The Recap - EP20

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.

FlyQuest seizes another ESL Challenger League crown

It was inevitable, wasn’t it? FlyQuest is riding sky-high on that ESL Challenger Atlanta adrenaline, after all. It didn’t matter whether it was Mindfreak, Housebets, The Art of War, or KZG, the result would have been the same.

FlyQuest started with the map advantage for winning the upper bracket and they proved that they didn’t really need it. Mindfreak was essentially torn asunder by FlyQuest. They didn’t even manage to get ten rounds in the series!

Vexite and Liazz were in prime form with ratings of 1.43 and 1.38 respectively. Mindfreak did look promising to come into it as they dismantled Housebets with ease in the consolidation finals.

ESL Challenger League – Season 48 – Playoffs

October 17

• Mindfreak v Art of War (2-1)
• Housebets v KZG (2-0) – KZG is eliminated

October 18

• FlyQuest v Mindfreak (2-0)
• Housebets v Art of War (2-0) – Art of War is eliminated

October 19

• Mindfreak v Housebets (2-0) – Housebets is eliminated

October 20

• FlyQuest v Mindfreak (3-0) – FlyQuest are champions!

The end of a season is such a sweet sorrow. I’ve been advised by KZG that dpr left on his own accord due to real-life commitments. Hopefully, he’ll be back soon because he is quite a prospect for the AWPer stocks of the Australian CS2 scene.

Also, there was confirmation that ESL Challenger League Oceania was renewed by ESL via the ESL Pro League Season 22 announcement.

CONFIRMATION – THERE ARE THREE ESL PRO LEAGUE SPOTS

Housebets have advised me that the ESL Head Admin, Dominik Woźniak (ridiculous - yes, that is his gamertag) confirmed that three ESL Pro League spots would be available as FlyQuest would utilise their spot won in ESL Challenger Atlanta. It was suspected by myself that BIG (runner-up) would have received it.

The rule quoted was that you would utilise the invite that you first received, which for FlyQuest would be the ESL Challenger Atlanta invite. Thankfully, they didn’t enter the upcoming ESL Challenger Katowice instead.

This means that Housebets and Mindfreak have secured an invite to the next ESL Pro League. It is good to see pain get some international experience!

ESL announces its new tournament circuit for 2025

Well, I had suspected something was going to happen with the ESL Circuit especially ESL Pro League given SPUNJ’s tweet towards the end of Season 20. It sounded like an exit interview.

IEM Katowice and Cologne are still the main flagship events but the event that has Australia’s attention is the IEM Spring 2025 event. Rumours have floated around that it could be IEM Melbourne given the dates of Dreamhack Melbourne are around this time.

ESL Pro League has a slight change in Season 21 as it is split into two stages. The first stage will have the winners and runners-up from each region’s ESL Challenger League, the winners of ESL Challenger Atlanta/Katowice, and the Global Valve Rankings (9th-12th). All matches will be best-of-3.

ESL Pro League Season 22 will be different where only the ESL Challenger League winners would get a spot. However, there would be separate EU, NA, Asia, and South America qualifiers to decide the other spots. The remaining seven teams will come from the Valve Regional Standings.

This change will likely result in one Oceania spot for the region unless the regional Asia Online Tournament includes Oceania.

Hopefully, there will be some further announcements with other tournament organisers such as PGL, Blast, and StarLadder to provide access to further tournaments within Oceania.

That is all for the recap and I hope you all have a lovely day!