Quartet of teams remain in the running in ECS Season 7 Week 5
The first day of the final week of ECS Season 7 has come to an end, leaving MIBR, Cloud9, INTZ, and Liquid all in the running for the final qualification spot for North America.
The first two matchups of the day ended in swift 2-0 victories for MIBR and Cloud9, with the two teams dispatching of Singularity and eUnited in their quarterfinal matchups, respectively.
Cloud9 were initially put on the back foot on Inferno as Victor "food" Wong helped to open up the half for eUnited with a 6-3 lead, but a stellar performance by René "cajunb" Borg allowed for Cloud9 to answer back with a six round streak of their own. The side swap heavily favored Cloud9 as cajunb continued his good form, helping to push Cloud9 to a 16-9 victory on their own map pick.
eUnited fared even worse on their own pick of Train, with Cloud9 winning nine of the first ten rounds of the map for a dominant T-side lead. Although eUnited managed to claw their way back for a 5-10 scoreline, their fate was quickly sealed in the second half as Cloud9 granted their opponents just a single round before closing out the series with a 16-6 victory.
Cloud9eUnited| Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 René 'cajunb' Borg |
43 - 23 | +20 | 99.7 | 85.1% | 1.52 |
 Maikil 'Golden' Selim |
39 - 32 | +7 | 97.1 | 74.5% | 1.35 |
 Timothy 'autimatic' Ta |
39 - 23 | +16 | 72.4 | 76.6% | 1.28 |
| William 'RUSH' Wierzba |
32 - 29 | +3 | 70.0 | 70.2% | 1.13 |
| Daniel 'vice' Kim |
34 - 35 | -1 | 80.7 | 70.2% | 1.08 |
| eUnited |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victor 'food' Wong |
29 - 36 | -7 | 77.9 | 61.7% | 0.93 |
| Austin 'Cooper' Abadir |
27 - 36 | -9 | 61.5 | 63.8% | 0.87 |
 Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado |
27 - 37 | -10 | 62.9 | 59.6% | 0.79 |
| Anthony 'vanity' Malaspina |
30 - 39 | -9 | 61.3 | 57.4% | 0.76 |
 Kaleb 'moose' Jayne |
29 - 39 | -10 | 65.8 | 63.8% | 0.75 |
It was a tale of T-sides for Singularity in their own matchup against MIBR, with Ricky "floppy" Kemery aiding his team in the opening half of Mirage to trail 7-8 at the half. Unfortunately for floppy and co., MIBR's own T-side proved far superior as the Brazilians all stepped up to the plate, winning a string of seven rounds at the start of the second half with Singularity only managing a trio in reply before the map was closed out with a 16-10 scoreline in MIBR's favor.
Singularity managed a pistol round victory to open up Inferno, but quickly found themselves pushed back once again as MIBR won six of the ensuing seven rounds to pull ahead. A resurgence towards the latter portion of the half allowed for Singularity to answer back, taking a 9-6 lead as they swapped over to their CT-side.
Once again, MIBR's T-side proved superior as Singularity found themselves unable to halt the aggression from the Brazilian roster, with Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo winning a crucial 1vs3 clutch late into the half to crush the hopes of Singularity and grant them just a single round in the half before closing out the map with a second 16-10 victory.
SingularityMIBR| Singularity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
38 - 40 | -2 | 84.1 | 67.3% | 1.07 |
| Cameron 'cam' Kern |
34 - 38 | -4 | 80.3 | 61.5% | 0.96 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
29 - 36 | -7 | 63.6 | 65.4% | 0.88 |
| Ryan 'ryann' Welsh |
27 - 40 | -13 | 52.5 | 55.8% | 0.73 |
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
19 - 42 | -23 | 45.2 | 48.1% | 0.53 |
| MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
46 - 25 | +21 | 87.0 | 76.9% | 1.49 |
| Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
42 - 30 | +12 | 94.9 | 80.8% | 1.35 |
| Marcelo 'coldzera' David |
40 - 29 | +11 | 77.1 | 76.9% | 1.22 |
| Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
34 - 26 | +8 | 75.8 | 76.9% | 1.18 |
| João 'felps' Vasconcellos |
32 - 37 | -5 | 69.4 | 69.2% | 1.07 |
The fastest series victory came, somewhat predictably, in Liquid's match against Spacestation, with Nick "nitr0" Cannella and co. allowing their opponents just three rounds on the first map of Overpass. A stellar performance from Keith "NAF" Markovic continued into the second map, Vertigo, where he was joined by Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken as LIquid left Spacestation stranded with just seven rounds to their name before closing out the series.
LiquidSpacestation| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
42 - 22 | +20 | 102.1 | 85.7% | 1.66 |
| Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
41 - 17 | +24 | 90.9 | 90.5% | 1.61 |
| Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip |
37 - 21 | +16 | 89.6 | 85.7% | 1.40 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
37 - 25 | +12 | 92.9 | 81.0% | 1.35 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
35 - 29 | +6 | 93.6 | 73.8% | 1.18 |
| Spacestation |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chad 'Oderus' Miller |
30 - 39 | -9 | 80.2 | 57.1% | 0.91 |
| Anthony 'gMd' Guimond |
28 - 37 | -9 | 70.4 | 71.4% | 0.87 |
| Michael 'Grim' Wince |
26 - 39 | -13 | 72.2 | 59.5% | 0.84 |
| Ryan 'Snakes' Amann |
19 - 37 | -18 | 47.9 | 57.1% | 0.58 |
| David 'DAVEY' Stafford |
11 - 40 | -29 | 56.0 | 42.9% | 0.34 |
The fourth and final series to conclude was the Brazilian derby between INTZ and Luminosity, with Vito "kNgV-" Giuseppe helping to power his side to a reverse-sweep victory to advance to the semifinals.
INTZ initially claimed control as they opened up Luminosity's pick of Inferno with a 4-2 lead, but a standout performance by Lucas "LUCAS1" Teles allowed for Luminosity to rally back and grant their opponents just three additional rounds in the map before claiming a 16-7 victory.
Luminosity maintained momentum into INTZ's pick of Train, mustering a 10-5 CT-side lead before winning two rounds at the start of the second half to push up to a 12-5 scoreline. A stellar performance from Alexandre "xand" Zizi and Vito "kNgV-" Guiseppe help INTZ regain they footing, giving up just a single round once their economy had stabilized to edge out their own map pick 16-13 and push the series to the deciding map of Mirage.
In almost identical fashion, INTZ and Luminosity battled for control at the start of Mirage, with INTZ emerging out on top to take a 10-5 lead at the end of the first half. Following the side swap, INTZ managed two rounds at the onset of their T-side, with LUCAS1 and a four-kill round from Gabriel "NEKIZ" Schenato seeing Luminosity work their way up to claim the lead at 13-12. INTZ evened the score with a round of their own, with the two teams then trading blows before a triple kill from Lucas "destiny" Bullo allowed for INTZ to edge out the win 16-14.
INTZLuminosity| INTZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexandre 'xand' Zizi |
62 - 51 | +11 | 83.0 | 78.0% | 1.17 |
| Vito 'kNgV-' Giuseppe |
64 - 48 | +16 | 80.8 | 63.4% | 1.13 |
| Lucas 'destiny' Bullo |
49 - 61 | -12 | 69.9 | 74.4% | 1.02 |
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
49 - 55 | -6 | 57.0 | 78.0% | 0.92 |
| Gustavo 'yel' Knittel |
43 - 51 | -8 | 61.1 | 70.7% | 0.92 |
| Luminosity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
58 - 46 | +12 | 71.2 | 76.8% | 1.11 |
| Lucas 'LUCAS1' Teles |
60 - 65 | -5 | 82.9 | 61.0% | 1.06 |
| Ricardo 'boltz' Prass |
51 - 51 | +0 | 78.4 | 69.5% | 1.01 |
| Henrique 'HEN1' Teles |
50 - 48 | +2 | 66.9 | 65.9% | 0.97 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
47 - 57 | -10 | 61.5 | 64.6% | 0.88 |
The two semifinal matchups for Week 5, with times in EDT, are as follows:
| Week 5 Semifinals, May 22nd & 23rd (EDT) | |
|---|---|
| MIBR -vs- Cloud9 |
5:00 PM |
| Liquid -vs- INTZ |
5:00 PM |
All four semifinal teams have a shot at the final qualification spot for North America, with MIBR currently in the lead following their win in the previous week.
