RBG and Kinship qualify for ESEA MDL Season 35; Infinity relegated
After the second day of ESEA MDL Season 34 Relegation, the first two teams to lock up spots for next season are RBG and Kinship. RBG has qualified for ESEA's top tier after four seasons in ESEA Advanced, while Kinship made the jump after seven seasons in ESEA's penultimate league.
Once again, Infinity found themselves playing with coach Aldair "alone" Torres in a pivotal series to attempt to retain their spot for ESEA MDL Season 35. History repeated itself however, as things did not go well for the South American side.
timbermen were able to grab a 9-6 lead on the T-side of Inferno and then close out the opening map at their leisure. Jesus "sam_A" Taboada went toe-to-toe with Shane "shane" Dressler, as the pair were a cut above the rest of the server with 27 and 28 kills, respectively. But the biggest problem for Infinity was a drastically unbalanced effort, as Francisco "k1Nky" Alvarez and Andres "spamzzy1" Correa both finished map one with worse ratings than their coach, and all five members of timbermen were rated higher than everyone on Infinity with the exception of sam_A.
The one-man-army issue persisted for Infinity on Train, though this time it was Joel "tor1towOw" Rios Manrique who topped the leaderboard with 23 frags. timbermen continued to get consistent production from their roster as a whole and once again finished with all five players rating higher than the entirety of Infinity, with the exception of the South American top frag. Derek "dare" Brown, Wyatt "snav" Phillippi, and Kyle "KEL" Murray all finished with at least twenty kills as timbermen lived to fight another day. With the loss, Infinity are the first team to officially be relegated to ESEA Advanced Season 35, as Buffdaddy's Paypal Team have disbanded and will not participate.
Infinitytimbermen| Infinity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jesus 'sam_A' Taboada |
43 - 42 | +1 | 88.4 | 60.8% | 1.09 |
 Joel 'TORITO' Rios Manrique |
39 - 35 | +4 | 79.8 | 62.7% | 1.04 |
 Francisco 'k1Nky' Alvarez |
25 - 41 | -16 | 58.8 | 47.1% | 0.66 |
| Andres 'spamzzy' Correa |
25 - 41 | -16 | 56.0 | 51.0% | 0.62 |
| Aldair 'alone' Torres |
20 - 39 | -19 | 47.6 | 58.8% | 0.60 |
| timbermen |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Derek 'dare' Brown |
46 - 29 | +17 | 95.6 | 84.3% | 1.52 |
| Shane 'shane' Dressler |
45 - 31 | +14 | 82.1 | 84.3% | 1.41 |
| Kyle 'KEL' Murray |
40 - 31 | +9 | 78.8 | 76.5% | 1.18 |
| Wyatt 'snav' Phillippi |
34 - 32 | +2 | 80.5 | 70.6% | 1.13 |
| Riley 'violent' Levenson |
33 - 29 | +4 | 68.0 | 68.6% | 1.03 |
After day one's highly contested 2-0 sweep, RBG seemed to be in a hurry to wrap this series up and qualify for MDL as quickly as possible.
In the opening map it looked like things were going to remain close at first, as ImPerium took a 6-4 lead after falling into a 4-1 deficit out of the gate. But then RBG rattled off twelve rounds in a row spanning both halves, including a flawless seven-round T-side to close out the opener in dominant fashion. Colby "Walco" Walsh and Jadan "HexT" Postma finished with 22 and 21 kills, respectively, while Carter "CarterJ" Richardson led ImPerium with 16 kills in the losing effort.
RBG carried that T-sided momentum into Inferno at they jumped out to a 13-2 halftime. RBG then won the second half pistol and were immediately eco'ed, as ImPerium managed to string three rounds together before RBG could manage series point. But once they reached that point there was no denying their berth to ESEA's top flight, as they immediately converted their sixteenth round. HexT was a force to be reckoned with once again with 24 kills, while this time it was James "EllisoN" Ellison who was the only player on ImPerium with a positive kill death ratio, managing 17 kills in the loss.
ImPeriumRBG| ImPerium |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James 'EllisoN' Ellison |
29 - 33 | -4 | 72.5 | 69.8% | 0.93 |
| Carter 'CarterJ' Richardson |
29 - 36 | -7 | 69.2 | 51.2% | 0.86 |
| Ian 'heretic' Carfora |
24 - 35 | -11 | 58.8 | 60.5% | 0.80 |
| Reece 'Wilky' Wilkerson |
22 - 33 | -11 | 58.0 | 58.1% | 0.73 |
| Grant 'Burt^' Burt |
17 - 35 | -18 | 66.5 | 53.5% | 0.60 |
| RBG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
45 - 20 | +25 | 106.1 | 81.4% | 1.71 |
| Josh 'pwny' VanGorder |
35 - 20 | +15 | 97.1 | 83.7% | 1.50 |
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
35 - 23 | +12 | 70.9 | 72.1% | 1.26 |
| Austin 'gmanchew' Vieira |
28 - 28 | +0 | 79.3 | 67.4% | 1.07 |
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
28 - 30 | -2 | 70.0 | 67.4% | 1.04 |
The last series of the evening between Kinship and Hyper featured drastic momentum shifts across both maps. Hyper jumped out to a 9-0 lead on Inferno before Kinship strung five rounds together to bring things back to a respectable 10-5 deficit at the half. Kinship won the second pistol and were immediately eco'ed, but then rattled off ten rounds in a row to secure a 1-0 series advantage. Connor "chop" Sullivan and Kyle "Wolffe" Greenfield led the way with 22 and 21 kills, respectively, while Ryan "notorious" Gordon led Hyper with 18 frags in the loss.
The second map of the series went to overtime and was just as streaky as the first. In regulation, Kinship eked out a slim 8-7 lead, but lost the final three rounds of the first half. Hyper built off of that momentum, taking the first seven rounds of their T-sided second half to complete a ten-round swing. Not to be outdone, Kinship strung together seven rounds of their own and brought things to a 15-14 scoreline. Hyper stepped up as they were facing down series point however, as they won round thirty and successfully forced overtime.
In overtime, Kinship proved to be too much for Hyper as they decisively secured the map, the series, and a berth in ESEA MDL Season 35. Hunter "florgy" Coulson led all players with 31 kills in the loss for Hyper, while Anthony "CLASIA" Kearney spearheaded the conquest for Kinship with 27 frags.
KinshipHyper| Kinship |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Koby 'kobruh' Higgs |
44 - 39 | +5 | 87.9 | 75.8% | 1.29 |
| Anthony 'CLASIA' Kearney |
47 - 30 | +17 | 75.0 | 79.0% | 1.23 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
45 - 39 | +6 | 73.0 | 69.4% | 1.11 |
| Kyle 'Wolffe' Greenfield |
43 - 42 | +1 | 80.7 | 67.7% | 1.09 |
| Sean 'naes' Fontaine |
37 - 37 | +0 | 63.5 | 64.5% | 0.96 |
| Hyper |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter 'florgy' Coulson |
47 - 44 | +3 | 79.5 | 64.5% | 1.06 |
| Ryan 'notorious' Gordon |
35 - 44 | -9 | 66.9 | 61.3% | 0.94 |
| David 'sensu' Oliver |
37 - 45 | -8 | 74.1 | 62.9% | 0.91 |
| Ernie 'amen' Yokley |
36 - 42 | -6 | 60.0 | 61.3% | 0.84 |
| Matt 'Hipposaver' Pollock |
31 - 43 | -12 | 61.5 | 59.7% | 0.80 |
The action continues tonight at 9:30PM EDT with the lower bracket semifinals. One spot in ESEA MDL Season 35 remains.
| Thunder Logic |
vs. | ImPerium |
| Hyper |
vs. | timbermen |
