OCE hopes at Shanghai Major down to one team as Talon exit RMR

Written by Nicholas "Taffy" Taifalos

Oceanic squad Talon Esports is out of the Shanghai Major RMR qualifier after a 0-2 loss to Lynn Vision Gaming in the lower bracket semi-final. This means OCE Counter-Strike fans are all-in on FlyQuest who await Lynn Vision in the final qualifying best-of-three later tonight.

It was always going to be a tall task for Talon in Shanghai. Top APAC squads MongolZ, FlyQuest, Rare Atom, and Lynn Vision were all considered to dominate the top four at the event and with just three spots up for grabs, at best, pundits saw Talon as a dark horse.

The Aaron "AZR" Ward-led squad defied these odds on day one, downing their compatriots on Inferno 13-9 with Corey "nettik" Browne (18-8, 1.51 rating) and Jared "HaZR" O'Bree (17-10, 1.45) leading from the front.

An opportunity to qualify early presented itself against hometown hopefuls Rare Atom on day two, but Andrew "kaze" Khong and his Chinese teammates would not be denied their ticket to Shanghai, downing Talon 2-0 (13-8, 13-8).

A win over Lynn Vision in the lower bracket semi-final would have seen Talon meet FlyQuest for the all-OCE final, but Lynn Vision had other ideas. The Chinese squad led from the front, opening with a 7-5 T half on Inferno and, after falling behind following the pistol, put on a CT masterclass.

Lynn Vision, behind a 27-kill, 10-assist performance from Sike "z4kr" Zhang, locked out Talon on their pick of Inferno, leaving the OCE team helpless on Dust 2. Z4kr once again took control, combining with Jianye "afufu" Wang (16-8, 1.68) to send Talon packing 13-6.

It's been a bit of a mixed bag for Talon since forming in August. The team immediately made a mark by locking in the second spot for the RMR over Rooster, but couldn't get much done with the limited time they had competing in tier-two and tier-three European events like CCT Season 2 and the Shuffle Masters.

Time will tell whether the project stands the test of the off-season, but with the likes of prodigy Christian "ADDICT" Pendleton and nettik, plus the experience of AZR and Miłosz "mhL" Knasiak, the squad could do with a little more time together.

Lynn Vision takes on FlyQuest in the final RMR qualifier at 10pm AEDT tonight.