UPDATE: Zone qualify for MDL Season 31 with win over Thunder Logic
Zone have won the grand final of ESEA Advanced Season 30 with a 2-0 series victory over Thunder Logic, earning themselves a spot in MDL for the upcoming season. Thunder Logic still have a chance to earn a spot in the league through Relegation, which is set to play out from April 9-11.
The 2-0 win for Zone was a relatively simple affair at first, with Joshua "Hunter" Madore and Alexander "zander" Diaz helping their side rack up a 13-2 CT-side lead on Overpass. Just four rounds went the way of Thunder Logic in the second half before Zone swiftly closed out the map 16-6, moving the series onward to their own pick of Train.
Hunter's good form continued into Train, although Thunder Logic managed to get off to a better start by winning four of the first five rounds for an initial 4-1 lead. Once their economy stabilized, Zone quickly managed to get rolling as a five-round streak allowed for them to steal away the lead, with Thunder Logic managing only two additional rounds on their CT-side to trail 6-9 at the half.
Zone further extended their lead to 11-6 with two rounds at the start of the second half, but an intense back-and-forth between the two sides saw Hunter and co. unable to string together any additional rounds. Despite being reset after each round they won, Zone managed to keep themselves competitive as they never lost the lead, eventually edging out a 16-14 victory to take the series 2-0.
Thunder LogicZone| Thunder Logic |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Adam 'Ange' Milian |
34 - 40 | -6 | 79.0 | 67.3% | 1.01 |
 Amgalan 'genghsta' Nemekhbayar |
32 - 40 | -8 | 66.7 | 67.3% | 0.92 |
 Jason 'jmoh' Mohandessi |
30 - 39 | -9 | 73.8 | 65.4% | 0.92 |
| Rahul 'curry' Nemani |
37 - 42 | -5 | 69.7 | 61.5% | 0.88 |
| Chris 'Slash' Petersen |
21 - 37 | -16 | 49.4 | 57.7% | 0.66 |
| Zone |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joshua 'Hunter' Madore |
51 - 27 | +24 | 94.8 | 82.7% | 1.59 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
39 - 33 | +6 | 80.5 | 73.1% | 1.18 |
| Nathan 'leaf' Orf |
36 - 32 | +4 | 79.8 | 73.1% | 1.15 |
| Hunter 'koga' Allen |
39 - 31 | +8 | 72.2 | 75.0% | 1.10 |
| Alexander 'zanz' Diaz |
33 - 31 | +2 | 74.6 | 69.2% | 1.04 |
With this win, Zone have earned themselves a small monetary bonus over Thunder Logic, and more importantly, a spot in MDL Season 31.
The current team list for MDL Relegation looks as follows:
| Old Guys Club |
The Fundamentals |
| BBC |
slashLEVEL |
| Variance |
Thunder Logic |
| The Quest |
 Advanced #7 |
As The Quest pulled off a 2-1 win over BLITZKRIEG for a 5-6th place finish to round out the day, just one final spot in MDL Season 30 Relegation remains. A bout between Big Frames and BLITZKRIEG will determine which team will claim the slot, after which the eight teams will clash for four spots in MDL Season 31.
UPDATE: After the victory, Alexander "zander" Diaz posted on Twitter that the team would be looking for a fifth for next season, because Nathan "leaf" Orf is fifteen — meaning that the player is ineligible to play in the league, and also has lied to HLTV about his age.
