MASSIVEimpact and Zone qualify for ECS Season 7 Challenger Cup
The first ECS Season 7 Challenger Cup qualifier has come to a close, seeing MASSIVEimpact and Zone top the qualifier after taking down Infamous and Final Feature, respectively, in the semifinals.
Before the four teams could clash for the two Challenger Cup slots, they had to work their way through the quarterfinals. All of the teams did so with relative ease, advancing with 2-0 wins over the opposition.
The most clear-cut victories came by the hands of MASSIVEimpact and Infamous, the latter of whom dropped just two rounds in their first map against Hentai Heroes before cruising to a 2-0 finish. MASSIVEimpact also had a fairly easy time of things on their first map against SODMG, putting up a 12-3 first half on Inferno before closing out the series on Cache.
Hentai HeroesInfamous| Hentai Heroes |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Roan 'Gulu' Dunn |
32 - 35 | -3 | 73.3 | 63.6% | 0.87 |
 Matt 'swanky' Sherwood |
22 - 37 | -15 | 62.6 | 63.6% | 0.76 |
 Jose 'Urusai' Rodriguez |
20 - 38 | -18 | 63.2 | 52.3% | 0.67 |
| Joseph 'Bjor' Bjorklund |
22 - 37 | -15 | 60.6 | 50.0% | 0.64 |
 Filip 'Feedalee' Mitevski |
22 - 39 | -17 | 62.8 | 50.0% | 0.61 |
| Infamous |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
48 - 21 | +27 | 106.5 | 90.9% | 1.78 |
| Erick 'Xeppaa' Bach |
43 - 26 | +17 | 103.9 | 88.6% | 1.57 |
| Tyler 'tweiss' Weiss |
37 - 24 | +13 | 85.0 | 75.0% | 1.33 |
| Josh 'JoshRT' Lee |
32 - 25 | +7 | 81.3 | 81.8% | 1.26 |
| Warren 'hades' Rettich |
25 - 22 | +3 | 60.9 | 84.1% | 1.04 |
SODMGMASSIVEimpact| SODMG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nick 'peanut' Himber |
35 - 34 | +1 | 81.3 | 72.5% | 1.13 |
| Ryan 'wrsrule' Hatcher |
36 - 34 | +2 | 69.1 | 68.6% | 1.01 |
| Noah 'insane' Eheart |
27 - 33 | -6 | 65.3 | 72.5% | 0.92 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
22 - 39 | -17 | 62.6 | 58.8% | 0.73 |
| Eric 'ERIC' W. |
28 - 41 | -13 | 58.9 | 56.9% | 0.71 |
| MASSIVEimpact |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collin 'wrath' McSweegan |
43 - 30 | +13 | 85.7 | 78.4% | 1.35 |
| Dylan 'RIKO' Sabin-Arnce |
38 - 28 | +10 | 83.6 | 72.5% | 1.27 |
| Marian 'tyfoon' Lesnic |
43 - 36 | +7 | 87.5 | 78.4% | 1.26 |
| Sebastian 'seb' Bucki |
33 - 31 | +2 | 74.9 | 78.4% | 1.08 |
| Shawn 'witmer' Taylor |
24 - 28 | -4 | 54.3 | 70.6% | 0.98 |
Final Feature also worked their way past Hysteria, although their matchup saw closer overall scorelines as Austin "RenZ" Dickman's side managed to take both maps to double digits before falling.
Final FeatureHysteria| Final Feature |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel 'picky' Milazzo |
44 - 28 | +16 | 86.9 | 87.3% | 1.45 |
| Colton 'BASE' Musella |
43 - 35 | +8 | 89.7 | 83.6% | 1.36 |
| William 'shonk' Kittrell |
46 - 30 | +16 | 80.8 | 81.8% | 1.35 |
| Jonah 'JonahP' Pulice |
40 - 30 | +10 | 74.1 | 81.8% | 1.31 |
| Neil 'montE' Montgomery |
39 - 32 | +7 | 70.4 | 81.8% | 1.14 |
| Hysteria |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin 'RenZ' Dickman |
40 - 40 | +0 | 87.5 | 63.6% | 1.05 |
| Malick 'dangle' Abid |
33 - 43 | -10 | 71.0 | 61.8% | 0.87 |
| Jordon 'jitter' Ruggiero |
29 - 41 | -12 | 60.2 | 63.6% | 0.80 |
| Eric 'HIA' Boggs |
28 - 46 | -18 | 57.9 | 56.4% | 0.71 |
| Jeremy 'Mundle' King |
25 - 42 | -17 | 53.3 | 60.0% | 0.68 |
The most surprising result came in the final quarterfinal matchup, where Zone defeated Matthew "mCe" Elmore's The Quest 2-0 on Nuke and Inferno. Despite mCe's side managing ten rounds on the CT side of Nuke, they were unable to muster much of an offense and took just a single round on their T side to drop the opening map 11-16. The Quest took another halftime lead on Inferno, putting up a 9-6 scoreline, but once again were unable to crack through Zone's defensive hold and fell 12-16.
The QuestZone| The Quest |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew 'mCe' Elmore |
44 - 37 | +7 | 83.2 | 70.9% | 1.16 |
| Logan 'Voltage' Long |
45 - 37 | +8 | 78.3 | 69.1% | 1.14 |
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
34 - 45 | -11 | 74.3 | 67.3% | 0.92 |
| Jack 'xCeeD' Holiman |
29 - 43 | -14 | 74.6 | 74.5% | 0.91 |
| Trevor 'FrostayK' Bandle |
30 - 43 | -13 | 65.7 | 69.1% | 0.85 |
| Zone |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter 'koga' Allen |
41 - 33 | +8 | 86.1 | 81.8% | 1.27 |
| Nathan 'leaf' Orf |
45 - 33 | +12 | 78.2 | 80.0% | 1.21 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
43 - 41 | +2 | 77.4 | 76.4% | 1.14 |
| Joshua 'Hunter' Madore |
36 - 38 | -2 | 72.1 | 72.7% | 1.05 |
| Alexander 'zanz' Diaz |
39 - 37 | +2 | 70.8 | 63.6% | 1.01 |
MASSIVEimpact were the first to secure their slot in the Challenger Cup, with Collin "wrath" McSweegan helping to power his side to a 2-0 finish over Infamous. Although Infamous kept the scoreline close and trailed 7-8 swapping onto their CT side on Overpass, MASSIVEimpact took firm control on their T side by winning seven rounds straight to sit upon match point before eventually closing out the map 16-11.
A heroic performance by Erick "Xeppaa" Bach wasn't enough to keep MASSIVEimpact at bay on Mirage, with wrath combining alongside Dylan "RIKO" Sabin-Arnce for a 10-5 half. Again, MASSIVEimpact were quick to close out the map in the second half, granting Infamous just three additional rounds before closing out the series with a 16-8 win on Mirage.
InfamousMASSIVEimpact| Infamous |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erick 'Xeppaa' Bach |
49 - 39 | +10 | 103.5 | 72.5% | 1.32 |
| Tyler 'tweiss' Weiss |
32 - 38 | -6 | 69.3 | 60.8% | 0.93 |
| Josh 'JoshRT' Lee |
33 - 43 | -10 | 71.1 | 64.7% | 0.89 |
| Warren 'hades' Rettich |
26 - 40 | -14 | 59.1 | 64.7% | 0.78 |
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
23 - 38 | -15 | 53.6 | 72.5% | 0.74 |
| MASSIVEimpact |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collin 'wrath' McSweegan |
43 - 30 | +13 | 94.0 | 86.3% | 1.42 |
| Dylan 'RIKO' Sabin-Arnce |
45 - 29 | +16 | 81.1 | 76.5% | 1.33 |
| Shawn 'witmer' Taylor |
43 - 35 | +8 | 84.7 | 68.6% | 1.25 |
| Sebastian 'seb' Bucki |
37 - 34 | +3 | 84.2 | 78.4% | 1.19 |
| Marian 'tyfoon' Lesnic |
30 - 35 | -5 | 72.4 | 74.5% | 1.01 |
The final series to conclude was also the only one to go to three maps, with Zone eventually coming out on top over Final Feature 2-1. The series opened on Inferno, where Final Feature fought back from an 0-4 start to take the map win 16-12. Unfortunately for them, they were unable to maintain the momentum on the ensuing two maps, with Zone rolling through Dust2 16-7 before completely locking Final Feature out of Mirage 16-2.
Final FeatureZone| Final Feature |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colton 'BASE' Musella |
48 - 55 | -7 | 79.6 | 59.4% | 0.97 |
| Daniel 'picky' Milazzo |
47 - 55 | -8 | 76.0 | 62.3% | 0.93 |
| William 'shonk' Kittrell |
42 - 58 | -16 | 69.9 | 69.6% | 0.89 |
| Jonah 'JonahP' Pulice |
34 - 54 | -20 | 54.3 | 59.4% | 0.75 |
| Neil 'montE' Montgomery |
30 - 53 | -23 | 54.8 | 56.5% | 0.64 |
| Zone |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
64 - 39 | +25 | 92.4 | 76.8% | 1.36 |
| Joshua 'Hunter' Madore |
59 - 35 | +24 | 85.5 | 71.0% | 1.31 |
| Hunter 'koga' Allen |
52 - 42 | +10 | 87.0 | 76.8% | 1.25 |
| Alexander 'zanz' Diaz |
52 - 42 | +10 | 75.4 | 75.4% | 1.18 |
| Nathan 'leaf' Orf |
47 - 43 | +4 | 75.7 | 81.2% | 1.15 |
MASSIVEimpact and Zone are the first two teams to earn spots in the ECS Season 7 Challenger Cup, with another three qualifiers set to add another six teams over the next two weeks. As always, links and dates for upcoming qualifiers can be found on the Dust2.us Calendar.
