eRa claims victory over h00liGaNz in ESEA Main semifinals; secures MDL slot alongside Third Times a Charm
The match kicked off on Overpass, where the first five rounds of the match saw a back-and-forth trade between the two sides. h00liGaNz finally claimed the upper hand thanks to Andy "devastation" Parr picking up three kills, and went on to put themselves up to a 8-2 lead. eRa finally put a stop to the streak of h00liGaNz as they found four rounds of their own, but h00liGaNz were able to take one last round for themselves to close the half out 9-6 in their favor.
Despite a shaky start at the beginning of the match, eRa seemed to have warmed up as they began their CT side. The first three rounds of the second half went their way, and although h00liGaNz was able to take the first gun round, eRa immediately reset them to continue to mount their comeback. After taking the following four rounds, eRa once again reset h00liGaNz after a round win to affirm their lead. From initially being down 8-2, the eRa players clawed their way back to take the win 16-11 on h00liGaNz's map pick of Overpass.
Much like Overpass, eRa's CT defense on Mirage was stellar. After winning the pistol round and ensuing anti-eco the eRa squad lost three rounds, but once their economy was normalized they pushed forward post-haste to crush the aggression from h00liGaNz. With solid retakes and site holds on their side, eRa conceded just one more round in the half to put themselves at an 11-4 lead going into the second half.
The second pistol round of Mirage also went eRa's way, all but affirming their victory in the series. They crushed h00liGaNz's force-buy in the ensuing round, leaving their opposition to make their last stand on the first gun round. Although h00liGaNz managed to claw back seven rounds, the match was too far out of their reach in the end — eRa made one final push to take a 16-11 victory on Mirage, and a 2-0 win in the series.
eRah00liGaNz| eRa |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
51 - 33 | +18 | 98.4 | 79.6% | 1.54 |
| Ali 'phantom' Sachs |
50 - 35 | +15 | 93.5 | 83.3% | 1.39 |
| Wyatt 'tw1ggy' Blatt |
46 - 38 | +8 | 86.9 | 85.2% | 1.31 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
39 - 36 | +3 | 74.3 | 74.1% | 1.13 |
| Jacob 'SPERMY' Younan |
27 - 31 | -4 | 59.0 | 70.4% | 0.94 |
| h00liGaNz |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Maung 'MTH' Htay |
42 - 43 | -1 | 72.4 | 70.4% | 0.97 |
| Andy 'devastation' Parr |
35 - 39 | -4 | 71.3 | 68.5% | 0.96 |
| Beau 'uaeb' Thomsen |
36 - 42 | -6 | 72.7 | 70.4% | 0.94 |
| Dylan 'Hiki' O'Kane |
33 - 47 | -14 | 74.7 | 63.0% | 0.83 |
| David 'Delta9' Shafer |
27 - 42 | -15 | 63.8 | 63.0% | 0.76 |
eRa and Third Times a Charm (who defeated HWML on Saturday) have both claimed slots in the next season of ESEA's MDL, which is set to begin early in 2018. The two teams will also face off in a grand finals matchup to decide who can claim ESEA Main's first place prize of $2,700.
