ESEA MDL Week 6 Recap
A week chock full of MDL matches has concluded, leaving many teams on the cusp of qualifying for the playoffs which are set to begin on November 14th. Gale Force and FRENCH CANADIANS have all but secured their spots, sitting comfortably at ten wins and two losses each; however, the rest of the standings aren't as set in stone.
With a total of 16 matches played through the season, most teams have just four matches left to be played - this puts teams in the lower half of the top eight in real danger of failing to qualify for the playoffs, as squads like Torqued and Naventic are hot on the heels of stragglers.
This week saw one massive roster change on GX in the form of Sam "DaZeD" Marine stepping down from professional play. The former in-game leader gave his reasoning for bowing out in a video released on his YouTube channel following the announcement.
DaZeD stepping down came shortly after GX's 9-16 loss to Gale Force on Mirage, one of the critical matches of the week as both teams look to secure playoff spots. His replacement was quickly found in Shawn "witmer" Taylor, who gave us his thoughts on joining GX.
Other critical matchups this week included SoaR taking on Mythic Reborn and Beacon Esports, who the former were able to defeat 16-8 and 16-3 respectively. Mythic had a difficult week, dropping an additional map to Gale Force 16-6 to put them at three losses, but a fantastic start to the season still leaves them in third place with a solid shot at the playoffs.
Rise Nation secured themselves an important 16-13 win early in the week by handing Gale Force their second loss of the season, albeit in close fashion. With five matches to go, a victory over the #1 MDL team is a massive boon to Andy "vSa" Xu's squad with playoffs just a week away.
Another 16-13 scoreline wasn't as celebratory for the losing side, as Torqued fell to ex-Denial on Inferno. Joshua "steel" Nissan and co. were unable to push the map over the edge, despite a 10-5 first half. Torqued currently sit at #11 in the standings, but still have a solid shot at qualifying for playoffs with only ten matches played.
With a number of teams fighting over the top eight slots, this upcoming final week of matches will play a paramount part in picking teams for the playoffs. Some of the most important matches of next week include:
| Matchup | Date | Time (PM) |
| Rise Nation vs. Torqued | November 7th | 5:30 PST/8:30 EST |
| GX vs. Beacon Esports | November 7th | 6:30 PST/9:30 EST |
| Torqued vs. Ghost Academy | November 7th | 7:30 PST/10:30 EST |
| Iceberg-GG vs. Gale Force | November 7th | 8:30 PST/11:30 EST |
| Beacon Esports vs. Mythic Reborn | November 8th | 6:30 PST/9:30 EST |
| FRENCH CANADIANS vs. Rise Nation | November 9th | 5:30 PST/8:30 EST |
| SoaR Gaming vs. FRENCH CANADIANS | November 9th | 6:30 PST/9:30 EST |
| Mythic Reborn vs. Rise Nation | November 9th | 7:00 PST/10:00 EST |
Curent ESEA MDL standings:
| Team | Matches | Wins | Losses | Round Differential | Points |
 Gale Force |
12 | 10 | 2 | +60 | 30 |
 FRENCH CANADIANS |
12 | 10 | 2 | +56 | 30 |
 Mythic Reborn |
11 | 8 | 3 | +38 | 24 |
 Rise Nation |
11 | 8 | 3 | +10 | 24 |
| SoaR |
12 | 8 | 4 | +39 | 24 |
| Beacon |
12 | 8 | 4 | +27 | 24 |
| Ghost Academy |
12 | 7 | 5 | +9 | 21 |
| GX |
12 | 7 | 5 | +1 | 21 |
| Naventic |
12 | 6 | 6 | +11 | 18 |
| Morior Invictus |
12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 18 |
| Torqued |
10 | 5 | 5 | -3 | 15 |
| Iceberg |
11 | 5 | 6 | -7 | 15 |
| Muffin Lightning |
11 | 5 | 6 | -9 | 15 |
| subtLe |
11 | 5 | 6 | -16 | 15 |
| CheckSix |
12 | 5 | 7 | -12 | 15 |
| LFAO |
9 | 4 | 5 | -11 | 12 |
| ex-Denial |
10 | 4 | 6 | -1 | 12 |
| Good People |
10 | 4 | 6 | -23 | 12 |
| CLG Academy |
11 | 4 | 7 | -1 | 12 |
| Adaptation |
12 | 3 | 9 | -28 | 9 |
| Ambition |
10 | 2 | 8 | -33 | 6 |
| Mostly Harmless |
10 | 2 | 8 | -46 | 6 |
 Gorilla Core |
11 | 2 | 9 | -61 | 6 |
