Axolotls dominate at Fragadelphia 17: Chicago
Axolotls have won Fragadelphia 17: Chicago along with the $7,000 and 8,000 Fragadelphia Point grand prize, after only losing one map across the entire event. The ESL Challenger League team looked in top form as they smashed their way through each opponent with ease, often exchanging words with their enemies after each round.
It all started in the group stage, whereby Axolotls only needed to win one series to make it through to the playoffs, and that win would come easily with a 2-0 victory against 303, who just couldn't match the firepower of an ECL team. With the group stages behind them, Axolotls would go on to face Tempest in the quarter-finals whereby they would again claim a 2-0 victory. However, in the first map, Tempest did not roll over, giving Axolotls a scare after taking the map all thirty rounds before losing 16-14. The rain stopped quickly thereafter as they were subdued 16-6 in the second map.
Undefeated on all maps Axolotls were determined, and despite pushing the second map to overtime, an in-form Vexo Purple could not break the streak. Instead, the Advanced team that is currently competing in playoffs fell 2-0, but should definitely take confidence in their performance as they look to make relegation.
After dominating performances on at least one map in every single series up until this point, Axolotls were feeling confident and their talk definitely showed it as they played games with their opponents after each round. With the finals coming up, I for one thought they would likely be facing Bad News Bears despite the two stand-ins that the latter squad was utilizing, but instead, the under-panthers of Davenport University were waiting for them. In a slightly odd affair that saw a 16-2 for Davenport followed by a 16-3 for Axolotls, Andrew "Tender" Cote led his team to a 2-1 victory with 48 kills despite heroic attempts from Davenport's William "spek" Smith to stay in the game.
AxolotlsDavenport University| Axolotls |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Andrew 'Tender' Cote |
48 - 33 | +15 | 75.1 | 70.5% | 1.25 |
| Connor 'jermanji' Buckles |
46 - 32 | +14 | 80.7 | 77.0% | 1.22 |
| Kevin 'consti' Yi |
44 - 33 | +11 | 71.9 | 68.9% | 1.15 |
| Marco 'Pol0' Hernandez |
38 - 46 | -8 | 77.8 | 67.2% | 0.98 |
| Blake 'Elk' Swinson |
36 - 40 | -4 | 71.9 | 65.6% | 0.98 |
| Davenport University |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| William 'spek' Smith |
57 - 40 | +17 | 92.6 | 68.9% | 1.32 |
| Spencer 'Pugg' Moore |
42 - 46 | -4 | 90.0 | 63.9% | 1.06 |
| Collin 'CoJoMo' Moren |
34 - 41 | -7 | 62.4 | 62.3% | 0.86 |
| Brandon 'BeBO' Miller |
27 - 39 | -12 | 44.7 | 52.5% | 0.73 |
| Tommy 'corn' Eckhart |
23 - 46 | -23 | 49.2 | 54.1% | 0.59 |
The final standings of Fragadelphia 17: Chicago are:
1. Axolotls - $7,000 and 8,000 Fragadelphia points
2. Davenport University - $2,000 and 4,000 Fragadelphia points
3. Bad News Bears - $1,000 and 2,000 Fragadelphia points
4. Vexo Purple - 2,000 Fragadelphia points
5-8. Northern Forces - 1,000 Fragadelphia points
5-8. Louisville Red Wolves - 1,000 Fragadelphia points
5-8. Cyberstorm - 1,000 Fragadelphia points
5-8. 
Tempest Gaming - 1,000 Fragadelphia points
The next event in the Fragadelphia 17 circuit, in Fullerton, California, is set to start on the 25th of June.
