FlyQuest join Aussie compatriots in ESL Pro League S21 elimination

Aussie squad FlyQuest has been eliminated at ESL Pro League Season 21 overnight, falling a match short of the main stage after a 2-1 loss to Chinese squad TYLOO.

FlyQuest went the hard route, needing all five series to make the run. The Chris "dexter" Nong-led outfit were wiped out in their opener against M80 before they bounced back against regional rivals Lynn Vision.

A win over paiN—further extending their streak against Brazilian squads in 2025—was then soured by a brutal loss to Eternal Fire, leaving the final qualifying match against TYLOO.

For TYLOO's part, they were one win away from a historic qualification at their first big event in a year, defeating top squads 3DMAX and Eternal Fire and sitting pretty at 2-0 before dropping to GamerLegion and MIBR.

The 2-1 (12-16, 13-8, 13-11) win to TYLOO in the final round devastated the Aussies, with Yi "JamYoung" Yang (1.21 rating) among the best performers at the event taking the series by the reins.

FlyQuest was forced to come from behind on Ancient, turning an 8-4 deficit into an overtime win behind 40 kills between Joshua "INS" Potter and Declan "vexite" Portelli.

Anubis was all but a write-off. TYLOO shot to an 11-1 lead behind a brilliant T half, and while FlyQuest gave a comeback a go, they'd be stopped at 13-8. The series turned to Inferno as it entered its third hour; the behemoth match was plagued by tech issues.

The two squads went blow-for-blow with neither squad unable to build a lead. However, TYLOO pulled through, holding off a spirited effort from vexite (18-18, 1.05).

TYLOO now move on to the main event where they'll face the likes of NaVi, Spirit, G2, The MongolZ, and more. Stage 2 kicks off March 7.

As for FlyQuest, they'll be forced to lick their wounds for a fourth time in 2025. The Aussie squad is yet to make it to a playoff stage this calendar year, with BLAST Bounty, IEM Katowice, PGL Cluj-Napoca, and now EPL S21 ending in early exits.

Mindfreak, Housebets fail to fire against insurmountable odds

It was always going to be a big ask for our other OCE teams Mindfreak and Housebets to sneak a win, and while MF got close, neither survived past day three.

Both exited Stockholm without a map or series won. MF came achingly close; they took Eternal Fire to max regulation on their home map of Anubis, then did the same on Dust 2 against Nemiga.

Matthew "Texta" O'Rourke was the best of the squad, recording a 0.91 rating but was instrumental in each of MF's maps that went close. Given this was only the second time the squad had attended an overseas event, it was a valiant effort from MF and inspires hope for their domestic return.

The same cannot be said for Housebets, unfortunately, who won just 22 rounds across their six maps. Their best result came against paiN Gaming, with regional rivals Lynn Vision winning both maps 13-3.

Tom "apocdud" Henry didn't mince words in a post-match interview with Anastasija "Heccu" Tolmačeva. "To be brutally honest, we were significantly worse than every team we versed," he said. "The way we played was pretty terrible, to be blunt."

Apocdud explained expectations were low heading into EPL, with the team eager to put some rounds on the board and enjoy the experience. "Back home you try hard and you get called a loser. It's the opposite here [in Europe].

"It's hard; back home we have a lot of scrims against teams that aren't taking it seriously. We only get three scrims a night, we come here and we get 400 scrim offers immediately."

Housebets and Mindfreak next head to Brisbane to play the Dfrag Invitational, while FlyQuest bootcamp ahead of IEM Melbourne in April.