Chaos, Mythic advance to MDL Season 34 playoffs upper bracket final; Oceanus, KTCU eliminated
The first day of ESEA MDL Season 34 playoffs has concluded, with Chaos and Mythic remaining undefeated to advance to the upper bracket final. Meanwhile in the lower bracket, Oceanus and Keep the Comms Up were sent packing following losses to Levitate and Recon 5, respectively.
The majority of the upper bracket quarterfinal matches went as expected, with the favored team emerging victorious in one-sided 2-0 series over their opposition. Chaos made short work of Levitate, allowing them just eleven rounds combined on Mirage and Overpass, while Recon 5 made short work of an Oceanus roster that were forced to play 4vs5 after Adam "mada" Pampuch had to travel to Europe due to a family emergency.
The only opening series to go the distance saw the stream team of Mythic edge out a win over Swedish Canadians, securing their pick of Vertigo before a narrow 14-16 loss on Mirage required an Overpass decider. There, the two teams remained within one round of each other at halftime, but it was Mythic who narrowly prevailed in the closing moments of the map to take the win 16-13.
Almost the polar opposite scenario unfolded in the match between New England Whalers and Keep the Comms Up, with the former team entering the bracket as the top seed. Jonah "JonahP" Pulice and company were absolutely battered on their own pick of Nuke, not managing to pick up a single round as strong showings from Josh "PwnAlone" Pigue and Jonathan "djay" Dallal led to a 16-0 success for the Whalers. Overpass was more competitive, but PwnAlone's side still came out the victors in a 16-9 affair to advance to the upper bracket semifinals.
There, the team were left reeling as Mythic opened up the series with a 10-5 T-effort on Inferno, wasting little time in closing out the map in the second half by claiming a 16-9 map win. It seemed that the Whalers would be able to force a deciding map as, after edging out an 8-7 lead at the side swap on Dust2, a USP ace from PwnAlone gave them early control in the second half. However, stellar AWPing from Erik "fl0m" Flom helped keep Mythic in the running, with the team seizing firm control in overtime as they swept it 4-0 to take the map and series.
New England WhalersMythic| New England Whalers |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
50 - 40 | +10 | 88.6 | 66.1% | 1.20 |
| Ramal 'Rampage' Silva |
33 - 39 | -6 | 63.3 | 69.5% | 0.94 |
 Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
34 - 38 | -4 | 53.6 | 74.6% | 0.91 |
| Brandon 'bew' Roberts |
30 - 41 | -11 | 73.6 | 62.7% | 0.87 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
34 - 49 | -15 | 69.8 | 57.6% | 0.77 |
| Mythic |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erik 'fl0m' Flom |
53 - 31 | +22 | 103.7 | 78.0% | 1.50 |
| Kaitlin 'Keiti' Boop |
45 - 38 | +7 | 83.7 | 69.5% | 1.15 |
| David 'DAVEY' Stafford |
37 - 33 | +4 | 69.2 | 71.2% | 1.10 |
| Corbin 'C0M' Lee |
38 - 40 | -2 | 65.7 | 67.8% | 0.96 |
| Adam 'Polen' Polen |
33 - 42 | -9 | 63.5 | 64.4% | 0.90 |
Meanwhile, Erick "Xeppaa" Bach helmed a decisive Chaos victory over Recon 5, with the team taking an 8-7 lead at the end of their defensive effort on Train. Once they were on the attack, Chaos gave Recon 5 no room to breathe as they won eight rounds straight to close out the map, moving the series on to their own pick of Train.
There, Chaos continued to find success on the T-side, with the two teams initially trading sets of five rounds before the Joshua "steel" Nissan-led side pulled ahead 9-6 at the break. Another four rounds in a row to kick off the second half put the team up at thirteen before Recon 5 began to respond, but it was too little to late as Chaos won out a back-and-forth trading of rounds to take the map 16-11.
Recon 5Chaos| Recon 5 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jet 'jet-' Gao |
32 - 36 | -4 | 66.6 | 62.0% | 0.97 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
32 - 40 | -8 | 69.7 | 64.0% | 0.93 |
| Riley 'Reality' Fusch |
30 - 36 | -6 | 64.4 | 62.0% | 0.79 |
| Dominick 'JazzPimp' Dimpfel |
23 - 39 | -16 | 64.7 | 66.0% | 0.78 |
| Jason 'neptune' Tran |
23 - 39 | -16 | 55.3 | 62.0% | 0.64 |
| Chaos |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erick 'Xeppaa' Bach |
42 - 26 | +16 | 90.8 | 82.0% | 1.42 |
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
39 - 28 | +11 | 86.1 | 80.0% | 1.35 |
| Joshua 'steel' Nissan |
35 - 27 | +8 | 88.6 | 82.0% | 1.29 |
| Anthony 'vanity' Malaspina |
29 - 26 | +3 | 56.8 | 88.0% | 1.15 |
| Nathan 'leaf' Orf |
43 - 33 | +10 | 84.2 | 74.0% | 1.09 |
The two lower bracket series concluded in quick fashion as Swedish Canadians found success over Keep the Comms Up, who were unable to recover from their battering in their opening match as Adam "WolfY" Andersson and company secured 16-9 and 16-11 victories on Inferno and Mirage, respectively, to take the series.
Keep the Comms UpSwedish Canadians| Keep the Comms Up |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonah 'JonahP' Pulice |
38 - 42 | -4 | 86.6 | 73.1% | 1.11 |
| Colton 'BASE' Musella |
36 - 43 | -7 | 71.7 | 61.5% | 0.84 |
| Trevor 'FrostayK' Bandle |
30 - 38 | -8 | 66.1 | 55.8% | 0.83 |
| Alex 'Mauisnake' Ellenberg |
28 - 40 | -12 | 62.7 | 51.9% | 0.76 |
| Sterling 'sterling' Allard |
26 - 43 | -17 | 60.2 | 55.8% | 0.68 |
| Swedish Canadians |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adam 'WolfY' Andersson |
47 - 31 | +16 | 94.8 | 76.9% | 1.44 |
| Ian 'battery' Yates |
47 - 32 | +15 | 91.4 | 76.9% | 1.35 |
| David 'J0LZ' Jolin |
36 - 34 | +2 | 82.8 | 86.5% | 1.21 |
| Austin 'AAustiN' Urb |
38 - 32 | +6 | 78.7 | 78.8% | 1.20 |
| Alex 'vek' Voynov |
37 - 30 | +7 | 74.5 | 71.2% | 1.10 |
Despite being forced to play 4vs5, Oceanus still put up a fight against Levitate, managing nine rounds on Nuke and ten on Train despite eventually conceding the series.
OCGLevitateThe next round of matches are as follows:
| Upper Bracket | ||
| Chaos |
vs. | Mythic |
| Lower Bracket | ||
| Swedish Canadians |
vs. | Recon 5 |
| Levitate |
vs. | New England Whalers |
