MDL Season 27 Week 8: ex-Iceberg freezes up against Torqued
The last week before the playoff stage in Season 27 of ESEA's MDL begins today, where the final bouts will decide the season standings and confirm which teams move forward into the round of eight. Although no teams are in position to take the lead from Torqued, a small chance remains for those who sit just shy of the top eight to snag a spot in the dying days.
Week eight saw Torqued re-affirm their position in first by putting an end to the winstreak of the ex-Iceberg lineup, who started the season down 0-4 before putting up 11 wins in a row. While a victory in their matchup would have tied up the scores ex-Iceberg and Torqued, the team will still be happy with their results in the season after coming from behind to clinch themselves a playoff slot.
While we're on the topic of teams who need to come from behind, Garrett "Grt" Bambrough's Grizzlys and Kyle "OCEAN" O'Brien's subtLe both currently sit at 12 and 11 matches played, respectively. Although subtLe is unlikely to qualify for playoffs, their results this week will impact which teams are relegated going into Season 28.
Grizzlys do still remain in contention with only 11 matches played; however, Grt will now need to step into the shoes of Keven "PLAYER1" Champagne, who has once again stepped down from the team.
A few teams lost the opportunity to solidify their chances of making playoffs this week by suffering defeats to teams below them in the standings. Noteworthy losses include BlackOut falling to Freedom 35 in overtime, RONIN coming up short against Most Wanted 14-16, and Etherian dropping the ball in their match versus ex-eRa.
Out of these three teams, Etherian has the least to worry about as one of their two remaining matches are against the Brazilians of Não Tem Como, who have forfeited their last three MDL matches due to playing overseas and played their other matches with high pings from Brazil. This sets Etherian up to face off against Swole Patrol, who have just returned from their adventures in China for WESG.
The other two teams have played out all 16 of their matches, leaving their fate in the hands of a small cluster of teams.
Once again the matchups for the week are not yet known, but the teams to keep an eye on this week as they vie for the top eight are:
Mythic- Etherian
- ex-eRa
F1-racecar-PEEK
These are the standings following the conclusion of week 8:
| Team | Matches | Wins | Losses | RD | Points |
| Torqued |
16 | 13 | 3 | +96 | 39 |
| eUnited |
14 | 11 | 3 | +77 | 33 |
 Atmosphere |
15 | 11 | 4 | +64 | 33 |
| ex-Iceberg |
16 | 11 | 5 | +46 | 33 |
| Swole Patrol |
13 | 10 | 3 | +35 | 30 |
| RONIN |
16 | 10 | 6 | +37 | 30 |
| BlackOut |
16 | 10 | 6 | +29 | 30 |
| Etherian |
14 | 9 | 5 | +56 | 27 |
| Mythic |
15 | 9 | 6 | +71 | 27 |
| ex-eRa |
15 | 9 | 6 | +55 | 27 |
| F1-racecar-PEEK |
15 | 9 | 6 | +32 | 27 |
| Most Wanted |
15 | 8 | 7 | +23 | 24 |
| Grizzlys |
12 | 7 | 5 | -24 | 21 |
| Mask Off |
14 | 7 | 7 | -3 | 21 |
| Freedom 35 |
16 | 7 | 9 | -19 | 21 |
| AZIO |
15 | 6 | 9 | +10 | 18 |
| CheckSix |
15 | 6 | 9 | -8 | 18 |
| subtLe |
11 | 5 | 6 | -14 | 15 |
 Não Tem Como |
14 | 5 | 9 | -40 | 15 |
| h00liGaNz |
16 | 5 | 11 | -25 | 15 |
| Say No More |
16 | 4 | 12 | -123 | 12 |
 No Tenemos Nada |
16 | 3 | 13 | -118 | 9 |
| HWML |
15 | 2 | 13 | -94 | 6 |
| Wise |
16 | 1 | 15 | -163 | 3 |
