The Recap - EP19

by OnlyJoshinTV

Welcome to The Recap, a new weekly content series covering Counter-Strike in the ANZ region with a touch of global action here and there. We aim to provide a regular series covering our region, from ESEA Open, ECL, and global events, to local LAN and online tournaments hosted here at home.

Recap is a little later than usual as I’ve been casting Freeplay CS2 events with Flamboyant at PAX. It was a lot of fun and it was my first official arena cast with my first LAN cast being done earlier in Sydney. Will it count to getting my own Liquipedia page? Unlikely.

Also, it was nice to see FlyQuest at PAX and with some epic green and gold jerseys being available—I managed to snag another for myself!

ESL Challenger League Season 48 - The Hopium flows at KZG

October 9

• Arcade v DXA (13-4, 14-16)
• Art of War v Mantra (13-8, 13-8)
• KZG V Rooster (13-16, 13-4)
• Housebets v Vantage (13-0, 13-0 FF)
• Mindfreak v FlyQuest (13-0, 13-0 FF)

October 10

• Rooster v Mantra – (7-13, 16-14)

KZG have booked their tickets to playoffs after an agonising wait on the Rooster vs. Mantra series. The tiebreak used was round score difference between both teams with KZG’s 13-4 against Rooster critical in winning the tiebreak. Based on the tiebreak, all overtime games are considered to be 13-12 to the winning team. The tiebreak stood at KZG 25-17 Rooster.

It is a funny position as KZG was looking to head into the off-season break and replace dpr. However, this twist of fate has thrown them into playoffs mode. I’m hoping dpr has been bought out rather than KZG kicking him, he could provide a significant impact for their roster.

In other results, Art of War and Housebets both secured a spot in the finals. Housebets would be quite happy with a playoff spot given their form in the qualifiers has been very lackluster.

We now turn to the relegations where Arcade finds themselves relegated after Mantra won a solitary map. They can only really blame themselves for it as a lot of games slipped through their fingers and roster instability didn’t help either. That last round against DXA is going to hurt especially with their Teamspeak server crashing once they secured a man advantage.

This season had a lot of firsts which mainly point to KZG and Art of War. It is the first season where a team promoted from relegation and a team promoted from Open have made playoffs, he two teams in question being KZG and The Art of War.

The playoffs will start on October 17, 2024.

ESL Challenger League Season 48 - Playoffs

October 17 (All matches are best of three)

• Housebets v KZG – loser is eliminated
• Art of War v Mindfreak

October 18

• Loser of AoW/MindFreak v Winner of Housebets/KZG
• Winner of AoW/MindFreak v FlyQuest

October 19

• Consolidation Final

October 20

• Grand Final

With FlyQuest’s recent win at ESL Challenger Atlanta, there is an additional ESL Pro League spot up for grabs. This means the match between Mindfreak and Art of War will be for an EPL spot. Such a massive opportunity is on the line for the opening round of matches!

ESEA Open Season 51 – Semper Fi, Always Faithful

Semper Fi has entered the ESEA Open League for Season 51. I suspect this is due to not receiving the optional invite for relegation as I suspect that ESEA may have provided that to Talon. However, I cannot confirm this and I’m leaning against the rumour as Talon is still in Europe.

Also, Vantage’s new roster is currently playing as Vantage Navy in Open. I am unsure of how the rulebook will be interpreted given that the roster was interpreted to be relegated in ECL Season 48.

This will be a tough season for any team that wishes to make it directly to ECL. You’ll be taking on one of the teams that have won a spot in eXTREMESLAND Asia 2024. I expect Semper Fi to be directly promoted for next season.

I would certainly hate to be DXA or Mantra given that one of them will be giving up their spot to Talon.

That’s all for this week!