 to claim Anubis 13-3 and then Ancient 13-6 in two swift, dominant showings. It was a masterclass from Fritz "slaxz-" Dietrich and Mason "Lake" Sanderson who powered the team to a win.

Wildcard 2-0 BOSS

Oh god, this was the game that has everyone's attention right now. We'd like to pretend that it was probably a great game between an upstart BOSS side and a struggling Wildcard with their PING-challenged team, but it was just truly marred by a DDoS attempt that forced the squad to play down a player.

Wildcard pulled through despite the disadvantages to take a 13-6 win on BOSS' Nuke, but Vertigo was a different story. With the attack in full flow, it was barely possible for Wildcard to stay in the match, but they somehow prevailed with a 13-11 victory to take the series 2-0.

Party Astronauts 2-1 E-Xolos LAZER

Bye, bye, Brazil. E-Xolos LAZER are out of the playoffs as Party Astronauts came out swinging. It was a tight match overall, with the new members Jaxon "Peeping" Cornwell and Bogdan "ogwizard" Savula helping out with impact moments to ensure the survival of the lineup in these cutthroat playoffs.

The teams traded map picks, with Americans really wishing they could take back the 9-3 collapse on Inferno which lead to a Brazilian win in overtime. It didn't matter much as PA kept their composure and crushed them on Anubis to secure a 13-3 victory.

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