M80 go back to back to back
You can say hello the three-time champions of ESL Challenger League: North America. M80 have gone back, to back, to back, as three-peat winners of North America's top division as they capped it off with a 3-1 victory over runner's up, NRG.
The win and celebrations are in order for M80 who have continued improve themselves on the international stage after breaking out in North America after entering the scene just over a year ago.
This was the first season with new member Mason "Lake" Sanderson and also the true embedding of Elias "s1n" Stein into North America, with the youngster completing seven months with the team. Both recent additions have been crucial for the lineup's success as they now look forward to the Thunderpick World Championships later this week and the Americas RMR in Shanghai next month.
The match against NRG was a back-and-forth contest, with M80 executing at the highest levels on their own map picks. The American squad, with some German influence, came into the series with a one-map advantage after making it to the Grand Finals through the upper bracket.
The first map, Anubis, was M80's pick and a map that NRG was comfortable with seeing as they had even picked it against Legacy the prior match. However, NRG was prepared for Anubis, which did not matter as they were profoundly trounced in the first half 11-1. NRG simply couldn't get things rolling on the CT side and, in the second half, saw the match quickly conclude 13-1.
NRG were able to respond on their pick of Inferno to start the comeback. Their T-side fell a little flat as they claimed six rounds on the ever-increasingly notorious offensively-tilted map, but the CT-side was where they shined. They won the second half pistol and while they would lose the next three rounds, they got their plan together and cleaned up for a 13-9 score.
M80 finally put the game to bed on the final map of Ancient. It wasn't a drawn out battle as NRG were outgunned in the final with M80 taking a 13-3 victory to ensure that they earned the title of ECL champions once more.
The ESL Challenger League title gives M80 a bit more cash in their pocket as they walk away with the weekend. However, both teams will be happy to have made it here in the first place, earning spots in ESL Pro League Season 21 along the way.
M80NRG| M80 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
47 - 23 | +24 | 99.0 | 86.5% | 1.63 |
 Elias 's1n' Stein |
44 - 24 | +20 | 79.9 | 90.4% | 1.42 |
| Ethan 'reck' Serrano |
35 - 28 | +7 | 76.3 | 84.6% | 1.31 |
| Mason 'Lake' Sanderson |
36 - 35 | +1 | 88.3 | 78.8% | 1.29 |
| Fritz 'slaxz-' Dietrich |
37 - 22 | +15 | 69.4 | 80.8% | 1.21 |
| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
37 - 39 | -2 | 80.5 | 71.2% | 0.91 |
 Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
26 - 38 | -12 | 56.6 | 67.3% | 0.76 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
28 - 43 | -15 | 67.1 | 67.3% | 0.70 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
25 - 41 | -16 | 62.8 | 48.1% | 0.64 |
| Timothy 'autimatic' Ta |
16 - 40 | -24 | 50.3 | 50.0% | 0.48 |
