Chooks cooked: Winless Rooster exit EPL 22 in last place

The debut of Lam-Fung "Terryyy" Lee at an S-tier event and a mid-event coaching change was not enough to salvage Rooster's ESL Pro League Season 22 campaign with the Oceanic squad leaving empty-handed after their 0-2 loss to M80 tonight.

Expectations were low for Rooster entering the event, but they turned heads twice on Overpass in their opener against giants G2 and again in their 0-1 game against 3DMAX.

Tyson "TjP" Purtell (26-27, 1.15 HLTV rating) was on fire against G2 first up as the Chooks put up a respectable five-round T half. Kalan "sliimey" Lorenzo (16-29, 0.74) backed up TjP's effort with several brilliant pistol rounds, but G2 rebounded and settled to take the opener.

It was a similar story on Overpass against 3DMAX; Tyson "asap" Paterson (22-29, 0.96 rating), supported by sliimey's pistol, had the French squad backed into a corner at 10-7, but Rooster lacked the discipline to close out the lead and convert.

Against M80, Rooster led 6-1 on the T side of Mirage before replacement coach Eddie "viridian" Azzi called a timeout that ultimately backfired. The North American squad won the following 12 rounds to ice the Chooks, with the streak ultimately extending to 19 on Inferno.

All three series, including the elimination loss to M80, fell to pieces on map two Inferno. Rooster's weak T side was exposed in all three games, and with no buffer after three 3-9 halves, we never really got to see the Chooks' CT hold.

It's a rough outing for Rooster in their first international LAN of the calendar year, and just their third offline event in the same timeframe. That said, their qualification for eXTREMESLAND means they'll get another chance to travel overseas in 2025.

The 0-3 defeat puts an end to the hopes of a second OCE squad qualifying for the StarLadder Budapest Major — although such hopes were slim enough as it was. It leaves FlyQuest as the sole OCE chance in Hungary later this November with their Stage 1 spot already locked in.