Singularity and Party Astronauts take dominant victories in day one of MDL playoffs
The quarterfinal round of matches for MDL Season 31 playoffs have concluded, seeing ATK, Singularity, FURIA, and Party Astronauts through to the semifinals.
The first match of the day was between ATK and Riot Squad, with Michael "dapr" Gulino making his debut for the recently signed Bad News Bears roster on their own pick of Dust2.
Riot Squad hit the ground running as they opened their T-side with a 3-0 lead, but their momentum was quickly brought to a halt by ATK's Canadian stand-in, Tyson "TenZ" Ngo. Twelve of the ensuing fourteen rounds of the map proceeded to go ATK's way, with TenZ leading the way in the 10-5 halftime resurgence.
Riot Squad answered back with a pair of rounds at the start of the second half, but ATK were equally swift in grabbing four rounds in reply to work their way to a 14-7 lead. Although ATK attained match point just two rounds later, a four-round streak by Riot Squad prolonged the match further, allowing for TenZ to drop 36 frags on the road to a narrow 16-13 victory. The 18-year old ended the 29-round map with a +22 K-D, averaging 117 damage per round and attaining a 1.88 rating to help power his team to a win.
The second map, Inferno, saw a much closer first half between the two teams. This time it was ATK who took a 3-0 lead on the offensive side, with Riot Squad battling back to eventually tie up the scoreline at 4-4. ATK and Riot Squad continued to trade blows as the end of the half drew near, with ATK narrowly emerging out on top with an 8-7 lead.
Much like on Dust2, ATK quickly worked their way up to a 14-7 scoreline as the first six rounds of the half went their way, attaining match point just one round later to give themselves a solid lead. A heroic effort from dapr, mirroring TenZ's performance on the opening map, allowed for Riot Squad to keep their dream alive as they fought their way to a one-round deficit. Unfortunately, dapr's 37 kills weren't enough to pull the map over the line for his side, with ATK inching out a 16-14 victory to take the series 2-0.
ATKRiot Squad| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tyson 'TenZ' Ngo |
59 - 33 | +26 | 98.3 | 76.3% | 1.51 |
 Dominic 'Domsterr' Sampaio |
37 - 37 | +0 | 71.8 | 72.9% | 1.02 |
| Rhys 'Fadey' Armstrong |
38 - 45 | -7 | 65.5 | 64.4% | 0.91 |
| Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
31 - 45 | -14 | 68.4 | 62.7% | 0.89 |
| Roberto 'blackpoisoN' Dall'Occo |
32 - 38 | -6 | 59.1 | 62.7% | 0.83 |
| Riot Squad |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Michael 'dapr' Gulino |
60 - 43 | +17 | 102.8 | 72.9% | 1.42 |
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
41 - 40 | +1 | 83.9 | 74.6% | 1.16 |
| Austin 'crashies' Roberts |
34 - 38 | -4 | 65.0 | 72.9% | 0.98 |
| Josh 'shinobi' Abastado |
33 - 39 | -6 | 61.2 | 69.5% | 0.94 |
| Mitch 'mitch' Semago |
30 - 37 | -7 | 51.8 | 72.9% | 0.86 |
In stark contrast to the close maps of the first series, Singularity's matchup against New Identity saw far more one-sided scorelines.
A Vertigo map pick by Singularity proved to be beneficial for the squad, with Josh "oSee" Ohm helping his team to dominate on the offensive side for a 9-0 opening scoreline, further adding to their score to take a 12-3 lead at the half. Match point was quickly attained as the opening trio of rounds in the second half also went Singularity's way, with a seven-round streak by New Identity prolonging the map a little longer before Singularity closed it out 16-10.
New Identity fared no better on their own pick of Inferno, with Singularity repeating their first half performance from Vertigo to take another 12-3 lead at the side swap. This time, New Identity were unable to forestall their execution, managing just one round before Ricky "floppy" Kemery sealed the deal for his team with a 16-4 victory.
SingularityNew Identity| Singularity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
51 - 20 | +31 | 110.8 | 84.8% | 1.77 |
| Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
39 - 26 | +13 | 92.2 | 78.3% | 1.38 |
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
32 - 24 | +8 | 70.0 | 76.1% | 1.19 |
| Cameron 'cam' Kern |
31 - 29 | +2 | 71.4 | 69.6% | 1.02 |
| Ryan 'ryann' Welsh |
25 - 30 | -5 | 68.4 | 76.1% | 1.00 |
| New Identity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
32 - 36 | -4 | 79.6 | 67.4% | 1.04 |
| Sebastian 'seb' Bucki |
30 - 36 | -6 | 72.8 | 73.9% | 0.94 |
| Collin 'wrath' McSweegan |
22 - 35 | -13 | 60.5 | 67.4% | 0.78 |
| Skyler 'Relyks' Weaver |
22 - 35 | -13 | 55.6 | 65.2% | 0.71 |
| Will 'dazzLe' Loafman |
23 - 37 | -14 | 67.2 | 47.8% | 0.67 |
The third match to conclude saw Brazilian rivals oNe and FURIA face off on Train, Inferno, and Overpass. Starting off the action on oNe's map pick, Alencar "trk" Rossato and co. were able to muster a 6-1 lead before FURIA answered back, turning the tables to claim seven out of the next eight rounds to end the half with an 8-7 lead. Upon switching sides, FURIA would retake the lead after winning the pistol round and the following two rounds. After this though, oNe completely blew away FURIA as they claimed the next eight rounds in a row to close out map one 16-10.
Although oNe surprised on Train, once FURIA reached their map pick of Inferno they completely decimated oNe's defenses to take a dominant 13-2 lead on their T-side. In their efforts to overcome the massive deficit, oNe claimed the first three rounds of the second half, but FURIA immediately closed the map out afterwards with a 16-5 scoreline.
On Overpass, oNe fared far better on their CT-side than on Inferno, but FURIA still managed to close out the half with a 9-6 lead. oNe attempted to answer back on their T-side by claiming the first two rounds of the half, but their resurgence was short-lived as strong performances from Yuri "yuurih" Santos and Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato sealed oNe's fate, with FURIA claiming seven out of the next eight rounds to take Overpass and the series 16-9.
FURIATeamOne| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
69 - 43 | +26 | 95.8 | 76.4% | 1.40 |
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
57 - 36 | +21 | 78.6 | 79.2% | 1.30 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
49 - 46 | +3 | 86.4 | 75.0% | 1.23 |
| Rinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior |
43 - 48 | -5 | 65.3 | 69.4% | 0.95 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
42 - 53 | -11 | 63.6 | 66.7% | 0.89 |
| TeamOne |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alencar 'trk' Rossato |
48 - 52 | -4 | 84.4 | 66.7% | 1.02 |
| Bruno 'BIT' Fukuda Lima |
47 - 50 | -3 | 73.6 | 72.2% | 0.99 |
| Bruno 'b4rtiN' Câmara |
48 - 54 | -6 | 75.1 | 68.1% | 0.96 |
| Pedro 'Maluk3' Campos |
47 - 52 | -5 | 62.1 | 61.1% | 0.89 |
| Victor 'iDk' Torraca |
35 - 53 | -18 | 63.8 | 65.3% | 0.84 |
After the close series between oNe and FURIA, Party Astronauts' series against The Quest was a far simpler affair as Party Astronauts claimed wins on Overpass and Nuke. On Overpass, Party Astronauts started the series off with a massive lead as they ended their T-side up 11-4. The Quest found one more round after a 4k from Ryan "Snakes" Amann, though in the end it mattered little as Party Astronauts claimed the next five rounds in a row to take map one 16-5.
Nuke ended up being a far closer affair than Overpass as The Quest started off with a 5-1 lead on their T-side. After this, The Quest's offensive appeared to stall out as Party Astronauts took nine of the next ten rounds to end the half in the lead. Switching sides, Ian "motm" Hardy and co. continued to run up the deficit as they forced map point with a six-round streak.
The Quest attempted to answer back as they staved off map point by finding six rounds of their own, but the task of winning nine rounds in a row appeared too arduous as Party Astronauts closed Nuke out with a 16-12 scoreline. During the series, Ian "motm" Hardy and Ben "ben1337" Smith both shined with 1.44 and 1.30 ratings, respectively.
The QuestParty Astronauts| The Quest |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan 'Snakes' Amann |
28 - 35 | -7 | 59.7 | 67.3% | 0.89 |
| Logan 'Voltage' Long |
31 - 36 | -5 | 67.1 | 59.2% | 0.85 |
| Michael 'Grim' Wince |
21 - 36 | -15 | 57.6 | 71.4% | 0.82 |
| Jack 'xCeeD' Holiman |
25 - 38 | -13 | 62.3 | 63.3% | 0.81 |
| Gabe 'Spongey' Greiner |
26 - 35 | -9 | 57.2 | 57.1% | 0.75 |
| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ian 'motm' Hardy |
45 - 27 | +18 | 87.9 | 77.6% | 1.44 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
39 - 31 | +8 | 94.4 | 75.5% | 1.30 |
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
32 - 23 | +9 | 63.4 | 81.6% | 1.20 |
| Brenden 'stellar' McGrath |
33 - 25 | +8 | 72.5 | 75.5% | 1.15 |
| Robert 'robby' Brown |
30 - 25 | +5 | 62.9 | 81.6% | 1.10 |
With day one of the MDL playoffs completed, tomorrow will see FURIA face off against Party Astronauts at 7:30 PM EDT while Singularity will be taking on ATK at 10 PM EDT. While all four teams have now locked in their participation to Global Challenge, the teams are now battling for a spot in the MDL LAN finals, which will grant the winning team a direct ticket to EPL.
